POETRY

POETRY FROM THE GHETTOS

Enock Shishenge is an energetic, aspirant and principled performance poet born few decades ago. His principle is derived from a Zimbabwean idiom: 'Failing to prepare is preparing to fail'. His poetry has been published in the Burning Shacks, Sowetan, Sunday World, Daily Sun, Timbila Poetry Journal, Turfwrite, Echoes, Wits Student, International Society of Poets Publication in the U.S and Theatre of Mind U.K. He appeared on Take5 TV online Poet's Corner. He also co-authored a Xitsonga poetry book entitled "Nsati Wa Gayisa . Academically, Shishenge completed his Higher Diploma in Education with Giyani College Campus of The University of Venda for Science and Technology where he was also an executive member of the SRC. He also participated in a television series coordinated by the Voices of Africa. He likes reading, writing and performing poetry to an extent that when he kicks the dust and leave the stones behind to join the heavenly choir he will dearly miss it than anything else. He is now a language and technology teacher at Eqinisweni Secondary School in Ivory Park near Midrand, Johannesburg. He is also an editor for the school magazine and coaches poetry at the same school. Poetic Words:
"She goes to church and confesses
I've slept with men for bread
I was hungry God " By Vonani Bila

Thapelo Mashiloane is a very powerful performance poet who writes a lot about township life-from love to ghetto struggle. He is the member of Eqinisweni Poetry Society. He enjoys drawing and regards it as his second choice after poetry. He is the member of Eqinisweni Gazette, a school magazine-he writes articles, poems and he cartoons and draws for the mentioned school publication. Thapelo is in grade 11. He is going for the British Council's "Power in the Voice" country's final with other learners from the same school. "Give me ma' soul food/For food/Give me the food/For my soul"


Pleasure Madava is a performance poet. She regards reading as her prerequisite. She resides in Ebony Park in between Midrand and Ivory Park. She intends to continue with poetry even after her high school life. She is the founding member of Eqinisweni Poetry Society.
Poetic Words: Sleeping with these books under my pillow turned me a prostitute


Phuti Constance Seanego hails from Limpopo. She writes poems in English and Sepedi. She enjoys reading her poems to the masses. She is 18 years of age. She wants to see herself as a director of a company in future. She also wishes to publish her own book of poetry one day.
Poetic Words : I feel tongue tied
But I am of many tongues


Phindile Mdunana is a young and brilliant South African poet whose game is to play with spoken and written words. She fell in love with words after having met Mr. Shishenge who instilled in her the love of poetry. She is in grade twelve at Eqinisweni Secondary School, Ivory Park informal settlement in Johannesburg. Phindile was the junior editor for the school magazine (Eqinisweni Gazette) 2006-2007. She hails from Ivory Park, a section in Tembisa. She has written so many poems to date. Poetic Words: Take me to the gravy train of soul
Stroll with me and celebrate our love

PERSONAL

I REMEMBER MY EX-TEACHERS AT SEKHUKHUSA

It is seldom that people neither talk nor write about their teachers or ex-teachers I never thought I would execute this but after realizing a role they played in our lives and in building strong humanities. It surprises me still that their profession in considered amongst those underrated. After leaving school we simply overlook them. There is a majority of good teachers and the rest are terrible. Good teachers are those who understand learners’ situations and those who lead my examples and never consider silly blunders. I am saying this because children from poor backgrounds deserve fine treatment and respect form teachers so they could make education a priority. Most of us took example from such teachers also because we spent time with them that piloted us in pursuing good things they did. They became our role models. Recently schools were embraced by a dark cloud of misdemeanor and violence, we heard stories from around the country about teachers who could not adhere to the rules and value their dignity, sleeping around with underage school girls and those who went boozing with school boys. It is not only about their self respect but also about disgracing the entire school and the community. Teaching is a respectful occupation and those concerned should consider that. I also understand that it could be a frustrating profession. This has been apparent in previous times, teachers could not stand the ill-treatment by learner. They could not perceive the point of spending time with a bunch of disrespectful pupils who does not appreciate the efforts their teacher put to lift them to another level. So as teachers there is a majority of good students who knows and comprehend the objectives of education. Such learners turn to bring their teacher to life and give them confidence to positively carry on loving the profession. There are pessimistic students, they just attend to disrupt lessons and cause disturbance to other student, and good learners tend to loose focus due to disruptive once. Ask me, for five years I sat in those school desks and witness the same. Disruptive scenes were observed at some stages in Mkhweyantaba High in Orinoco. Criminalized Students attending classes heavily armed and under the influence of dagga. I could not understand the reason these corrupt minded learners fell proud about their illicit actions. Obviously to them it was just massive fun. And later I learned with revulsion the ethnic violence that erupted in the same school. After few conversations with some student I found out their poor level of understanding when it comes to democracy let alone the basics about the constitution of this country. It clearly poses risks for teachers in schools like these and at the end of the day they are expected to persist with their duties.

Years after leaving my high school I still remember my ex-teachers mostly because I come across some of them by chance and whenever we converse it brings back the good and bad memories, I attended high school just after the don of democracy and by this time corporal punishment was still carried out in some schools including Sekhukhusa. Hatred amongst teachers and student occurred on the grounds Corporal punishment. I hated it so much and ended up hating teachers who carried it out, simply because some of them were doing it severely to punish not making learners be aware of the wrongs they did (I had mixed feelings about Mr Murudu, my Std 5 Mathematics teacher who ironically influenced me to the real history one day during a geometry lesson when he bragged about his awareness of Mahondas Kharamchant Mahatma Gandhi’s Satiyagraha or passive resistance and calling the names Enoch Sontonga and Dr James Moroka back in Saile primary school, his tales were real, alive and inspiring than the mind-numbing history we were taught. It was ill-timed for me because I could not access it in full, it hit me later coming across this names while learning more and it was here that I reminisced his him. Mr Murudu at times messed up his reputation and lost out of our favor because of his punishment methods. He hated his remarks after completing his self-amusing excise of inflicting pain to our palms, he would say “Mmamohla ke e ps^hinne ka lena” implying today I enjoyed punishing you) honestly I had grudges against some teachers, it is now that I realize they were useless and stupid though it was of a point. Learners have a way of retaliating, teachers were still given names. I still remember derogative names learners gave to their teachers, bo-Gwabula (the demolisher) because the man used to hit hard with a fist. bo-Stampie, she excelled in Afrikaans, she taught it as if she was teaching Sepulana. I reckon they don’t know these names because learners never call them so.

I was fortunate because at Sekhukhusa secondary school I met some inspirational teachers whom I still can reflect back. On behalf of other ex-student I would like extend my sincere appreciation to our ex-teachers for understanding some learners’ economic disadvantages, identifying their desired destinations and even went as far as helping them attain their goals in life. Today I rate Sekhukhusa as one of the best schools in Bushbuckridge. Without any doubt I enjoyed my schooling in this institution.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognize some of my ex-teachers. Mr Eddie Segodi. Though I was not good in Mathematics he tried by all means to lift me up and installed in me a sense of understanding. There are countable things in life I learned from him and stories about his football playing days. I recently met him one day kua Toronto, while I was sitting mola lapeng enjoy some few drinks. We had a chat and it was so great. I am still living by his advises. Same day I met my long lost pal Esheng Dibakoane wa ga Motibidi and we discussed a lot about the whereabouts of my other pals from Ga-Motibidi, bo-Isaac Mokoena, Kanego Mokoena, Promise Mhlongo


An intellect Mr Sgudla, he is a great man. I recently met him in Johannesburg while he was attending some classes, it was good. There are lots of advises he rendered me and still my mentor. Mr Boateng, he preaches determination and all he wants out of his learners is success. Mrs Edith Lekhuleni-Mabilane, Mr Marvin Mamba, Mr Mudau, the Great Man Himself Mr Letsoalo and others. Sekhukhusa is what it is today because of your efforts and all people who are successfully sitting comfortable in different professions achieved because of your efforts. Carry on the great job.

I miss my high school days, pals and may ex-classmates, dimpints^i ts^aka ts^a Ga-Relane: bo Hardwell Mmola, the late Given Mokgalaka, Collen Mathibela, Meltus Makhubedu, Ruben Makhubela, Thapelo Malatjie, Monica Kgoedi, Epraim Subuye wa Bush kua Matenteng, David Letsoalo le Jacke Mashaba ba Shatale, Raymond Chiloane wa Violet Bank, Gibson Mokoena wa ga Mpisane eeeyi! The list is endless. These are some of my crazy ex-classmates back at Sekhukhusa. I hope they still remember me wherever they are.

Writer: Lebogang Mokgalaka, Mos^umanyana wa Mapulaneng lehono o fukuza byalo ka Education Guide Kua Constitution Hill Heritage Site, Jozi.

REVIEW

A TALE OF IMPORTED INSANITY - PART II

Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga's first novel Nervous Condition pitched both traditional and Western beliefs against each other and raised very critical questions about the price of an African's soul at the flea market of Western culture. Written without a compromise of Shona's rich literary anaesthetic it once and for all exposed the invisible prison that many Africans find themselves arrested wtihin by merely over-observing and modeling themselves after everything English. Many years after its publication, and with the issues it raised pertinent in post-apartheid South Afrika and many post-cononial Afrikan democracies author/artist Portia Mahlodi Phalafala (Uhuru by reputation) revisits Dangarembga's wisdom and critics it in the context of a traditional African communal set-up, where patriarchy dictates the weather forecast.


Nyasha

The war that Nyasha finds herself fighting is a complex one. She has been exposed to the western way of life at a young age, so her coming of age was informed by a western tradition. The double oppression that she faces is that of living in a household that is ran by a patriarchal rule, following traditional ways of living; and one that lives in a colonial society with the influence of western education and middle class lifestyle. Unlike Maiguru, Nyasha has no memory of tradition and customs and therefore finds herself in a cultural dilemma. She is clever and independent but her downfall is brought on by her “Englishness”. She tries to rebel against patriarchy and uses the language of war when articulating this to Tambudzai. In her rebellion, she finds that her war is a useless one because “it’s everything, it’s everywhere. So where do you break out to?” (page 176). In the end she is so trapped by these forces that she has a psychological breakdown cause by the nervous conditions around her. She is nervous throughout the story to be able to pass and obtain her O-levels, which one way she can escape her condition by furthering her studies overseas. She also undergoes some cultural alienation because her way of life is influenced by the west. When she suffers from an eating disorder, it is then that we see that her entrapment has caused her a psychological state of crisis. In her letter to Tambudzai, she writes that she will find a “svelte, sensuous” her; which is influenced by the consumerism tradition, but is also a way for her to rebel aginst male dominance and a way to escape her body. Her rebellion in the end is not successful because she is too young to find herself fighting such a complicated war. But her rebellion was not totally useless in the end because it managed to give Tambudzai growing awareness and a voice.

Tambudzai

Tambudzai, the character, shares almost the same experience as Nyasha. They were in the same ‘united youth front’. They are young and the older women around them have internalized patriarchy so much that there is a risk of that rubbing off them. She nearly lost an opportunity to study because her brother was given the privilege because he would further the well being of his family. It is only when he dies that they seriously consider taking her to school so she can “do what she can for the family before she goes into her husband’s home” (page 56). Living in such a patriarchal structure has been a constant war for her that at an earlier age she had to cultivate the maize field to fund her education. Later when Babamukuru takes her in his house to further her studies, she finds herself in another world that is influenced by colonial forces. She is from a different class and she is introduced to a different race living in a household were her gender is subjugated. At the same time she gets torn between behavioral patterns, where she does not know whether to conduct herself traditionally or modernized. She is also silenced by the fact that she does not want to anger her benefactor who gives her a psychological nervous condition because her situation does not allow her individuality. She is clever and a hard worker, and when the opportunity arises for her to move to a prestigious school, “(her) uncle and (her) father discussed (her) future” (page 185). Nevertheless she manages to escape this patriarchal rule, only to be faced with another war at Sacred Heart of racism and “Englishness”. Although she faces possible domination, she remembers her mother’s warning and also realizes that her “mother knew a lot of things and (she) had regard for her knowledge” (page 207).

From these five women, who represent many other women, we can see that their daily lives are battles. Tambudzai and Lucia find a way to escape their immediate oppression, but we see that they have not entirely escaped the double oppression because they live in a society where their gender is subjected to that. Tambudzai’s mother and Maiguru are entrapped by this gender subjectivity and tradition because they are seen as mothers and wives, which makes them the possession of males; which goes back to the Mother Africa Trope because their struggle in those roles are not considered by the male characters around them. Nyasha has seen this subjectivity and tries to rebel against it, but in the end it leads to self-hate and a breakdown. While the country is fighting the national war against colonialism, these women are fighting a bigger war against colonialism and patriarchal rule. What I find interesting about their positions is that they are each other’s pillars, that they give each other voices. Nyasha is able to give Tambudzai a voice in her home at the mission; Lucia speaks up for her sister and gives Maiguru a voice in her own home. So this “story is not after all about death” (page 1) but about the war that these five women face head on.