Andile Versus Mngxi

By Andile Mngxitama

Andile responded to a few questions from Mngxitama on a wide range of issues from literature, politics, films, love, sports, dogs and children. Most of these questions were posed to me about seven years ago. Very little has changed in my attitude to life and politics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mpho Matsitle
• Release date: Jul 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005068202

Book preview

ANDILE

VERSUS

MNGXI

Andile Mngxitama interviews himself

ANDILE VERSUS MNGXI

Copyright © Andile Mngxitama, 2020.

All rights reserved.

First published in 2020 by

SANKARA PUBLISHING

253 Park Street, Malvern, 2019, South Africa

Editing and design by Mpho Matsitle.

First edition: July 2020

MNGXITAMA: Let’s start from the beginning, where are you from? The whole thing man. And note that I have your personal file here and know some things about you. So consider this merely as me reviewing your truths. I’m just checking if you are telling the truth.

ANDILE: I become aware of myself as a kid in transit. I remember very well, how I was on top of this lorry or trolley (you know those pulled by a tractor) and we were moving to this new farm in Potchefstroom, I remember being elevated or hoisted on top of our belongings and being intrigued by this mountain we were approaching. It was smoky, rocky, sparsely dotted with the stubborn short trees that grew on the Karoo. It seemed to say you have to be tough to live here. I must have been six or so. The thing is I don’t really know my age and I don’t think my parents know either. The farm homestead was just the other side of the mountain; it broke into a wide plain, where red soil allowed the best mealie crops. All my formation years were spent on this farm, including starting school.

The boredom of farm live for children is devastating; no toys, no television, no funny gadgets or time to bother your parents with stupid childish demands. So you become creative, you use your imagination and your hands to create things. Because I was a clumsy child, I couldn’t really create anything, everyone could build this complex engineering system for their beautiful wire cars, or use clay to create these amazing things, in particular cows. I had to resort to using bricks and stones and imagining them to be all these nice things I couldn’t have. But the one thing I regret is the fact that I couldn’t use a keti (slingshot), never actually killed a bird like that, I could never aim at a target and bring it down like my big brother Jerry was able to. So I resorted to mass murdering birds, I used a trap, put some mealies and wait, then stupid birds come in and you pull the string thing and voila! Stupid birds are yours. This thing was frowned upon you know, but fuck it! I was happy to have cut the long labour and skill of killing birds. It could take you the whole day to kill two birds and then you also have to know how to make bird sounds. I couldn’t do that either and I did find it strange and stupid, I never believed birds were so stupid as not to distinguish between their own language and