Soloman Mwale was born in 1929, in Lilongwe, Central Malawi. The Mwale family had a history of migration, with Soloman’s father, Soloman, working on the South African railways during the 1930s. Despite the fact that Soloman senior had earned wages abroad, the Mwale children did not go to school, their father becoming a subsistence farmer on his return to Malawi.
Natane Soloman Mwale first left Malawi in 1948, initially travelling via bus through Fort Jameson to Zimbabwe. He worked in Newlands, East Harare, for two years as a gardener, but did not stay long in the Colony. During this period Soloman maintained contact with his family in Lilongwe and in 1949 crossed back into Malawi, to marry a woman called Mai - travelling on a Ulere bus. After two years, he left his gardening job in Zimbabwe in June 1951, returning to Malawi. Whilst Soloman had earned £1 a month in Zimbabwe, wages were three times that in South Africa. He felt as though he needed to earn this money, “because my family was very poor.”
Soloman left Malawi for the second time in November later that year – travelling first by bus to Harare and then by train on to Bulawayo. Given the pass laws of the time, and the concerted effort of the Rhodesian government to halt the exodus of labour to South Africa, Soloman walked from Bulawayo with two other Malawians, who he knew from Lilongwe, to Thabazimbi paying 5 shillings for a temporary permit at the South African border.
Arriving in Johannesburg, Solomon first worked in Bedfordview as a domestic servant and cook for a Mrs Snydon. During this period finding a job was relatively easy, as there was little competition and Malawian workers were in high demand. He later found a job as a gardener in Edenvale, working for the Bertram family. He continued with this job until he retired in 2000. Gardening was “nice work”, paying enough to support families in both South Africa and Malawi, and to afford a house in Tembisa in 1978. Soloman also bought numerous suits – some from a fellow Malawian, Samuel Phiri – or “Phiri” to Soloman.
Though enjoying a successful life in South Africa, Soloman did maintain his links with Malawi, visiting at regular intervals and sending goods back home. He would typically send clothes, but also from the 1960s the odd bicycle, which was sent back on trucks especially organised to send goods home. He first returned to Lilongwe in 1952 – yet whilst he left South Africa by train, his return journey only involved a bus to Harare and a train from there to Bulawayo. The rest of the journey, as when he first arrived in 1951 was carried out on foot, due to the continued stringencies of Rhodesian border control.
Relatives from Malawi would in turn use Soloman as a first port of call in South Africa. In 1959, he was joined by his brother Nathan - who utilised the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association’s transport network to get to Johannesburg before deserting when the train arrived in South Africa. After enjoying a “nice flight” on a Wenela plane from Blantyre to Francistown, Nathan then got on a train provided by the association to South Africa. When the migrants were allowed off the train, for respite, Nathan pretended to read a newspaper on the platform, and did not get back on board. His fellow accomplice was another Malawian who knew Johannesburg. After watching the Wenela train “roll on”, he got on the next train to Johannesburg where he joined Soloman. Nathan initially only spent 2 years in South Africa, working as a gardener, before returning to Malawi between 1961 and 1971.
In the early 1970s, Soloman took a friend to Tembisa Hospital. Here he met Ncingeleni Agnes Mwale, from Alexandra, who was a cook at the institution. Soloman took an instant liking to Agnes and the couple had their first child, Elisabeth in 1970 – followed by Auntie in 1972, Frank in 1974.
Until the family moved to Tembisa in 1978, Soloman practised at Agnes’ local Zion church, and on 6 September 1977 Soloman and Agnes married in a Zion ceremony. Though practising as a Zion during this time, Soloman did not enjoy this sect and when they moved to Tembisa in 1978 he joined the Zambezi Church there. The Tembisa branch of the Zambezi Church had a strong Malawian following, but was set up by an English missionary, Pastor Green in the early 1970s. Soloman attends Zambezi services at Engmore Primary School to this day.
Throughout his time abroad Soloman has been aware that he is of foreign descent - labelled a “Nyasalander” during the ‘50s and ‘60s, he nevertheless remains proud of his connection to Malawi. This though has not stopped him participating in South African society – he voted for Mandela in 1994 and in 1999 Soloman became a naturalized South African citizen. Though proud of his nationality, he has no plans to return to Lilongwe, noting “everything I have is here in South Africa.”
