Abstract
The purpose of this article is to describe how the Manche Masemola narrative crafts and constructs her as a martyr; dying in defence of her faith in the face of fierce religious competition between her Sepedi culture and Anglican faith. Manche is constructed as an extraordinary person who symbolises Virtue, battling with Vice. This article will examine Manche’s personality, and how the various commentators put her against unbearable conditions which only an extraordinary person can face. Tropes of torture, sacrifice and persecution will receive attention as instruments to construct martyrdom. This article will use primary and secondary data available to collect data. Data will be broken into themes and analysed using a narrative method.Contribution: This article continues a long debate of martyrdom and sainthood. It probes further the polysemous nature of martyrdom, its complexity, as well as the politics that go with it.
Highlights
Manche Masemola has been declared a martyr of the Anglican, a black young teenager in the rural Sekhukhuneland to die for her faith
Manche’s martyrdom is centred around her resistance and revolutionary zeal to break from her traditional religion and embracing a new faith
She was physically bruised, tortured and persecuted for her new faith; instead, she was prepared to die for commitment to it, and paid with her life
Summary
Manche Masemola has been declared a martyr of the Anglican, a black young teenager in the rural Sekhukhuneland to die for her faith. Manche is believed to have died for her faith, and in addition, she is persecuted, yet sticks to her faith till her eventual death In examining her construction as a martyr, I will, in addition to the criteria proposed in the preceding discussion, include themes of persecution and torture, sacrifice and commitment. This enraged her parents who regularly thrashed, and her response had always been ‘neither death nor life would turn her away from the church’ (Parker 1937:2) These words are a statement of faith, a commitment to face all odds in the name of religious belief. 2008) make a very interesting point about martyrs when they proclaim that: Manche died a terrible death, ‘hacked with a machete’, ‘flogged to death’ (Mokgoatšana 2019c:10) and many more unbearable heinous acts acted upon her body and soul She sacrificed her life for her faith.
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