Homeland’s Dreams Of Reality

By Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala

Author, Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala has wonderfully narrated this novel which is feisty, witty and full of yearning. The story is complicated as life itself, but is richly satisfying.

A vivid portrait of a wealthy businessman and former politician, Smangaliso Mkhize and his family in disarray. This intricate plot tells about a married couple living in suburban Sandton city, South Africa whose marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife researches more about her late mother.

Smangaliso, unable to stop thinking about his lovebird, decides to invite her to his posh mansion. He sweeps her off her feet and into his bed, a sexual encounter he would recall in flashbacks for many years to come. Wild and thrilling love and sexual relations ensued and he is delighted by the sexual attention he received from his lover particularly during their dating period.

But now so many years later, his delight is mixed with feelings of guilt at the same time about a shocking revelation that has been unearthed about their past. Being married to a loving and devoted wife is regarded as a blessing but now this terrible secret – and unforgivable one – threatens to tear their perfect life and love apart.

This devastating discovery triggers much anger and frustration on the latter part of their marriage and in the days that follow. Sometimes the personal choices we make will have grave consequences for one another as a couple and for others.

This is a tense, suspenseful novel set against the harsh and beautiful backdrop of late 20th century. A story of treachery, betrayal, love and redemption, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala
• Release date: Jul 31, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463462089

Book preview

HOMELAND’S

DREAMS

OF REALITY

HOMELAND’S

DREAMS

OF REALITY

Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala

Copyright © 2018 Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala

Published by Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Author using Reach Publishers’ services,

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Edited by Bronwen Bickerton for Reach Publishers

Website: www.reachpublishers.co.za

E-mail: [e-mail]

Cover designed by Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala

Books also written by the author:

1. Smoke of Forgiveness (historical novel)

2. Chronicles of Tshabalala Clan in Mhlongamvula

& its Exodus (historical book)

3. Mhlongamvula & its Dark Secrets (historical book)

"A book should serve as an axe for the frozen sea within us."

– Franz Kafka

* * * * *

"Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance."

– Charles Lindergh

* * * * *

"You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them."

– Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Table of Contents

Dedications

Acknowledgements

Prologue

1. Alexandra Township

2. The Journey North

3. From Here to There: Northern Rhodesia

4. Life in Lusaka & its Obstacles

5. Love & Lust

6. Mngagawu & Morogoro Camps

7. Homecoming & His Plans Alone

8. Sunflowers, Power & Greed

9. Tribulations & Revelations

Glossary

Dedications

To my wife for your untiring devotion to our family and my three sons for your unconditional love and compassion. There are no words to describe how grateful I am in having each and every one of you.

This book is affectionately dedicated to you all.

Also,

To everyone who wonders if I am writing about them.

Acknowledgements

In African literary terms, my take on novel writing is that it is our ineradicable tendency to tell our contemporary stories and the tendency of the readership is to read and listen to these stories. After all, reading is to connect ourselves with the reality of our own lives. It may be painful or exciting, but if we are to become human, we cannot abandon it. Without a doubt, the effect of art writing on the imagination is crucial to a healthy society because we can see into other times, other worlds which offer a window to other lives.

I must confess that sometimes my own contemporary stories, including my debut historical novel Smoke of Forgiveness, have moved me to tears during the writing process, and this historical novel, Homeland’s Dreams of Reality is one of those stories which made me temporarily suspend my art writing as I had to heal myself from the emotions as author and reader at the same time. Whatever the reason I am glad those tales have been told; however, writing a novel is such a complex and lonely journey. Nonetheless, I am addicted to the journey of writing. It’s both appalling and wonderful and I feel driven all the time. It has been said that people write about what worries them. If "worry is too strong a word, one might say that people write about what they think" about, hence I thought of writing and sharing this incredible story with the entire readership.

I have tried to make sure that each historic book or novel I have written is more like a fruit tree. It starts as a tiny seed and miraculously grows larger over many months of reflection, thinking, reading and prayer. Personally, the birthing process of writing out of my thoughts is a long, hard and excruciating, burning exercise. Moreover, it is largely an exercise in psychological discipline, trying to balance my project on my chin while negotiating a minefield of depression which would soon become a lifetime of ecstasy.

First and foremost, I would like to thank God Almighty for helping me in the process of putting this novel together. I realised how true His never-ending mercy and grace were during my life journey. He gives me the power to believe in my passion and pursue my dreams. I could never have done this without the faith I have in Him. Writing and reaching the last page of this novel was due to the amazing grace of God Almighty, and I thank Him with more honour and sincerity from the bottom of my heart than I could ever write on this paper; but for Him my heart has no bottom.

Truly speaking, quite a number of many loyalist ancestors locally and abroad have written various history books that have documented the philosophy of South Africa from slavery, colonisation and apartheid to the democratic era. From their descendants’ point of view, this is the most considerate way of being easy to find and of knowing what unfolded on this rich African soil lived on by our forebears. Even better, several thoughtful ancestors have written contemporary stories about South Africa. I have hopped gratefully onto their shoulders, honouring their selfless dedication and with thanks for their help. Undoubtedly we can now see a long way back regarding Africa, particularly our beautiful South Africa both in the past and the present. I therefore hereby give credit to all of them. After all, we didn’t inherit the future from our ancestors; we borrowed it from our children and from the generations to come.

Furthermore, I would like to thank my wife and soul mate Thandie and our lovely three sons, Muzimkhulu, Makhubane Jnr. and Mbongiseni, for standing beside me throughout while I was writing this novel; hence I dedicate this novel to them. Indeed, my lovely family is a perpetual source of blessing and encouragement and I thank all of you kindly. Apart from that though, your loving support really made much of the work on this novel not only enjoyable but also possible.

I must also acknowledge Reach Publishers and its editors for the general editing and for their wonderful support in managing to combine their enthusiasm for this novel for it to be where it is today. Also, I would like to acknowledge Jonathan Musvaba, the talented graphic designer of my breathtaking book cover.

Thank you to all my avid readers worldwide, for packing their mental suitcases and coming off on another trip with me. Undeniably, the emotional journey of this novel is one of my favourites too as a reader as well, and I hope you will be rooting for it right alongside me as you turn the pages. Truly, I thank you for choosing to read my books out of the thousands that merit reading. If any of my books have moved you, inspired you, or educated you, please share your reactions with others.

Without you, I wouldn’t be here now, writing these words. Indeed, you gave me the courage and the belief that I could really do this. You have inspired me to continue to go after my dreams. I recognise that reading takes time and quietness, so I am grateful and you have designed your lives to allow for this enriching endeavour, whatever the title of my book.

In closing, telling our contemporary stories in all their depression in order to preserve our past for the present, into the future, is one of the vital diversities of humanity. Nevertheless, the most important things we can learn from the past are what mistakes to avoid and what useful beneficial activities to copy for a brighter future. This is simply an epic from the solid contemporary and time-travelling genre of love and history of romance which it is hoped all readers will enjoy.

In having profound gratitude and hope for your continued reading, it is for this and for all of you that I will be forever grateful.

Blessings to all!

Nelson Makhubane Tshabalala

Prologue

From the Author

The story you are about to read is cautious, and yet it is a typical reflection of many parts of South Africa and other parts of the world. However, it is fictitious in the true sense of whether to believe or not, even though it is very much aligned to some of the special true historic landscape events that have unfolded in South Africa and its neighbouring countries in the past and in the present. Although all of the chosen historic events and time sequences are completely factual, the essential elements of this novel’s story are entirely not real. Perhaps fiction can help us to bear the burden of our societal mindsets and behavioural approach, which presses hard on us nowadays. Moreover, this is the story of the enduring power of love, despair and miracles which may indeed be appalling to many readers as a reflective window into a shocking and neglected century of despair. This regards an era of South African history which must never be forgotten.

However, few innocents who are in this storytale, as recorded in this historic and romantic novel demonstrate the exploits of the heroes and villains of the well-known troublemakers’ series. What you are about to read may shock or upset you, but I’m afraid that I have to share it with you. In a long time past, Smangaliso Mkhize, now about 85 years old, tells a riveting story of himself. This is a rare and enthralling account. Told with real literary vigour and in a ghetto black township called Alexandra, South Africa, he begins to unravel the mystery that drove him away from his township all those years ago.

However, he becomes increasingly aggravated with his shortcomings and heartened with his accomplishments. He persists, unaware that he is unearthing a shocking experience of his past. He overcomes his abhorrence of poverty and Apartheid South Africa to start his business and raise a family. How horrible these memories are for Smangaliso as they all crowd around him; no wonder he walks round as though in a daze most of the time. All those memories to bump against, shake off, evade, or steer through are hard to endure. Nonetheless, he stands up for himself and decides he deserves more after he has been badly misjudged and mistreated by the people around him. So much of Smangaliso’s account is about moving forward from his past and learning to forgive himself.

Smangaliso grows to manhood while living in Alexandra Township, Northern Transvaal (now Gauteng Province); as he grows on to middle age in the epoch preceding the 1976 school riots in Soweto, he finds himself living in Musina, Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province), working for a diamond mining company. Later on in Zambia, Smangaliso finds himself working under a South African white-owned tobacco company, and, with regards to his shocking kidnapping experience in Zambia that follows, this novel seeks to explain how human trafficking brings people from various other societies and how demand for trafficked workers and servants shapes modern slavery.

While still enslaved and working in Zambia, his owner with his family generate a lot of sales returns, but the tobacco farm workers including Smangaliso receive nothing to help them to start a new life. Sadly, they receive neither any stipends nor benefits; this was a form of slavery in the 20th century. While working there, he exiles himself to the offices of the African National Congress (ANC) in Lusaka, Zambia, to share his touching experiences outside South Africa and he falls in love with two different local Zambian women, but his jealousy drives them away. He later on joins uMkhonto weSizwe, the armed liberation wing of the African National Congress in Zambia and, after a few years, he gets deployed to Tanzania.

Two decades after the democratic dispensation, Smangaliso owns a chain of posh and upmarket properties within South Africa, mainly along the coastal regions and abroad. He lives with his big family in an upmarket suburb of Sandton nearby Johannesburg, and love and life aren’t always easy or satisfying as Smangaliso and his wife Duduzile, affectionately known as Nomfundo, painfully discover they are blood relations; father and daughter, after Nomfundo, a sensitive young woman, had already entered into the happy affair with an old man who had spent almost three decades of his life in exile.

Twenty years later, Smangaliso finds himself caught between a hard rock and bedrock, facing serious and haunting family crises. Even as more tragedies befall the Mkhize family, Smangaliso discovers within himself his deep faith and love that help him and his family to survive. This story follows three generations of Smangaliso’s family as they search for a sense of self. Nhlanhla Mkhize, the son of Smangaliso, dies of heart disease when he returns to his parents’ home in Sandton, while his daughter becomes a lesbian involved in a four-way lesbian open relationship.

In the world of the money laundering schemes of the mafias after the democratic South Africa, Smangaliso controls almost all of the syndicate network systems while showing his loyalty to his former counterpart politicians whom he spent life with in exile. He dominates the money laundering network system, but refuses to deal in drugs. Moreover, whatever he wants he gets, in whatever way he sees fit. It is the reflective truth seldom acknowledged that those things which one should not want are the things one wants the most.

This novel unfolds with elegant minimalism and clever out-of-sequence events that turn upon it; the little scenes and the fragments of background are stepping stones carrying the Mkhize family across much more than can be believed. At the wonderful climax of this novel, however, inhibition and irony break down in an extended episode of Smangaliso managing his family crises and uniting his family into one union. While all the characters in this tale attempt to justify their actions, the essential selfishness of the adults comes through with disturbing clarity. Everyone pays a high price, but none more so than Smangaliso. It is a historic and romantic novel of gut-wrenching twists and surprises, which brilliantly explores the passions between lovers and those behind society’s way of life. It will remarkably make the reader challenge every assumption, second guess every move of the characters and feel the terror of the truth.

Indeed, this is a story of family bonds and generational conflicts, youthful infatuation and genuine passion that is tender, ambitious and unflinching and which readers will find irresistible. Yet while depicting overblown wealth and insatiable ambition, it also focuses on intimate motivations, moral dilemmas and the blurred divide between truth and lies.

The characters in this novel are based to some extent on a composite of real people being aligned to some of the true historical events that unfolded during Apartheid and the new South Africa, and in neighbouring countries. These people were mine workers, tobacco plantation workers, business leaders, politicians and intelligence persons, although no single individual character in this book is meant to represent a real person, either living or dead.

CHAPTER ONE

Alexandra Township

Nobody knows the real story about my family and past because nobody has ever heard my side of the story. My name is Smangaliso Mkhize and you can call me Khabazela" but it doesn’t matter!’ Smangaliso exclaimed.

‘Way back in once upon a time, Alexandra black township was a shanty area on the edges of Johannesburg, South Africa, and was simply a Ph.D. crime ghetto because many of its residents were involved in either advanced crime-related activities or drug trafficking,’ Smangaliso added.

My nose started to itch and I felt a sneeze coming on and well I huffed and snuffed. Thereafter, I sneezed a great deal and Smangaliso said it could be Amadlozi wami seeking attention and presence in my spirit. Nevertheless, there were multiple numbers of four-roomed chimney-built houses and shacks and this area was ceaselessly polluted because of the burning coal that powered smoke at dawn and at night.

Alexandra Township, commonly known as Alex and hailed as Gomora, was located in the former Transvaal (now called Gauteng Province). It was a section of Johannesburg that was nearby the then agricultural farms of Sandton and was encircled by the real platteland of Marlboro to the north and Wynberg to the west. Alexandra Township was one of the poverty-stricken areas in the country. Here in South Africa, during the apartheid era, the words township and/or location were generally used to refer to the often underdeveloped living areas, which from the late 19th century until the end of Apartheid were reserved for the Blacks, Coloureds and Indians. It should be noted that these townships were normally created on the outside edges of the cities and towns that were under the stronghold of the Whites. This township of Alexandra was indeed a real location or lokasie, as they were affectionately known in Afrikaans. Black townships were nicknamed kasies in Tsotsitaal by their residents, this being slang which was a prevalent short version of lokasie.

Smangaliso explained that despite the fact that Alexandra was unquestionably a shanty area, it was situated on the banks of the Jukskei River and it was believed that it mainly had four-roomed houses and a high number of informal dwellings or shacks. Alexandra Township was established in 1912 on land that covered an area of over 800 hectares and which was then owned by a Greek farmer called Mr Papenfus. It’s believed Mr Papenfus attempted to establish a white residential suburb and name it after his wife, who was called Alexandra. However, due to the fact that it was a sizeable distance from the centre of Johannesburg, his plan never materialised as a milestone. Accordingly, in 1912 Alexandra was proclaimed a native township for Blacks. Cognisance should be taken that this township was proclaimed prior to the Land Act of 1913 and it happened to be one of the areas where black people could own land under a freehold title. During 1916, the Alexandra Health Committee was formed and this township had by then grown in size with a population estimated at 30 000. During this era, the Committee was never allowed to collect the local taxes due to the laws of apartheid.

Smangaliso lived in a rented backyard shack at 10th Avenue, which was owned by a well-known businessman called Solomon Khumalo. Note should be taken that backyard shacks were additional units rented out by landlords as a significant income for the main householder. These structures were indeed made illegal by the former Apartheid Government and were built without compliance to norms of planning and building codes, which made their general service and maintenance difficult. Smangaliso lived in a neighbourhood that had a lot of gangsters and a dark cloud of violence.

Kids aged between 12 and 15 years old began their initiation into local gangs. The role models in this neighbourhood were only from gang groups, which was the reason for their own induction. Some depicted violence and gangs as a way of life and a culture. Those youngsters never discovered their role models doing anything wrong in the name of crime, as they idolised them a great deal. However, Smangaliso blamed the apartheid regime for leaving a bitter legacy of poverty and inequality as well as the depravity of violence. The weapon of choice in most occasions was a gun, and with its easy accessibility, anyone was able to get one.

Sadly, this township was put under the direct control of the former Department of Native Affairs, which was during the period when the National Party (NP) came into power in 1948 through the implementation of its policies of apartheid. During the early 1960s, the apartheid government decisively began to demolish all family accommodation in Alexandra and replace it with single-sex hostels, which led to widespread resistance and protests by the black people, but their plans were short-lived as there were only two hostels completed and the project was cancelled during 1979.

History in the making never happened in Soweto, Sharpeville and Gugulethu alone, but in Alexandra Township too. The political riots that started in Soweto in June 1976, and which spread like a raging fire to many other areas including Alexandra where 19 people were brutally killed, was hard to swallow. However, as a result of these riots, the evictions, expropriation and forced removals of black properties were then stopped. Still, during those years of isolation of Apartheid, the regime introduced the Master Plan around 1980, which aimed to transform Alexandra into a garden city with a completely new layout. However, only a small part of this plan was actually ever implemented; the execution of the Master Plan was permanently stopped by the violent Alex Six Days uprising in February 1986, which was a fuelled political uprising by all residents in which 40 people were killed. By May 1986, the Council started collapsing and the Councillors resigned, which saw the emergence of street committees and people’s courts. After the imposition of the nationwide state of emergency in June 1986, the Defence Force moved in to keep the peace. In its place, the government then introduced the Urban Renewal Plan as part of its strategy during the state of emergency. However, this plan lead to considerable demolitions, disruptions and displacement in the community as well as two treason trials involving 13 leaders of Alexandra.

For the duration of the communal and political conflicts which occurred from 1991 up until 1992, many people were killed, injured and displaced. This then led to numerous people plans such as Codesa, etc. that were intensely supported by the first fully democratic elections that took place on 27 April 1994.

Smangaliso was the first-born child of Nhlanhla Mkhize in Nondweni region, north-eastern Zululand (in what is now referred to as the KwaZulu-Natal Province). It is believed that Smangaliso had nine sisters and about 13 stepsisters and 11 stepbrothers who were from the other eight wives who were married to his father. Nondweni was not far from Nqutu and the mountainous beauty of the Nkandla region. It was a remote area of South Africa situated among scenic platteland landscapes and breathtaking mountainous beauty, which consisted mainly of tribal lands and state-owned land. This area had a wealth of undisturbed forests which boasted many indigenous species. It is believed to be 142 kilometres away from Durban. The agricultural landscape and splendour of Nondweni stretches in the south to the uMfolozi River and inland to the mountainous beauty of the nearby surrounds. It is a locality not far from Nkandla, the birthplace of one of the presidents of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. Briefly, Nkandla is claimed to be one of the cradles of Zulu history dating back from prominent Zulu leaders including Malandela, Shaka, Dingane and Cetshwayo. This historic area is therefore in the centre stage of the Zulu nation’s history and is where the graves of both kings Malandela and Cetshwayo are located.

Smangaliso was born within one of the royal families of the Mkhize clan who were the descendants of one of the oldest chiefs of the Mkhize people, Zihlandlo. Note should be taken that iNkosi Zihlandlo was one of King Shaka’s regional superiors and a trusted Amakhosi. It is believed that iNkosi Zihlandlo was a legend in the political, social and cultural organisation of pre-colonial Zulu society under King Shaka Zulu. However, his life was short-lived when he and the other trusted superior Amakhosi and/or Izikhulu including Magaye, Matubane of the Luthuli, etc. were killed following the death of King Shaka. The killings of these Izikhulu was furthermore related to the Qwabe Rebellion of March 1829, which was traditionally seen as the initial breakaway between Natal and Zululand.

The Mkhize clan was among the oldest of the tribes of the eMbo people who were part of the original Nguni whose contemporary identity dated back over 500 years. They were among the Nguni groups such as the Swazi, Mthethwa and Ndwandwe who left the great lakes in Central and East Africa between 200AD and 1200AD. It’s believed that one of the key reasons for their migration to Southern Africa was mainly the search for greener pastures for their cattle and in reaction to the brutal Arab raids for slaves. On their arrival, they settled in Mozambique and later moved to Swaziland along the Lubombo Mountains. The eMbo people originated from the Nguni category of a cluster of clans, including Dlamini, Tshabalala, Ngwane, Langa, Mkhize, Hadebe, Nxumalo, Mabuza, Ginindza, Mbhele, Vilakazi, Zikhali, Zwane, Zwide, Ngubane, Magwaza, Gumede kaManukuza, Mavuso, Cebekhulu, Mlangeni, Tembe, Nkosi, Mkhatshwa, Mncwabe, Mtshali, Mzizi, Mhlongo, Hlengwa, etc. During this period there were divisions among the eMbo clan and the descendants of King Ludvonga I; this being that the Hlubi, Tshabalala, Dlamini, Mabuza and Ginindza families were established and remained in the old Swaziland while the Mkhize left in the 17th Century to settle in Zululand within the Nkandla region. During the said tribal divisions, King Ludvonga kaMavuso was discontented with those divisions and tried to unify the eMbo clan, but failed.

Note should be taken that Smangaliso was born during the Great Depression" early in the 1930s. The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding the Second World War. In 1933 environmental catastrophe struck South Africa when it experienced severe drought, faced also by worldwide depression in which both the mining and agricultural sectors’ income received a hammer blow. The drought killed crops, and with no plants to hold down the soil the dry dirt swirled up into suffocating dust storms when the winds kicked in. South African exports crashed and a crisis in economic confidence developed on a scale never before experienced. It was during this period when banks collapsed and businesses closed and almost two thirds of the population was unemployed. Many people irrespective of race were forced to migrate in search of work and the men who had once been their own bosses were now forced to work for wages on other people’s farms and becoming migrant workers, often in exploitative conditions.

However, the narration of events that changed the lives of the family of Smangaliso is hard to swallow. Just as Smangaliso was preparing to write his Standard Six examinations there was a secret internal rivalry among the Mkhize families which was mainly over the chieftainship and this rivalry depicted the changing tide of history through the eyes of Smangaliso’s family. To this end, Smangaliso decided to leave Nondweni for good early in 1947 to look for a job at the gold mines of Transvaal (now Gauteng Province) at the young age of about 16 years to find work. Before he left he was in love with one of the servants of the Mkhize princesses, a girl called Nomakholwa Buthelezi, who hailed from Mpukunyoni village at Mtubatuba, north-eastern Zululand (now KwaZulu-Natal Province), just nearby St. Lucia and Hluhluwe. They had an enduring love story which was short-lived as Smangaliso left the area for good and never went back. Certainly, he left the beautiful rural landscape of Nondweni just a year before Apartheid was legalised and, for the white regime, 1948 and the 1960s included decades of boom and unprecedented prosperity. Sadly, for the African people, those years saw Apartheid hardened into its most dogmatic and racist form. Simply put, the country’s National Party led by the descendants of the European settlers known as Afrikaners ushered Apartheid into existence after sweeping into power on a campaign calling for stricter racial controls amid the heavy inflow of African people into South African cities.

Travelling from one region to another during the apartheid era was a mammoth task considering, firstly, the pass laws, the remoteness of the regions and the scarcity of the transport network. However, Smangaliso did not despair and managed through tough terrain. Luckily, when he got to Newcastle nearby the railway lines, there was a long locomotive steam engine train temporarily stopped by a robot and it is believed it had been cautioned to stop due to general maintenance on the railway lines. Smangaliso had no choice and, within seconds, he jumped into one of the carriers, which was half filled with coals, and he sat there quietly hiding for about half an hour when suddenly the train marshal blew his whistle afar at the front when the robot was green, opening up a way for the train to depart immediately.

Still Smangaliso lay down, even though he was frozen due to the cold rapid wind as the carriers were widely open. The steam train took about two days to get to Johannesburg due to the frequent maintenance of the railway lines that was underway. Note should be taken that he had nothing to fill his stomach, and he ignored its signals of hunger and thirst. Just during midday on the following day, the train with Smangaliso arrived at City Deep Carriers Centre, Johannesburg, to offload a few lockable containers which came from Durban harbour. At first glance, Smangaliso fleetingly looked outside and saw a high workforce seriously engrossed in moving goods and big containers sideways both at the dispatch and receive points while others were driving and towing other containers packed with goods.

Immediately it occurred to Smangaliso to pretend to be one of the assistants for a while, drawing himself away from the vicinity as he could be arrested and charged for trespassing if caught by the security personnel. He then managed to go through one of the main gates for incoming heavy vehicles only and luckily Smangaliso was then a free entity in Johannesburg.

He suddenly walked through the crossover at the railways lines nearby and, just when he looked up, he saw the scenic attraction of the city of Joburg with its echelons of mining bed rock alongside the skyscraper buildings that symbolised the nickname of this beautiful city, eGoli (place of gold).

While being hooked on the beauty of this city, his stomach signals began and, for now, it was kind of an emergency call for some meal otherwise the poor young man would collapse at any minute. Despite the fact he was a shy individual he swallowed his pride and requested of two certain gentlemen passing by 15 pence to buy some food. Luckily he managed to get a few coins from them and from other individuals. He managed to buy his first meal of half a loaf and a little sealed tin of spicy mango archer as well as a packet of Sweet-aid. He walked for a few minutes and found a camping site for the migrant labourers who looked for jobs at various mines in Joburg. The newly-created Newtown bus parking lot was where this camping site used to be and Smangaliso ate his food. While digesting his welcome meal, an old man who sat a few metres away from him offered him some leftovers including beef stew and mealie-pap. The old man really demonstrated an ubuntu that could be compared to that of the olden days and which the current generation lacks. The spicy gravy-like stew ran down inside the palm of his right hand and the young man couldn’t restrain his appetite; he gulped down everything, leaving no leftovers for the roaming bees and flies in the vicinity.

‘Ngiyabonga Mkhulu ngokuhla, uNkulunkulu akubusise!’ Smangaliso thanked the old man.

‘Kubonga mina mfana wami! ’ the old man responded.

A few minutes later he surrendered to his exhaustion and fell asleep right there as he was tired after his long journey from Zululand. He was awoken by one Bantu-speaking immigrant man who spoke in a dialect similar to isiZulu, even though it was somehow mixed with other languages and/or dialects including Sesotho and a little bit of Afrikaans. The man informed him the police raids had started and he should either run away if he didn’t have a dompas or hide somewhere. He was instantly wide awake and showed the looming police force his clean pair of heels but, as he gained momentum, he collided with one Bantu man who was also seeking refuge from the onslaught.

Smangaliso realised Johannesburg wasn’t made up of dusty treeless suburbs with poor homes crowded onto small plots that were overlooked by dumps. White people of European descent lived in green neighbourhoods with paved roads and sidewalks, in lush homes with gardens, swimming pools and tennis courts. The African people who worked in those suburbs had to have permission to live in the boy’s quarters at the bottom of the garden, and such approval was stamped into much hated dompas which was used as a passbook. Otherwise they had to be out of the white suburbs before nightfall. This was racism at its best and the current generations may not know about, or the future generations. It seemed to be embedded in Smangaliso’s mind unconsciously, and it soon became part of his life and that of other poor Africans all over Apartheid South Africa.

Notwithstanding, the collision and sudden recovery of Smangaliso and the Bantu man meant they should at least run together for their lives, taking various cross-dives between the buildings towards Braamfontein. Finally he and the unknown gentleman sneaked through an ancient culvert which smelt toxic from a small stream believed to come from the nearby industrial buildings. While silently hiding there, the vicious police dogs were barking wildly on top of the bridge, sensing and signalling the presence of something in close proximity. A few minutes later, the atmosphere was motionlessness which hypothetically signalled an end of the police raid