[2] Mqhayi's parents were Christians with his father Ziwani known as "a leading man in his church, famous for his counsel, his preaching, and his singing."

At the age of nine, Mqhayi moved with his father (his mother having died when he was 2 years old) to Centane to stay with his uncle Nzanzana (the headsman of the area) during the witgatboom famine of 1885.

In one of his prose writings on Izwi Labantu, Mqhayi reflected on his disappointment with the westernisation of Africa:[1] Ukuhamba behlolela iinkosi zabo ezibahlawulayo umhlaba.

In 1914, he published Ityala lamawele ('The Lawsuit of the Twins') an influential isiXhosa novel and an early defence of customary law and Xhosa tradition.

[6] A youthful Nelson Mandela, who esteemed him "a poet laureate of the African people,"[9] saw Mqhayi at least twice in the flesh, and once, to his infinite pleasure, heard him recite.

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was adopted by several African states as the national anthem including South Africa, Namibia and Zambia.