Free State of mind - a review

Book:: Free State of Mind


Authors: Nthabiseng Jafta, Rita Chihawa and Lebo Leisa

Publisher: Jah Rose Productions

Reviewed by Sabata-mpho Mokae

Three Bloemfontein-based poetesses; Nthabiseng Jafta, Rita Chihawa and Lebo Leisa have collaborated in a new poetry anthology, Free State of Mind. The title of the anthology is derived from the name of their home province, the Free State.

The title, to begin with, indicates that the trio are to present to the reader a no-punches-spared, unrestricted poetry.

In her poem, Brown bag, Jafta relates the story of an ordinary woman whose strengths are often overlooked because she is unassuming. The poem can be said to be a tribute to that woman.

“She took her time to open her brown bag/ that she heavily carried on her back/ long distances she would walk/ to home from work.”

Then in another poem, Another brown bag, which can be said to be another side of the coin, if not a sequel to the first, Jafta tells of another woman. This time, an urban dweller with no strings like children attached to her.

Both poems speak to the varied faces of womanhood.

Chihawa says that she was inspired by other women in her life; her mother and sisters.

“I observed how they went through different phases of their lives, how they overcame challenges and how they kept the tradition of sisterhood flowing.”

Most of her poems in this anthology speak of love; how it is elusive and longed for.

In a poem, Oh! I loved that man, she writes:

“With this black pen/ I will write my love for him/ I see him in my dreams/ To awake him not being here/ life is unfair/ he left . . .”

But she also pays tribute to womanhood. In a poem, Women of strength, she urges women to be strong because “nobody said it’s going to be easy”.

The trio are unapologetically feminist in their presentation. They challenge the status quo and established notions. They attempt to awaken a woman by opening her eyes to the strengths she possesses.

Leisa addresses a woman who was abandoned as a child in a poem, Thula Sana. She is wondering “where is her mother/ to hold her hand”.

In the introduction, a well-known poet/playwright Napo Masheane addresses the concept of ‘black women writings’. She hopes that the label would fall off and that people would also stop saying that it is ‘angry’ poetry.

“There is something powerful when women voices come together like a spider’s web. Because once the spider’s web has begun to weave its base, God, the universe and our ancestors send a thread. There is something magical, almost unbelievable when hands of women find words between their fingers.”

Masheane also quotes from Maya Angelou.

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”

The three poetesses have a song that they hope to get their audience to sing with them. Their stories, as contained and presented through their poems, are intertwined. This is mainly because of their shared background – all are black women who were raised in the time of freedom in South Africa.

It is therefore expected that they would add to the tradition of post-apartheid women’s poetry. Their politics are closer to home than that of their predecessors. To them the struggle is more innate. The personal is political.

That the trio also performs on stage, their to-and-fro migration from page to stage and vice versa seem effortless and relatively successful. Like all performed poems, most of their poems are easy on the ear just as they can engage the reading audience.

There are also some poems written in Sesotho and some carrying titles in Nguni languages.

O Bolaji writes in the foreword that this book is a ‘literary repast’.

This is one hell of a good book. Not only for women, but for all genders and races.

Charles Matorera unfurls new newspaper, BOTHO NEWS

A new newspaper, Botho News has been unveiled and launched in the Free State. The paper is the brainchild and product of Charles Matorera who is a creative writer, essayist, critic, and musician. Charles says: “All my life I have been interested in literacy and literature. This is a dream come true for me. The paper will continue to be relevant and interesting. People must read a lot; and variety is one of the spices of life!” The debut edition of Botho News contains snippets of news, sport, and literature. A superb story written by precocious FS author, Teboho Masakala, is published in the first edition. “The paper will have a regular segment on FS writers and their work - on our powerful literature,” Matorera vouchsafed. The paper, and its supremo, can be contacted via 0839887738

NGUGI IN THE FREE STATE, SOUTH AFRICA

By DINEO MOKGOSI No matter how we look at it, Africa has come a long way from the days of near continental bondage to Europe, said Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o as he delivered the Africa Day Memorial Lecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) on Friday, May 28. “We celebrate Africa Day today in the context of over 60 years of Africa’s independence going to that of Morocco, Libya, Sudan and Ghana, all in the fifties to the present. “If the independence of Ghana is the more memorable in terms of its impact, it was because on the continent, it was first identifiably, unmistakably and unambiguously black nation to wrest independence from Europe,” Thiong’o said. He said Ghana was unique in that Kwame Nkrumah linked the independence of Ghana to that of the rest of the continent and had said Ghana’s uhuru was incomplete as long as the rest of the continent was not free. “In Nkrumah’s eyes the continent could not live with one part free and the other enslaved, a stance reminiscent of Abraham Lincoln, in a statement in the American civil war, that the nation could not endure half free and half enslaved. No leader of the already independent nation including nation building Liberia or the never colonized Ethiopia had ever linked the destiny of their country to that of the continent,” he said. He went on to say that Nkrumah and Nyerere assumed the integrity of the continent and took responsibility for Africa as a whole, a vision already assumed in the anthem Nkosi Sikelele Africa, whose lyrics and melody became the nearest thing to an African anthem. Thiong’o said despite Africa having the only two countries –South Africa and Libya- that have voluntarily given up a nuclear programme, Africa is still not accorded respect in terms of its position in the world as a major power play. “When NATO powers recently attacked and bombed Libya to submission, they were completely oblivious to the feeling and opinions of the African Union. It’s not a question of what one thinks of Kadafi; it’s the blatant almost arrogant disregard of the opinion of the AU, that stood out, in the unfolding drama enacted under the fig leaf cover of a United 4 nations resolutions, a situation not too dissimilar to the killing of Lumumba in the 1960’s. “Would this have happened if Africa had a united muscle to flex? Coincidence or not, the loudest drum beat for war came from France and Britain, both with a colonial and slave past, which means that their attitude to Africa is coloured by their experience of the past master-servant relationship to the continent,” Thiong’o said. He added that if ‘we’ want to know the standing of Africa in the world today, one does not need to question Africa’s seat in the security council or dramatic acts of military intervention but just to look at the attitudes towards blackness in Africa and the world today. “While others may bear the blame for this, Africa is also culpable in the negative standing of blackness in the world” Prof Thiong’o related his own experiences as a black writer having attended a conference for black writers at the Makerere University College in Kampala, Uganda where many writers were often afraid to classify themselves as ‘black writers’. “When I came to see how African writing was often critiqued as lesser than or ‘good enough considering’,or that it was anthropology not literature, I begun to understand why some people would want to disclaim the label black or African, their way of clamoring to be judged by the same aesthetic criteria as any other writers. “I am aware that no writer sits down to see whether every word, sentence or image they put down is black enough; or to consciously erase the memory of experience that shaped the writer so that he or she can write like a writer. But there are moments when I want to stand on roof tops, tear off my clothes, and proclaim I am black writer, holding a banner with the words: I write primarily in an African language, Gikuyu; what of my fiction you now read in English is largely translation from the Gikuyu original. There are other moments when, even if I wanted to be just a writer, no drama of tearing off clothes and holding banner aloft, I am reminded of the fact of blackness: my blackness as a black writer,” the aging professor said. Prof Thiong’o related another story of racial intolerance directed towards him in America. One as a guest at a hotel wherein he was told to his face that the facility he was using was for “guests only” and the other incident occurred whilst in a queue at an ATM to withdraw money. Here, he was approached by a white man who demanded to go before him as he (Ngugi) was collecting a “welfare cheque”. Prof Thiong’o said it was the “absolute certainty” of these gentlemen that made him feel uneasy. “That self-certainty can condemn any one to early death. In that sense race would seem to trump class. The certainty is based on a negative profile of blackness taken so much for granted as normal that it no longer creates a doubt,” the Prof said He avowed that the perception and self-perception of blackness as negative is spread and intensified in the images of everyday; in the West, TV clips to illustrate famine, violent crimes and ethnic warfare, tend to draw from dark faces. “In commercials, TV dramas, in the cinema, one hardly ever sees a really dark person portraying beauty and positivity. A concession to blackness stops at various shades of light skin. No wonder this result in a knee jerk rejection of the African body,” he said. The professor said the negativity around blackness manifests itself in other ways such as where an African leader addresses a nation and for the sake of the ‘British and American’ ambassadors on the dais; they make the speech in English or French. This he said was because African leaders often associated European Languages with formality, dignity, serious discourse on the state of the nation, and African Languages with coarse speech, abuse and ridicule. “This negative perception and self-perception has roots in the history of enslavement and colonization. “The biggest sin, then, is not that certain groups of white people, and even the West as a whole, may have a negative view of blackness embedded in their psyche, the real sin is that the black bourgeoisie in Africa and the world should contribute to that negativity and even embrace it by becoming participants or shareholders in a multibillion industry built on black negativity. If it was a case of a few social foibles here and there, it would not matter, but in a post-colonial situation, the internalized negative view of the black body can have fatal consequences. “The images we have of each other, the images of self, the images we have of the world and history can often blind us not into seeing that reality,” he said. He said for Africa to heal, the African middleclass must give up the looting mentality inherited from the colonial era and political mercenary must give way to political visionary. He continued to say that Africa must rediscover and reconnect with Nkrumah’s dreams of a politically and economically united Africa, rooted in the working of people of Africa. “If we brought together the might of our African and global presence, there’s nothing that could stop Africa being an equal player in the globe. The world begins at home and home begins inside the castle of one’s skin,” said the Professor.

NGUGI IN BLOEMFONTEIN

All-time great African writer, Ngugi wa Thiong'o graced the University of Free State where he delivered an illuminating lecture. Throngs of academics, writers, and admirers turned up for the occasion. Ngugi was delighted to receive a copy of author Pule Lechesa's latest book, Essays on Free State Black Literature, where Lechesa confesses on the blurb that Ngugi has been a key literary influence in his life since he was a kid. (In photo below: Ngugi, second from right; and Lechesa, far right)

MATHENE MAHANKE REVIEWS 'FREE STATE OF MIND'

By Mathene Mahanke As a literary critic, when one is confronted with a fresh publication of the calibre of ‘Free State of Mind’ from the pens of three women of a reputable pedigree - Nthabiseng JahRose Jafta,Rita Chihawa and Lebo Leisa - with the introduction written by a fascinating poetess, and the foreword by a literary giant, one gets intimidated.... One gets intimidated when Napo Masheane says “There is something powerful when women voices come together like a spider web. Because once the spider’s web has begun to weave its base... God, the universe and our ancestors send a thread. There is something magical, almost unbelievable when hands of women find words between their fingers...” Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen, one gets intimidated when Omoseye Bolaji says, “These are powerful female voices and bards who have a lot to say, encapsulating and ventilating their experience in a manner we must all learn from. Hearken them!” .... It’s intimidating...

Thank you, Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen. May I express my gratitude for being afforded the opportunity to be one of the first people to express an opinion on the freshly ground work of the three ladies who have birthed an addition to the literary family of the Free State province. I am humbled to stand in front of the audience of this magnitude and say words that cannot be compared to the voice of reason in the book, Free State Of Mind. Thank you, Nthabiseng. Enkosi Rita. Ke a leboha, Lebo. As a literary critic, I am always guided by the literary theories so as to contextualize my appraisal. I must confess, after glossing through the book... which was handed to me only yesterday.... I could not immediately think of any particular theory. Because it is a book written by women one would be tempted to rush for the feminist approach. But one immediately thinks, is it not demeaning to say these are women, and they should think like women. Are we not retracing our steps that led to the emergence of the very theory to the exclusion of other aspects? I would rather look at it from the perspective of a Womanist literary theory. This is a term used by Alice Walker to discribe a theory that looks at the perspectives and experiences of a black woman. Reading through this book one is confronted with strong words that, at times, suggest anger..., but, in the introduction Napo says, “I think the day the world stops to box ‘the black women writings’, or label it as angry ... more women will write and be in a ‘Free State Of Expression.’ ... To ensure that any writing by women take it’s deseved place in the literature of South Africa and the world I think we should heed Napo’s call. In the light of the above, I would, therefore, locate the writings of our three authors in a free state of mind, without undue conformity to any particular set of rules. I would also encourage whoever ventures a review of their work to be careful not to apply a single theory to the exclusion of others. Let me make an example of how any literary theory could be deployed to unearth the treasures hidden behind the words and phrases put together by Nthabiseng, Rita and Lebo. Russian Formalism would address the literariness in each poem where we see beautiful metaphors in the hands of these women crafters. The opening line reads: I yearn like a coloured butterfly to fluff away in a song In this line we are afforded an opportunity to peep inside the mind and soul of the author, or I’ll say authors as this piece is co-authored, to see with our imaginative eyes the quest to break lose and be free spirited young women... free of all inhibitions and man made impediments. The words that come out are likened to a song because it will not just be a haphazard junk, but it will be words selected to make an intended impact, and packaged to appeal to the ear of the listener. In the same line the words are likened to a butterfly which gracefully moves from one flower to another.... But, mark this, this is not ordinary, dull butterfly. Like the flowers it visit it also has colour; meaning that it blends well with the flowers... The metaphor can be stretched further: While the butterfly moves from one flower to another we marvel at the beauty produced by the colourfulness of the butterfly and that of the flowers. We are, most of the time, not aware that the butterfly is carrying pollen from one flower to another, cross-pollinating the flowers for reproduction, multiplication and increase... What a beautiful metaphor, right at the beginning... This is poetry. It comprises of two elements: What the poets want to communicate... and how they communicate it. And like a livewire this trend runs through this book setting every idea alive and brightening every dark corner with a metaphor. The night is short, Mr Programme Director. I would have, otherwise gone on to analyse each and every poem on the basis of the communicative devices that turn words into poetic lines and make these young women artists who, with the formless clay would create a structured work of art. Suffice to say, ladies and gentlemen, poetry is more difficult to write than any other genre because the literariness in poetry means the ability to handle language at different levels while not losing meaning and sense. As I stated earlier, the work cannot be seen from a Formalist point of view only. A cursory look at the book said to me all theories applied will unearth the formidable nature of the book, Free State of Mind as a work of art. We could look at it from the point of view of the Sociology of literature which is a branch of literature that examines the relationship between the literary works and their social contexts. This would assist to understand how the mind of a young woman perceives the world.... They are poets, but they are human beings also. This is what they say about men: Rita is 'jilted'; and she tell the man where to get off: Because he has the power to crumble my heart into pieces Just like all of these diseases Fatal and harmful I thought that he was cool Little did I know that he would stoop this low? Well, he does not want me anymore! Lebo is puzzled by men who do not make any move, and does not hesitate to tell them of their unmanly behaviour: Athe banna ba kae, banna ba motseng Banna ba ho ithoka bo? Senyamo se, se mpheta le hoja ke itlhatswitse Ke le dikonkosi Ha ho lekopokopo ho koposela, ke re metsi a pula ho lelemela Tjhe! Le ha ke le mobe ke le ya kgesehang Ha ho ya nthonakang? Jah Rose, cautions young women to define limits in love relationships and be wary of men who are only interested in deflowering them. She calls such a man, molemi, one who plants without caring for the garden. Poetically put she says: There are plenty ways to have fun I may even loosen up at times Not with my rose Thank you.

GEORGE RAMPAI'S DEBUT NOVEL

Stunning debut by township novelist!

BOOK: From where I stand
AUTHOR: George Rampai
PUBLISHER: Mbali Press (PTY) LTD
Lay-out by Thabo Ntai
REVIEWER: Pule Lechesa

It is thrilling to see that an authentic ‘township boy’, George Rampai has successfully weaved together an intriguing thriller titled, From where I stand; a work that comes close to being a world class novel.

On his own admission, Rampai over the decades has been heavily influenced by euro-centric thriller writers; most especially James Hadley Chase. In fact the reader will be forgiven to think that he/she was reading one of Chase’s thrillers transplanted onto the townships, whilst reading this book.

Examples of such hackneyed phrases made famous by Chase are found many times in this beautifully written book, to the point of absurdity. Cheap, melodramatic turns of action hit you. Ineluctably, for example, we do not in reality confront black people practically "blushing" as often happens in this book. Even some of the names are not rooted in the ambience of Black township life as you know it, e.g Mr Preston.

The main protagonist (Danny) is an unlovable character. It reminds this critic of Chinua Achebe’s novel “A Man of the people”, where the main character Odili comes across as a hypocritical and disgusting personality. A young man moralizing about moral decay in his society, but contributing prodigiously to the same immorality.

Hence when Danny makes any attempts to "philosophise" or explain many facets of his so called "love" of many women, we can only be filled with contempt and anger! In the beginning, Danny starts fantasizing about Moliehi and we feel sympathy for him. But when he later confesses that he is married to a beautiful, well behaved woman with a daughter, we realize how flawed this shocking character is.

Danny sleeps with Moliehi, but roughly at the same time he is ready to spend a night with a cheap coloured whore at a shebeen. He not only sleeps with another female acquaintance, Tiffany, but is surprisingly ready to move in with the woman he has barely met and knows!

In fact Danny comes across as a prize buffoon; he is a shallow and foolish man. And here we need to commend the author for creating a whole book around such a convincing, idiotic personality. His treatment of his wife after being infatuated with the two young women is despicable.

Perhaps in Danny’s defence we might argue that on his own admission he is an "illiterate". Here however we are confronted with a textual paradox. The fine writing style of the writer/protagonist under-cuts any impression of illiteracy. Some of the sentences are constructed to such a high order by the narrator, Danny in the first person; like in this passage:

“We watched in total annoyance as the weather-beaten, sweating and ageing hawker with a wizened face, shouting snoek-fish, achaar and makwenya, the most popular and cheapest township fast food. He noisily trundled past us, pushing his rickety cart...”

This is an impressive prose that one might expect to find in books written by the likes of Chinua Achebes, Peter Abrahams, Wole Soyinkas and the Ngugis. We are thus confronted with spectacle of an undesirable protagonist, who behaves like his 'friend' of the same name, Wag.

The fact that Danny is impoverished is clear enough the way he gets over-excited about financial banalities. The 'fool' is ready to risk his own life and that of his family for few thousands. Yet this might not come across as a total surprise as we have heard in the beginning that one of his weakness was money.

The community described here (Ladybrand) is brilliantly evoked by the author. Rampai is probably the first salient English novelist to have come from this area. He deserves kudos for this.

The author also tries to inject humour into the text but many a time this becomes over stretched and boring. There is a lot of unconvincing dialogue.
As we have pointed out Danny can in no way be described as a man of integrity, he is very much a man of straw and the fact that the book is written in the first person narrative reinforces this feeling.

Although intermittently there are signs that he might be an intelligent man, the evidence in front of the reader is that on the whole Danny is ruled by disgusting, primordial sex instincts.

Yet the author, George Rampai has produced a remarkable novel, a brilliant tribute to his society. Township life and its trajectory can be felt and grasped in this intelligent, spellbinding work.

Like his role model (Hadley Chase)Rampai posseses the talent of painting a vivid picture of what is happening, especially when an attractive woman is concerned! This becomes evident when he talks about the first time he saw Moliehi:

“She sashayed slowly as if she hadn’t any care in the world; she floated like a butterfly swaying her hips provocatively. We whistled and moaned in appreciation, a bevy of girls that was sitting nearby, gaped enviously at her. She wore a white sleeveless cotton dress that billowed to the effect of slight wind.”

He must be commended for his brilliant finale. The book is an authentic thriller, with a variety of twist and turns. It is only at the end of the book that we realize what is going on; for example the real status of Moliehi, and the unexpected person who killed Tiffany. However we are still left with a whiff of dissatisfaction over the doubtful moral value of the protagonist.

If Tiffany had not been killed, Danny was already absolute bent on leaving his family to start a new life with a woman we learn is a shameless whore. It is disturbing that even at the end of this absorbing novel, Danny not only sleeps with Moliehi again, but the text indicates that she MIGHT be expecting his baby. Yet at the very same time Dineo, Danny’s real wife, also announced that she was pregnant.

One would have expected the protagonist to be worried but readers are told about his great happiness over the double pregnancies. The narrator, Danny even ends the work by praising God for what He has done for him. This again re-inforces the strong feeling that essentially our hero, Danny is morally bankrupt whilst not marring an excellent novel.

ZONG READ IN SOUTH AFRICA

All roads seemed to lead to the Bloemfontein City Library on Monday (April 16)where book-length readings of the monumental poetic work, Zong!, took place.

Zong was written by the acclaimed Canadian author, NouberSe Philip, and readings from the work were being done simultaneously in Canada and South Africa.

The South African reading attracted a number of sterling poets and writers. They
included the formidable literary critic and poet, Pule Lechesa; author and poet, Charmaine Kholwane; award winning poet and essayist, Hector Kunene; celebrated journalist and book reviewer, Mpikeleni Duma; the flamboyant poet-performer, Dr Cool; renowned South African female poets: JahRose, and Rita Chihawa, among many others.

Also present was the phalanx of the media, both print and electronic, including the
award winning photo-journalists, Motshwari, and Thabang Lenko. They, together with teeming members of the public, basked at the occasion.

As the proceedings commenced, the significance of the occasion was pointed out, together with an Introduction to the works of the pertinent author, Nouberse Philip.

Thereafter the focus was on Zong itself, its historical and literary connotations and ramifications, with a bevy of readers reading straight from the riveting text.

An exhilarated Pule Lechesa enthused about the occasion: "It has been incredibly moving. Zong is a literary tour de force, haunting, moving, rhythmical, rather
zany, yet coherently comprehensive. The plight and travails of slaves at the time should never be forgotten. An empathetic, majestic work!" - O Bolaji