South Africa

The second in a series of six poems (see part one for the background) from the Xhosa poet Melikhaya Mbutuma, imbongi to the Thembu paramount chief Sabata Dalindyebo. This poem jumps forward twenty-one months.

This Gcanga headmanship is pervasive;
It has made men irresolute and confused.

This, the first in a series of six poems (see parts two, three, four, five and six for the rest) shows Anti-Apartheid protest at a very local level.

O Thembu, pardon me for a while;
I wish to fly over like a monkey to the Minister…