Oral Poetry from Africa
Another attack on the damaging effects of labour migrancy to South Africa. In this extract from a Tswana Praise Poem, the poet appeals movingly to Chief Molefi Kgafela, who ruled 1929–1936, to bring home all the young men and women from Cape Town, Natal, Johannesburg and Rustenburg.
Seek the strays, child of the Makuka,
Bring home the human strays…
A Kgatla song from Botswana, sung by women complaining together about their husbands. The reference to ‘Khaki’ in line 5 suggests not only that the man is poor but also that he may be a court messenger or some other collaborator with the colonial authorities (see Lomwe-Chuabo Protest Songs).
I heard it said that I was betrothed
And one afternoon when I was at home
A Tswana Praise-Poem from Botswana, chanted in praise of Seepapitso, chief of the Ngwaketse people 1910–16. Seepapitso’s main achievement was to improve local water supplies by building dams and sinking boreholes. He is also remembered for his defeat of a party of Boers who in 1914 invaded his territory in an attempt to cross into Namibia.
Hey there, men of the Buffalo-thorn,
Do you still argue with me?
