For Charity and Francis Matyaka
on June 27, 2008
Category: Zimbabwe, Poetry, Human Rights
Unable to move, she watch them drag him
from the house into a donga
and beat him, one goon opening his body
to pour blood into the off-colour ditch,
like wine seeking the whiteness of cloth
that cover the brains of boys
and redden their eyes with joy.
Everyone try not to look
but go their way into the dim June dusk
to their families.
Even God don’t interfere
when they beat people like this
with sjambok and machete.
They killed him, killed him as I watched, she say,
speaking to no one in particular.
He wailed, but they kept on beating him quietly.
The women shake their heads and speak
in subdued dialect
of herd boy who find a half-clothed body,
half-eaten by hyenas. She wail some more,
as harpooned whale do.
Her hands hold her head
like she want to unscrew it
and give it back to God.
The women tut-tut and shake their heads
to see her wail like this.
Night come, and soon it is
the lighting of lamps, and everyone shout
to call daughter or son to table
for a bit of pap and soup, after
the ritual of water and soap.
© Rethabile Masilo
NOTE: This poem was “inspired” by the story of the Matyaka family. Today, Friday 27 June 2008, Robert Mugabe is staging a sham election in Zimbabwe. I decided to post “For Charity and Francis Matyaka” today. I will continue to work on it online. If you need more information about the tragedy in Zimbabwe, here’s a link. Have a good weekend.
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6 Comments so far
1. Geoffrey Philp
June 27th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Rethabile, you continue as a voice crying in the wilderness of the blogosphere…
Peace,
Geoffrey
Geoffrey Philps last blog post.."Dancing With Katrina" by Geoffrey Philp
2. Sokari
June 27th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Rethabile @ Thank you for writing something very special for this very sad of days!
3. Rethabile
June 27th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Geoffrey, Sokari,
Thank you. It is hard to go into this, but we must. Mugabe is more than a shame and must be fought. I have no gun but words. Those who have guns must use them now.
Rethabiles last blog post..For Matyaka
4. yepanthen
June 27th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
No Guns, it stores up trouble for the next generation.
5. Beauty
June 27th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I think it is dangerous to argue for regime change in Africa. There are other ways to change a country from within and yes, I am aware of the Mugabe problem. It was left to rot due to the double standards of all concerned. All the hidden agenda from UN, US, EU and especially SA has festered the mess that created the monster mad dog.
I simply do not agree with Soyinka et all now asking for more killings. It is a lazy and inefficient way to deal with one’s own tyrant. The World did not do enough on Zimbabwe and as such does not get the chance to come into Africa by force. Zimbabwe’s platinum mines have the world’s second-largest reserves but its “Look East” policy may be a reason any action had been tied up in rhetoric. Even the presidential hopeful Obama has joined people looking for action and a dangerous precedence would be set but the world is bad enough.
6. Rethabile
June 30th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Beauty,
SADC needs to deal with this. SADC has not done anything by way of talking, it needs to do something now by way of action. If not, then Zimbabweans are left to themselves to root Mugabe out, and I think they’re quite capable. More killings? Perhaps, but for a cause, and after exhausting all possibilities.
No precedents, here. SADC went into Lesotho when Mandela was president of South Africa, to quell a potential coup d’etat against a then legitimate government.