Connie Zondagh: Storyteller of Stampriet

CONNIE Zondagh is not only one of the oldest residents of Stampriet, but arguably also the most famous ‘export’ of the small southern village some 60 kilometres from Mariental in the Hardap Region.

He has made a deep and lasting impact on how the region is remembered and viewed through a series of cultural-historical publications and poetry that meticulously records developments since the German colonial period and more recent history. ‘I did not feel like dying like the ordinary bloke; I did not want to die like an old friend of mine who no-one spoke of after his death. I wanted to live through my books,’ reflected the 82-year-old Zondagh from his study on his farm Eirub just outside Stampriet. Over the years he has written eight books, as well as a collection of poems that not only speaks of personal triumphs and pain, but also captures Afrikaans as spoken only in that part of the country. For his labour of love, he has received two literary awards from the Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuur Vereniging (ATKV) [Afrikaans Language and Culture Association] in 1998 and 2009, as well as a coveted Veertjie award in 2011. Although most of his books were published after 1990, his first story was that of the Swartmodder murders, which he now describes as the most gruesome this country has ever seen and only surpassed in its brutality by the recent Kareeboomvloer murders. Zondagh recalls an interview he had with one of the last remaining survivors of the Swartmodder murders, Johanna Meyer, on December 16, 1951. The Swartmodder farm lay north-west of Stampriet. During the Nama uprising on October 10, 1904, Nama soldiers attacked the farm, killing almost all Afrikaans-speaking men and boys in their wake while the women and girls were forced to watch the massacre of their loved ones. Years later, Zondagh received a handwritten account of the Swartmodder murders found at the bottom of an old trunk, which he still has in his farm study and which he now considers giving to the national archive for posterity. But his first book which he wrote in pencil was called ‘Die Boesmans langs die Lewerrivier’ [The Bushmen next to the Lewer River’]. As a young boy on a farm in the Keetmanshoop district, Zondagh herded goats and sheep alongside San boys. From them, he learnt the San language and their unique knowledge of plant and animal life. His first publication is an account of remnants of San life left along the Lewer River, which is in the Berseba area.In his book ‘Karakoel: Diamant of Matrys?’ Zondagh writes about the development of karakul sheep farming in southern Namibia. Zondagh himself has been farming with karakul after having worked for a short while as a bank clerk and later owned a general dealer at the old Stampriet. His other books include ‘Martelaarsbloed sal nooit verdroog’ [‘Martyr’s blood will never go dry’], ‘Duwisib’, ‘Loergate’ [Peeping holes], a collection of poems in ‘Gedagtes’ [Thoughts], ‘Obskure Pioniere’ [Obscure Pioneers] dealing with the trials and tribulations of the first German settlers in the Stampriet area, and ‘Jare van Onreg’ [Years of Injustice]. He has also written about the artesian water in the Stampriet area which is the lifeblood of the district’s rich agricultural sector. One of his books, containing short stories in the comedic style of the late Jan Spies, became the fodder of short radio stories read on the national broadcaster.His books are also popular among South African and European visitors to the area. But publishing his works has always remained a challenge, with little interest from local financiers to sponsor the printing. Thus far, said Zondagh, he has had to be author, publisher and sole distributor of his works. And against all odds, his books have reached all corners of the country and he is able to break even with his works still being sold at a steady rate. But his pen has now run dry; he has nothing left to write, he said, despite constant prodding by his family and friends to write one more story, one more poem. Notwithstanding, said Zondagh, what remains important to him is that people know and remember their history, and that they preserve their language and traditions for posterity.

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