The Return of Mazisi Kunene to South Africa : the End of an Intellectual Chapter in Our Literary History
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Kunene's Shaka and the Idea of the Poet As Teacher
Kunene's Shaka and the Idea of the Poet as Teacher JOHN HAYNES I IN AN ESSAY PUBLISHED a year after the English version of Emperor Shaka the Great, Mazisi Kunene writes that "Classical African literature takes it as its primary strategy to broaden the base of the characters through mythification and symbolism" ("Relevance" 200). As he says in the poem itself, "Indeed, artists embellish their past to inspire their children" ( 166 ). What I want to look at is the trend of this mythification and embellish• ment. In doing this I shall not make any claims about the capacity of a poem to change people's attitudes or actions, nor will I deal with the ways in which a poem, as opposed to some other genre, might achieve such a goal. These are very vexed questions, neither of which has been tackled by African critics, even those who emphasize the traditional African artist's role of teacher. All I can claim is that if literature can have any bearing on political or social circumstance it is likely to be at times of crisis, such as we see now in Kunene's country, when people can be expected to reflect on the meaning of what they are doing and suffering. Yet we have to remember that what readers (or hearers) take from a work of art is affected by the attitudes they bring to it, and the social structures within which it is experi• enced — the school, the political party, exile, and so on. I will attempt, at the end of this account, to relate the implied "teach• ing" of Kunene's poem to present events, but I cannot pretend to comment, since I do not have anything like sufficient knowl• edge, nor indeed sufficient experience. -
Download This Report
Military bases and camps of the liberation movement, 1961- 1990 Report Gregory F. Houston Democracy, Governance, and Service Delivery (DGSD) Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) 1 August 2013 Military bases and camps of the liberation movements, 1961-1990 PREPARED FOR AMATHOLE DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY: FUNDED BY: NATIONAL HERITAGE COUNCI Table of Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ..................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... iii Chapter 1: Introduction ...............................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Literature review ........................................................................................................4 Chapter 3: ANC and PAC internal camps/bases, 1960-1963 ........................................................7 Chapter 4: Freedom routes during the 1960s.............................................................................. 12 Chapter 5: ANC and PAC camps and training abroad in the 1960s ............................................ 21 Chapter 6: Freedom routes during the 1970s and 1980s ............................................................. 45 Chapter 7: ANC and PAC camps and training abroad in the 1970s and 1980s ........................... 57 Chapter 8: The ANC’s prison camps ........................................................................................ -
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report: Volume 2
VOLUME TWO Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report The report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was presented to President Nelson Mandela on 29 October 1998. Archbishop Desmond Tutu Ms Hlengiwe Mkhize Chairperson Dr Alex Boraine Mr Dumisa Ntsebeza Vice-Chairperson Ms Mary Burton Dr Wendy Orr Revd Bongani Finca Adv Denzil Potgieter Ms Sisi Khampepe Dr Fazel Randera Mr Richard Lyster Ms Yasmin Sooka Mr Wynand Malan* Ms Glenda Wildschut Dr Khoza Mgojo * Subject to minority position. See volume 5. Chief Executive Officer: Dr Biki Minyuku I CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 6 National Overview .......................................... 1 Special Investigation The Death of President Samora Machel ................................................ 488 Chapter 2 The State outside Special Investigation South Africa (1960-1990).......................... 42 Helderberg Crash ........................................... 497 Special Investigation Chemical and Biological Warfare........ 504 Chapter 3 The State inside South Africa (1960-1990).......................... 165 Special Investigation Appendix: State Security Forces: Directory Secret State Funding................................... 518 of Organisations and Structures........................ 313 Special Investigation Exhumations....................................................... 537 Chapter 4 The Liberation Movements from 1960 to 1990 ..................................................... 325 Special Investigation Appendix: Organisational structures and The Mandela United -
The South African National Poet Laureate Prize for Mazisi Kunene
Untitled Document The South African National Poet Laureate Prize for Mazisi Kunene. (March 5 th 2005 at the Durban International Convention Centre) by Ntongela Masilela It is an incomparable honour for me to be congratulating Mazisi Kunene for receiving The South African National Poet Laureate Prize bestowed by our nation. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Mazisi Kunene is unquestionably one of our great national poets. In this lineage of poetic greatness, Mazisi Kunene belongs in the pantheon of S. E. K. Mqhayi, J. J. R. Jolobe, Benedict Wallet Vilakazi, H. I. E. Dhlomo and David Livingstone Phakamile Yali-Manisi. Though belonging to this pantheon, Mazisi Kunene surpasses all of them because he is arguably the greatest poet produced by Africa in the twentieth century. His two great epics, Emperor Shaka The Great (1979) and Anthem of the Decades (1981) have no comparable counterparts anywhere in Africa . Mazisi Kunene is a great Imbongi for all seasons and for the whole African continent. In this sense, Mazisi Kunene is the first continental poet Africa has produced. His poetic vision encompassing a profound philosophy of life and a true African cosmology is what holds together the metaphysical unity of the continent. This poetic vision also postulates the unity of Africa and the African Diaspora. In this unification of the black world, Mazisi Kunene's achievement is similar to that realized by Aime Cesaire in Return To My Native Land (1939). It is perhaps because of the affinities between them that Ngugi wa Thiong'o considers Mazisi Kunene's “Introduction” to the 1969 edition of Cesaire's epic to be the finest essay ever written on the great poet from the Caribbean/Antilles. -
Durban: a Return to Paradise and Its People
DURBAN A Return to Paradise and its People welcome t to durban you are here CONTENTS 009 Foreword 010 History 016 City Plans 026 Faith 030 Commerce 036 Eating 042 Building 048 Design 054 Writing 058 Art 064 Music 072 Dance 076 Theatre 080 Film Published by eThekwini Municipality 084 Museums Commissioned by Ntsiki Magwaza 088 Getting Out eThekwini Communications Unit Words and layout Peter Machen 092 Sport Photography See photo credits 096 Mysteries Printed by Art Printers 100 Where to Stay Printed on Environmentally friendly Sappi Avalon Triple Green Supreme Silk paper 102 Governance ISBN 978-0-620-38971-6 104 Etcetera FOREWORD The face of Durban has changed citizens in to the mainstream of economic activity in eThekwini. dramatically over the past few years These plans are part of the Citys 2010 and Beyond Strategy. due to the massive investments in When the Municipality was planning for the 2010 World Cup, it did infrastructure upgrade that were kick- not just focus on the tournament but tried to ensure that infrastructural started ahead of the 2010 Fifa World improvements would leave a lasting legacy and improve the quality Cup. Many of the plans that were of life for its residents. Beyond the World Cup, these facilities, detailed in the previous edition of Durban together with the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre A Paradise and its People have now been completed and have and Ushaka Marine World, have helped Durban to receive global helped to transform Durban into a world class city that is praised by recognition as Africas sporting and events capital. -
Struggle for Liberation in South Africa and International Solidarity A
STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION IN SOUTH AFRICA AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY A Selection of Papers Published by the United Nations Centre against Apartheid Edited by E. S. Reddy Senior Fellow, United Nations Institute for Training and Research STERLING PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED NEW DELHI 1992 INTRODUCTION One of the essential contributions of the United Nations in the international campaign against apartheid in South Africa has been the preparation and dissemination of objective information on the inhumanity of apartheid, the long struggle of the oppressed people for their legitimate rights and the development of the international campaign against apartheid. For this purpose, the United Nations established a Unit on Apartheid in 1967, renamed Centre against Apartheid in 1976. I have had the privilege of directing the Unit and the Centre until my retirement from the United Nations Secretariat at the beginning of 1985. The Unit on Apartheid and the Centre against Apartheid obtained papers from leaders of the liberation movement and scholars, as well as eminent public figures associated with the international anti-apartheid movements. A selection of these papers are reproduced in this volume, especially those dealing with episodes in the struggle for liberation; the role of women, students, churches and the anti-apartheid movements in the resistance to racism; and the wider significance of the struggle in South Africa. I hope that these papers will be of value to scholars interested in the history of the liberation movement in South Africa and the evolution of United Nations as a force against racism. The papers were prepared at various times, mostly by leaders and active participants in the struggle, and should be seen in their context. -
MAZISI KUNENE (South Africa, 1930 - 2006)
HONORS The Literature of South Africa Ms. Ward, 10th Grade English, May 2013 Learning to Read Critically Facts v. Interpretation Critical reading is not simply close and careful reading. To To non -critical readers, texts provide facts. Readers gain read critically, one must actively recognize and analyze knowledge by memorizing the statements within a text. evidence upon the page. To the critical reader, any single text provides but one Implications For Reading portrayal of the facts, one individual’s “take” on the To non-critical readers, texts provide facts. Knowledge subject matter. Critical readers thus recognize not only comes from memorizing the statements within a text. To what a text says, but also how that text portrays the the critical reader, any single text provides but one subject matter. They recognize the various ways in which portrayal of the facts, one individual's “take” on the each and every text is the unique creation of a unique subject. The content of a text reflects what an author takes author. as “the facts of the matter.” By examining these choices, readers recognize not only what a text says, but also how A non-critical reader might read a history book to learn the the text portrays the subject matter. facts of the situation or to discover an accepted interpretation of those events. A critical reader might read The first step in an analysis of a text, then, must be to look the same work to appreciate how a particular perspective at the content, at the evidence for an argument, the on the events and a particular selection of facts can lead to illustrations used to explain ideas, and the details particular understanding. -
Ezasegagasini Page 8
Page 8 NEWS and FEATURES 12 March 2010 Art expo CONTACTS Aids Helpline Emergency Services wows 0800 012 322 031 361 0000 Ambulance (public) O/H 24Hrs, 7 Days a week: 10177 • Fire Ambulance (private) • Disaster Management visitors 082 911 • Metro Police Air Pollution Electricity Call Centre DERRICK DLAMINI 031 311 3555 080 131 3111 O/H 8am – 4pm, Mon – Fri O/H 24Hrs, 7 days a week TWO talented artists from A/H contact Faults and breakdowns previously disadvantaged Emergency Services Fax: 031 328 1050 backgrounds got a chance to 031 361 0000 Street lights to exhibit their work for the Beaches and Illegal connections first time at a leading Durban Recreation Facilities Cable theft gallery recently. 031 335 3700 031 311 9611 Lalelani Mbhele (35) of O/H 7.30am – 6pm Health Inanda and Bhekinkosi Development Planning 031 311 3555 Gumbi (39) wowed visitors to 031 311 7883 O/H 7am - 4.30pm Mon to the African Art Centre in O/H 7am – 4.30pm Fri Florida Road with their art, Mon – Fri A/H contact Emergency including works featuring TALENTED: Head of International and Governance Relations Unit, Eric Apelgren Sub division Services women in African regalia with artists Lalelani Mbhele and Bhekinkosi Gumbi at the African Art Centre Rezoning Air pollution playing football. Picture: DERRICK DLAMINI Special consent Environmental noise Over the past 56 years, the Development Management Illegal dumping centre has been involved in 031 311 7881 Food safety developing young and Apelgren, said it was find ways of creating and assist with these Building inspectorate Communicable diseases emerging artists, especially important to promote the incentives for these artists, so endeavours. -
Bond Desai Maharaj Fifa Critique in Zuma's Own Goal
Afterword: World Cup™ profits defeat the poor Patrick Bond, Ashwin Desai and Brij Maharaj Introduction Sport, once viewed as a form of entertainment, has now emerged as an important political, social and economic force (Cochrane et al., 1996; Hillier, 2000; Smith, 2005; O’Brien, 2006). South Africa’s sacrifices to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup™ - and possibly the 2020 Olympic Games – are illustrative. What can we learn from the 2010 experience? Was it a roaring success, or instead, yet another example of Jacob Zuma’s own-goal approach to poverty and inequality, i.e. squandering a golden opportunity and instead making matters worse through careless regression backwards on the field? We begin the review of South Africa’s experience in June-July 2010 by providing context. We tend to view soccer within the parameters set by neoliberal globalisation, which first and foremost requires countries and cities around the world to compete for illusory direct foreign investments and portfolio capital flows. Prominent promotional strategies include stimulating investment in businesses through the provision of incentives and marketing the country and city as a tourist and sporting destination. For the latter, which we experienced intensely in Durban, the consensus seems to be that major sporting events offer the “possibility of ‘fast track’ urban regeneration, a stimulus to economic growth, improved transport and cultural facilities, and enhanced global recognition and prestige,” as Chalkley and Essex (1999) argue. Although such events do produce benefits, the international experience suggests that the privileged tend to benefit at the expense of the poor, and that socio-economic inequalities tend to be exacerbated (Andranovich et al., 2001; Rutheiser, 1996; Owen, 2002). -
Former President Thabo Mbeki's Letter to ANC President Jacob Zuma
Former President Thabo Mbeki’s letter to ANC President Jacob Comrade President, I imagine that these must be especially trying times for you as president of our movement, the ANC, as they are for many of us as ordinary members of our beloved movement, which we have strived to serve loyally for many decades. I say this to apologise that I impose an additional burden on you by sending you this long letter. I decided to write this letter after I was informed that two days ago, on October 7, the president of the ANC Youth League and you the following day, October 8, told the country, through the media, that you would require me to campaign for the ANC during the 2009 election campaign. As you know, neither of you had discussed this with me prior to your announcements. Nobody in the ANC leadership - including you, the presidents of the ANC and ANCYL - has raised this matter with me since then. To avoid controversy, I have declined all invitations publicly to indicate whether I intended to act as you indicated or otherwise. In truth your announcements took me by surprise. This is because earlier you had sent Comrades Kgalema Motlanthe and Gwede Mantashe to inform me that the ANC NEC and our movement in general had lost confidence in me as a cadre of our movement. They informed me that for this reason you suggested that I should resign my position as president of the Republic, which I did. I therefore could not understand how the same ANC which was so disenchanted with me could, within a fortnight, consider me such a dependable cadre as could be relied upon to promote the political fortunes of the very same movement, the ANC, which I had betrayed in such a grave and grevious manner as to require that I should be removed from the presidency of the Republic a mere six or seven months before the end of our term, as mandated by the masses of our people! Your public announcements I have mentioned came exactly at the moment when Comrade Mosiuoa "Terror" Lekota and other ANC comrades publicly raised various matters about our movement of concern to them. -
A HISTORY of TWENTIETH CENTURY AFRICAN LITERATURE.Rtf
A HISTORY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY AFRICAN LITERATURES Edited by Oyekan Owomoyela UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS © 1993 by the University of Nebraska Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI 239.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A History of twentieth-century African literatures / edited by Oyekan Owomoyela. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8032-3552-6 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8032-8604-x (pbk.: alk. paper) I. Owomoyela, Oyekan. PL80I0.H57 1993 809'8896—dc20 92-37874 CIP To the memory of John F. Povey Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction I CHAPTER I English-Language Fiction from West Africa 9 Jonathan A. Peters CHAPTER 2 English-Language Fiction from East Africa 49 Arlene A. Elder CHAPTER 3 English-Language Fiction from South Africa 85 John F. Povey CHAPTER 4 English-Language Poetry 105 Thomas Knipp CHAPTER 5 English-Language Drama and Theater 138 J. Ndukaku Amankulor CHAPTER 6 French-Language Fiction 173 Servanne Woodward CHAPTER 7 French-Language Poetry 198 Edris Makward CHAPTER 8 French-Language Drama and Theater 227 Alain Ricard CHAPTER 9 Portuguese-Language Literature 240 Russell G. Hamilton -vii- CHAPTER 10 African-Language Literatures: Perspectives on Culture and Identity 285 Robert Cancel CHAPTER II African Women Writers: Toward a Literary History 311 Carole Boyce Davies and Elaine Savory Fido CHAPTER 12 The Question of Language in African Literatures 347 Oyekan Owomoyela CHAPTER 13 Publishing in Africa: The Crisis and the Challenge 369 Hans M. -
The Communist Party Fights for Freedom
The Communist Party Fights for Freedom President Botha and his National Party colleagues fear and hate the South African communist Party more than any other section of the anti-apartheid forces in this country. Why? Because the Communist Party stands for the direct opposite of everything the apartheid regime stands for. Instead of apartheid - the Communist Party stands for the unity and friendship of all sections of the South African people, in a united, democratic non-racial South Africa; and end to segregation and Bantustans. Instead of oppression and repression - the South African Communist Party stands for freedom and equality: freedom of speech, assembly, press, organisation and movement, equality of rights and opportunities, an end to pass laws, population registration and group areas. Instead of exploitation and profiteering by the bosses - the South African Communist Party stands for socialism: workers' ownership and control of means of production and distribution, an end to poverty and unemployment. The South African Communist Party has never hidden these aims. It has worked for socialism based on the principals of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism ever since it was founded at a conference of socialist organisations in Cape Town on July 30, 1921. A History of Struggle From the very beginning the Communist Party has been in the forefront of organisations and mobilising the black working class for revolutionary struggle to achieve a united, non racial and democratic South Africa. Side by side with ANC, the Communist Party has been at the head of the fight for national liberation. For decades the Communist Party was the only political organisation in South Africa which had no colour bar.