Swiss Mission in South Africa
- Mission Suisse daps 1′Afrique du SudMissionary society which originated in the small Protestant Free Church of the French-speaking canton of Vaud when, in 1869, Ernest Creux and Paul Berthoud convinced their co-religionists of the need for missionary work among the natives of Africa. The synod of that church accepted their proposal and the Mission Vaudoise (Mission of Vaud) was thus inaugurated. Because of the close relations between the Protestant churches of France and Switzerland, the Vaud committee in 1872 sent Creux and Berthoud to the Basutoland station of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society for training. Here they worked under the direction of the Paris society until 1875, when they set out to look for a suitable field of labour in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Missionaries of the Berlin Society at Botshabelo advised them to proceed to a group of Tsongas in the Spelonken valley in the Northern Transvaal. They were the first missionaries to appear among that tribe, called the Magwamba (or `Knopneuse’, by the Voortrekkers), and received a cordial welcome from the chief and his subjects. They named their first station, established in 1875, Valdezia, after their canton, Vaud. Mission stations were also established at Elim (Tvl.) (1879) and Shiluvane (1886).
This field of endeavour was further extended by the activity of some converts who joined the main body of the Tsonga tribe in neighbouring Mozambique, preached the gospel there, and requested assistance. Berthoud went there to organise the work. Mission stations were established at Lourenço Marques (1889) and Antioka (1890).
The work of the original missionaries was soon supported by the other Free Protestant churches in French Switzerland. Later, churches in German Switzerland also contributed considerable sums and made expansion possible. In 1883 the name of the Mission Vaudoise was changed to Mission Romande, to mark the participation of other French-speaking cantonal churches (Geneva, Neuchatel), and in 1917 to Mission Suisse Romande. In 1929 the name was changed to its present form in order to reflect the participation of the German-speaking Protestant churches of Switzerland. The head-office remained in Lausanne.
New mission stations continued to be established, as at Pretoria (1897), Kurulen (1905) and Masana (1917), in the Transvaal, and at Matutuene (1902), Rikatla (1907), Chikumbane (1908) and Manjacaze (IC)2I), in Mozambique. Indeed, Mozambique developed into the largest field of the Swiss Mission. When Bantu from these regions proceeded to the gold-fields as miners, mission stations were also established in Johannesburg (1904) and later at Welkom (195S), as it was the aim of the Swiss Mission to unite the Tsonga tribe in its entirety in its church. The attempt was unsuccessful, as part of the Tsonga tribe was established in the Portuguese territory of Mozambique, with a different mode of life, and some members of the tribe joined other churches while working on the gold-fields. 20 000 Bantu are members of this church.
Like other societies, the Swiss Mission established schools for young people and training centres for teachers at Lemana (1906), in the Northern Transvaal, and Rikatla, in Mozambique. Evangelists and ministers are trained at the theological school at Morija in Lesotho. The mission’s system of education has been unable to develop fully in Mozambique because the Roman Catholics discourage the work of Protestant churches. A teacher-training school, opened at Manica in 1930, was closed on orders from the authorities a few years later.
The Swiss Mission has hospitals in Mozambique (established at Lourenço Marques in 1905 and at Chikumbane in 1908) and in the Transvaal (at Elim, 1899, Shiluvane, 1948, and Masana, 195S). The hospital at Shiluvane trains Bantu nurses. In the Transvaal these institutions are subsidised by the province and are under the management of hospital boards, but in Mozambique the mission hospitals receive no assistance from the authorities. In both the Transvaal and Mozambique the objective is to lead the mission church to independence. Preparations are in hand for the unification of this church in the Transvaal with the Presbyterian Church.
Source SESA Copyright Naspers
Much of the structures build by the Missionaries are still intact and well preserved at Elim/Valdazia areas. The pine and bluegum trees that were planted during the activities of the missionaries are also visible. The only thing that is not getting attention are the missionary graves.