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Njabulo S Ndebele: SA Literature and Nationhood Mongane Waliy Serote

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Njabulo S Ndebele: SA Literature and Nationhood Mongane Waliy Serote Staffrider Njabulo S Ndebele: SA Literature and Nationhood Mongane Waliy Serote: in Search of Light Keorapetse Kgositsile: Culture as a Site of Struggle Victor Matom: Sleeping with the Enemy UfFirnd] Volume 10 Number 4 1992 Contents Comment. Andries Walter Oliphant An Old Man's Lament Stories Richard J. Maseko BUI Propaganda By Monuments EH Madikana Ivan Vladislavic Sadiki Alex Naka EMI Amin E9i The Mystery of Love in Nature Jiggs David Phoshoko EBJ In Happiness and In Sorrow WfM Bra Danny's Treat Kaizer Nyatsumba Richard J, Maseko EM The Unlucky Time Essays /toy Blumenthal a^i S.A. Literature and the Construction WHOM Blues For Mama Afrika of Nationhood Thokozani Mthiyane Njabulo S. Ndebele E9 The Entrepreneurial Spirit W5M In Search of Light /fur? Donald Mongane Wally Serote CM How Many More E3 Culture as a Site of Struggle Steven Brimelow Keorapetse Kgositsile H9BS Promotion W8M The Politics of Publishing in South Africa Thembe Peter Zwane and What it Means for Writers ffSBI Munna Orenna Krut Sadiki Alex Naka W?M The School Library in Comtemporary E3B No Peace In South Africa South Africa Lmda C. Saunders Sandra Braude mm Mike Hamlyn EB Writing Prose During Transition £/ne/ Abrahamse Kaizer Nyatsumba UJUj Two Poems Seitlhamo Motsapi EB Sedikwa-Ke-Ntswapedi Poetry Menge Lehoke !• Black Sabbath, White Christmas ES Shriek Samson Kodibona Lumkile Mqhayi KTM Melba J23B Epigram Two Uriel Abrahamse P/ied* Tlhobolo BUI Two Poems JEM Stay for the Reject Moment Mpho Nawa RoyBlumenthal EBB Two Poems IBM Riot in the Ghetto's Fvette Christianse Johnny Rasta Mash EEH No Man Will Ever Control Me Again Sizakele Nkosi My Letter to You Paintings and Graphics It's About Time Menzi Ndaba EHi Now the time has come... Lungile Phambo EM Two Poems EH Untitled Walter Kefuoe Chakela EH Untitled Barney Nkosi •***• Three Poems Petrus Masombuko EH Collision Ike Mboneni Wangu Muila Erika Hibbert VWM Maseko M EH y Mother's Heart Painful Hands Letters Valley Maponya Dumisane Khumalo gjQH Silence and the Beggar QH Untitled Arja Salafranca Gillian Solomon W^M Two Poems WEM Venus Revisited Anne Marie Grindrod Af.F. Ledimo EH Ruminations of the Wretched Sean O'Toole EH Tw0 Poems Sandra Braude STAFFRIDER EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE EH Two Poems General Editor: Andries Walter Oliphant fir/q/t Walter REGIONAL EDITORS AND DISTRIBUTORS EH The Holy Land Transvaal: Lance Nawa, Steve Kromberg, Matthew Krouse Frank Meintjies Two Natal: Ari Sitas, Pearl Jean Gorrie, Jabu Mkhize EH Poems Western Cape: Hein Willemse, Mario Pissarra, Donald Karen Press Parenzee, Anette Horn Free State: Cingani Phaku, Patrick Nyezi, fSIW Two Poems Grant Tsimatsima i4//an Kolski Horwitz Eastern Cape: Susie Mabie, Michael Barry EH Mmbwa Dza Muvhuso EDITORIAL ADVISORS: Naledzani Bernard Rasila Njabulo Ndebele, Nadine Gordimer, Mongane Serote, Kelwyn Sole, Paul Weinberg, Gary Rathbone, Achmat EH Awaiting Birth Dangor, Christopher van Wyk, Gcina Mhlophe, David Ethelwyn Rebelo Koloane, Nise Malange, Luli Callinicos. EH Three Poems Typesetting: Shereen Usdin ESMJP Pare/ Design: Shereen Usdin and Andrew Lord Illustrator: Andrew Lord {31 The Poem is a Temporary Shelter Marketing and Distribution: Matthew Krouse Mary Ferrari Stajfrider is published by the Congress of South African EH Three Poems Writers, P.O. Box 421007, Fordsburg 2033. Copyright is Kaizer M. Nyatsumba held by the individual contributors of all material, including the visual, photographic and graphic material 131 Two Poems published in the magazine. Anyone wishing to Timothy Holmes reproduce material from the magazine should approach EH Four Poems the individual contributors c/o the publishers. Ear/ fieaft Contributions and correspondence should be sent to The Editorial Collective, Staffrider El Thendo Maswiswini P.O. Box 421007, Fordsburg, 2033. Ramaite Mashau All contributions should be accompanied by a stamped, EH Evening in South Africa self-addressed envelope and a short two-line biography. Marie Ferrari Printed by Creda Press Repro by Graphic Set Photographs Front cover: Lungile Phambo EZS3 Sleeping With The Enemy Back cover: Vusi Nkwanyana Victor Matom (text by J. Masiza) BD Over the last four decades a significant shift has taken ciety. It isolated them from the vital strands of an place in contemporary societies. Since the 1950s there emerging democratic culture and trapped them in a has been a move away from the large concentration of white supremacist laager where conservatives and workers within the manufacturing industries as more liberals competed as to who is the most 'cultured', and more people were absorbed in the emerging infor­ 'civilised' and 'refined' to rule over the rest of the mation and communication networks. This led to the population. growth of what is currently referred to as the Informa­ The implications of this is spelt out in Njabulo tion Society. Along with the growing automatisation Ndebele's essay published in this edition of Staffrider. of manufacturing, underpinned by a vast network of The current faltering process of change will, when the information and knowledge, fewer people were able to minimum objective of establishing a viable democracy produce more commodities. The computer is now the is realised, be seen as a turning point in the history of driving power, and information the fuel of social this society. This, as I have said on other occasions, development and economic growth. calls for a fundamental reassessment of literature and In societies where these developments are taking culture in South Africa. The time has come to place the place it is accompanied by an increase in the level of shield of privilege and the cliches of supremacy under education amongst the population as a whole to ensure scrutiny. that all individuals have equal access to the sources of Furthermore, while the long term growth and sus­ information and the means of communication. Where tainable development in all spheres of life within the older social formations were characterised by sharp context of democracy is unthinkable without an effec­ class division flowingfrom the underlying agricultural tive education for all South Africans, the current or industrial relations of production in society, the new government is engaged in an incomprehensible exer­ Information Society has seen the concentration of cise of injecting further chaos into education. While information in the hands of new electronic elites. hundreds of schools stand empty and more then fifty In South Africa with its long history of differential percent of the population is illiterate, teachers are empowerment in education the scene is set for the made redundant and educational institutions are being continuation of inequality on a different level unless closed. The method is madness. decisive interventions are made immediately. One is The essays of Orenna Krut and Sandra Braude repeatedly struck with horror by the educational disas­ look at the role of basic information institutions such ter apartheid education has inflicted on South African as publishers and libraries in education and the devel­ society. The damaging effects of Bantu Education opment of a literary culture. Two of South Africa's have been commented on ad nauseam. At times the illustrious poets, Wally Serote and Keorapetse Kgos- pity displayed by certain sectors of society towards the itsile, once again remind us of the cultural challenges victims of this education are nothing more than thinly confronting this society. There are stories and poetry disguised pretexts for indulging in a sense of superior­ and visual images to stimulate, provoke and delight. ity. What has however escaped many commentators This edition was compiled with the assistance of and analysts is the extent to which Christian National the Transvaal Editorial Collective. Thanks to every­ Education and white education in general ironically one who contributed. Q debilitated the privileged sector of South African so­ Andries Walter Oliphant Staff rider Vol. 10 No. 41992 I Poetry <0> Black Sabbath, White Christmas And so the children of the African National Congress Whilst laughter like sonatas shattered the night Gathered in multitudes And first crackers blazed multi-coloured sparks, To bury their slain Marking the birth of a prosperous new year, To comfort their widows Theghettoes licked their wounds and counted their dead. Like a swarm of locusts in search of new fields They had no reason to be happy, or for that matter, They filled the graveyards to lay the heroes to rest. To be sorry for themselves. Unlike locusts they were not in search of food This was the price uhuru demanded. But of solutions to escape the hunter's snare. t>2 AK 47, SPM Limpit mine and Mkhonto. Amandla They could not miss the festivities, Became a military salutation. Nor the shebeens their profits. 53 Neither could they sing Christmas carols CO Medal and honour Nor welcome the new year To those who had paid the ultimate price What was there to celebrate? Laid side by side on a monumental structure. Their names could have stretched from the Limpopo Right down to the tip of South Africa. This was the Black Sabbath. Written in the calendars by the blood of the martyrs Ground into history books By those who sought no personal glory, But a place under the sun for blacks. Christmas carols filled the air. The smell of fillet and steak permeated white kitchens. Wine and beer overflowed from caskets Like a river after torrential rain. Symphony orchestras rendered heavenly music, Beautiful sounds that could have brought smiles to all And man nearer to God, But no saints came marching in. It was a White Christmas, all right, With its traditional abundance of veneer holiness, Excessive merry-making, socialising and visitation — A Christmas not to celebrate the birth of Christ But the annihilation of the oppressed. c 7 /Z T^ s Q & O w Q PQ U i—i K BY CL, < O Ivan Vladislavic MONUMENTS Staff rider Vol.
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