By Zulumathabo Zulu © 2018

This literary piece is dedicated to the Xhosa heroine with a rare combination of beauty and brains; the unbought and the unsold African queen of the liberation struggle and the anti-establishment fighter of the Anglo-Dutch descended settler colonial system of apartheid Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who passed away on Monday April 2, 2018 in South Africa.

The queenly warrior, Nomzamo!
The struggle cost, like cocomo!
To tackle the racist machinary, alone
The crisscross, of perturbations
Like the crosswinds, of the Arctic
Unrelenting, like balistic
Imprisoned pregnant, was harsh!

She had four days to marry him
With hundreds of miles to travel
Ancestral gathering, at Bizana in 1958
Suddenly, he is snatched away from her
The babies, blocked from seeing him in the courtroom
Shackled away, we feel her pain
Hereby, to venerate Madikizela-Mandela

Contextual Commentary

The Audacity of the Desert Flower

The audacious desert flower Mponeng of the great African desert resists a brutal drought that engenders fear as a tool to subjugate her. In spite of the harsh persistence of the killer sunrays; the water shortage and the balistic sand particles, she remains undefined in the adverse conditions that seek to redefine her.

As an eternal optimist, she gyrates with effervescent life at the prospect of the coming rain. As if to reward her for keeping the faith under extreme conditions, a sudden glorious appearing ignites like a lightening flash across the heavens followed by the thunderbolt that ushers the rain that falls. Unable to be restrained like the coiled Masumu of Matamong, the fearless Mponeng springs to life as if the future has arrived! She is so much over the moon on account of the falling rain as if the world is a playground and she is unmindful of its extreme cruelty and the ever present danger that poses an impressive threat to her survivability.

Notwithstanding, she does not become complacent or fixated in the euphoria of the long awaited rain. As a counter measure, she internalises the rain that falls with a stoic discipline that necessitates the moral code of transcendence in accordance with the erudite ancestors who have gone before. She does this, so that the rain can be improved upon for the survival benefit of the futuristic generations when the sacrosanct relay of the baton reaches them.

The Gutsy Spirit of Madikizela-Mandela

The unconquerable queen of the South African liberation struggle Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela. She is forever cherished by us! Hamba kahle qhawe lamaqhawe! Picture credit: Sunday Times.

For this reason, the gutsy spirit of the great Ndlovukazi yaka Madikizela-Mandela, is congruent with the indefatigable spirit of the unconquerable desert flower that remains defiant in the face of persistent perturbations in the inhospitable environment of the terrestrial space. She embraces and exemplifies the axiom of transcendence as the state of being undefined by the adverse conditions in cosmic resonance with the African ways of knowing; the African state of being and the African agency of enterprising.

Madikizela-Mandela sacrificed greatly for the land of the erudite ancestors who have gone before us and for the political emancipation that we currently enjoy. The sacrifices outweigh the faults! We must celebrate the sacrifices! Thokoza Makhosi! Sihamba naye, nomakanjani! Retsamaya leyena, jwang kapa jwang!

Hitherto, she vibrated the way she was meant to vibrate unperturbed by the harsh perturbations of the terrestrial space. Hereafter, she is forever cherished by us; venerated by us and vindicated by us as the epitomy of the sacred principles of the celebrated sacrifices via her audacity; her tenacity and her transcendence for the survival benefit of those coming after her. Sabonga izinkomo namankonyana! Raboka dikgomo le manamane! Mamarangrang! Maqhobosheane! Mamophato! Dikakapa tse kgolo! Babaholo Batho bao! Reyabahlompha Batho bao! Reyababoka Batho bao! Thokoza Makhosi!