"The Government's Child"

By Thokozile Gurganious

A little girls parents separate when she is a toddler. Her mother takes her to live with her family in a remote African village. Life is hard in the village, but the little girl lives a happy life. Her troubled life starts when she returns to live with her paternal relatives, who gang up to try to make it impossible for her to go to college. She perseveres, and struggles against them until she eventually obtains a government scholarship to go to college to study law.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 20, 2009
• ISBN: 9781469115993

Thokozile Gurganious

The author was born in Botswana. She attended schools in Zimbabwe and Botswana. She has an LL.B Degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, a Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law, and a Masters Degree in Intercultural Human Rights Law from St. Thomas University School of Law, Miami, Florida. She has worked as a state attorney in Kenya and Botswana, as a legal officer for a women’s and children’s rights organization in Botswana, and as an advocate for women and children in Florida, U.S.A. She lives in Grand Island, Nebraska.

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The Government’s Child

Thokozile Gurganious

Copyright © 2009 by Thokozile Gurganious.

ISBN:                          Hardcover                          978-1-4363-9745-2

ISBN:                          Softcover                            978-1-4363-9744-5

ISBN:                          Ebook                                 978-1-4691-1599-3

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Endnotes

Chapter 1

There is a general area in Zimbabwe called Matebeleland. Most of the inhabitants of this area are the Ndebele people. However, there are other people in the area like the Tonga, the Bakalanga, and others. Matebeleland covers an extensive area, from the border of Zimbabwe with Botswana and stretches all the way up to the border with Zambia. The area covered by Matebeleland includes the towns of Plumtree, Khezi, Bulawayo, Victoria Falls, and Wanke, among others.

Matabeleland has something to do with my origins. I am not sure where I was born, or, for reasons that shall appear later in this story, who my father is, but there is very strong circumstantial evidence of who my mother is. Indeed, all the facts point to no other conclusion other than that Bessie is the woman I should burden with the label of mother. In this book, both my mother and father are referred to by their first names, a befitting sentence for two people who dismally failed to carry out the functions of mother and father respectively. A man is not a man just because of what he wears, for he must also, to qualify being called a man, also serve the purpose that a man was created for. In the same way, a parent must not only be so called because he or she contributes to the biological make-up of a child, but also because he or she serves the purpose a parent is meant to serve in relation to a child.

My first recollection of my existence in this world is of when I was in Manase village (part of Mateleland) in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Bessie and I had arrived in the village of Manase a few days back. One morning, Bessie woke up very early in the morning and had a quick bath. She then got into one of her favorite outfits, the one that she usually wore when she was going to church or to go to some special place. I assumed that she was taking me with her wherever she was going, but when I went and got my best dress too, everybody started laughing at me. It seemed that everybody knew what was going on except me. Somebody snatched the dress from me, and told me that I was not going anywhere. I did not believe that Bessie was leaving without me. Bessie and I had always been together, and I had never lived away from her. Therefore I kept close to her, following her everywhere she hurried to. Eventually, we left home for the bus stop. The bus arrived as we approached the bus stop, and the driver started hooting for us to hurry up. Bessie stopped and looked at me.

Be a good girl. I will be coming to see you, she said.

For the first time I realized that Bessie was leaving me behind. She let go off me, and started running towards the bus. Fear gripped me. I looked around me, and realized that I was alone. Everybody else had run towards the bus. There were thick tall trees all around me, and I could only see the bus through some open spaces under the tall trees through which the path meandered. For a few seconds I felt alone in the world, and afraid. Then I started crying, and ran towards the bus calling on to Bessie. As I neared the road, the bus took off. Crying hysterically, I ran behind the rickety bus. The small paces that my tiny legs made could not compete with the speeding bus. The wheels of the bus were sinking deep into the sand and then rolling on towards Bulawayo. Within a few minutes, I was coughing like I used to whenever I tried to blow a dying fire back to life and the smoke blanketed me. As if to stop me from running behind it, the bus created a cloud of dust, and I blindly got onto the side of the road. I sat down and cried until Maneja came and took my little hand into his. I could not believe that Bessie had just dumped me in Manase, and disappeared with the bus to Bulawayo.

I gathered from the other children that I was a foreigner in the country, and that I was from Bechuanaland (now Botswana). The other children also told me that my father was a very proud, good-for-nothing Kalanga feller called Pilate. The other kids also made fun of me because my paternal grandmother was notorious for being very stingy. The whole village seemed to know that Dzekenya, my paternal grandmother, had once visited Bessie’s family with a packet of candy in a transparent plastic bag. Dzekenya never surrendered the parcel to her hosts the whole week she stayed with them, and never offered any of the candy to anyone, including several little children who saw the candy and cried for it. The candy had been brought by Dzekenya to entice me to come with her, but when negotiations between her side and Bessie’s side failed, and Pi was not given physical custody of me, I also got nothing but a good smell of the candy while sitting next to her. This incident had taken place not long after Bessie dumped me in Manase, and had greatly annoyed Bessie’s family, and they neither forgot it nor forgave Dzekenya for the moral offence of being stingy.

One of the things that I remember doing in the village of Manase was waiting for the Matambanadzo Bus every Wednesday and Friday nights. Maneja (he was supposed to be called Manager, but the English word had been corrupted to fit into the Ndebele language), used to make a bonfire by the roadside where we roasted peanuts, boiled round nuts, ate sugar cane, played cards, infumba¹ and umrabaraba², and listened to story tellers as we waited for the timeless bus which was either bringing Bessie and /or her brother, Enoch, home or bringing some goodies that they had posted to us from the city. The bus stop was near Kurumidza and Mjonka’s homesteads. The Kurumidza and Mjonka families were neighbors of Bessie’s father, and were related. However, I never came to know how they were related. I and the other children were very nosy, and we seemed to know everything in the little village of Manase except how Kurumidza and Mjonka were related.

Bessie’s father was a handsome gentleman called Mthetwa Mhodi. The whole village, however, called him Bhopopo, because whenever he became angry, he never stopped talking: he would popota³. Bhopopo also had a strange habit. Whenever he sat down, he would join his hands by crossing his fingers. Then he would roll his thumbs clockwise endlessly. He would start rolling his thumbs when he started to talk, and the thumbs would roll faster if he was getting annoyed, and slow down if his adversary was backing off. Bhopopo was a tall, coffee colored man. Bhopopo’s wife was a little short woman called Ma-Ncube. She was charcoal complexioned. All married women in Manase were called either after their first-born children or their fathers’ totems. Ma-Ncube was so-called because her father’s totem was a monkey. Where a woman was named after her child, the prefix "Na was used before the name of the child. The prefix Na is an abbreviation of the word nina which means mother of. The prefix Ma refers to the female gender, and is an equivalent of the word miss in the English language. The prefix Sa" is used before a child’s name to call a man with a child. Ma-Ncube had a round figure. The gathered skirts that she was fond of wearing fit her very well. She had milk white teeth that were the envy of many in the village. Ma-Ncube and Bhopopo boasted of ten children, yet Ma-Ncube still looked young and strong. Her children, in order of their birth, were as follows: Na-Gilbert, Enoch (Sa-Joseph), Na-Chipo, Na-Judy, Na-Gabiso, Bessie (Na-Toko), Matilewa (Na-Mxo), Obed, Zihonqo (Na-Khumbulani) and Maneja.

All I remember about Na-Gi (Na-Gilbert) is that one day, not long after I started living at Manase, a man arrived by bus in the wee hours of the morning. I and Ma-Ncube and many other children were sleeping in the main kitchen of the home. After the men of the home had welcomed the visitor, Ma-Ncube went outside to find out who the visitor was. Bhopopo, the visitor, Maneja and Obed were all talking in subdued voices. As soon as Ma-Ncube went out, I heard screams from her. She wailed and moaned. I and the other children became very scared, huddled together and also started crying even though we did not know what the problem was. Then one of the children sneaked outside, and then came back and told us that Na-Gi had passed away. I had faint memories of Na-Gi as a big woman who always wore maternity-like dresses. The following morning, Ma-Ncube and Bhopopo left in the bus to go to Khezi where Na-Gi had been married to a man called Mahlangu and had seven children with him. Some of Na-Gi’s children were still very young. Na-Gi’s Children included Collen, Mildred, Artwel, and Du.

Mahlangu was a well-liked son-in-law. He had lived a happily ever after life with Na-Gi. It was well known that Mahlangu adored his wife. He cooked and washed for her, something that very few other Ndebele men did for their wives at the time. Men in Mahlangu’s village made fun of him because of the way he was nice to his wife. Some said he was not a real man, others said Na-Gi had bewitched him, while others said that in the privacy of the Mahlangu home, Mahlangu was always tied to Na-Gi’s apron and was her slave. Other women envied Na-Gi, and wished that their husband were nice and helpful to the family as Mahlangu was. Some months after Na-Gi was buried, Mahlangu came with his people to ask for another wife from the Mhodi family. Among the Mhodi daughters, only Na-Judy and Zihonqo were un-married, and therefore eligible to become Sa-Gi’s wife. It was an Ndebele custom that if a man lost his wife, and he had been a good husband, he could go back to his deceased wife’s family and ask for another wife and could be given one of his wife’s sisters. This custom was said to serve, among other things, the purpose of avoiding poor young children being brought up by cruel stepmothers who were total strangers to the family. Na-Judy was a mazakhela⁴, and had two daughters. Zihonqo had a son with Enoch’s wife’s brother, Den, but had never been married. Zihonqo’s son Khu was still a toddler, but custom dictated that if she was the one to go, she was to leave her child with her parents. Women were not allowed to go to their marital homes with children who did not belong to their husbands, although they were expected to take care of children belonging to their husbands who were not their children. Na-Judy had been married more than twice, and had given up hope of remarriage. She had built her own home herself. That is why she was called a mazakhela. As soon as Mahlangu’s entourage arrived and the aim of his visit became known, rivalry developed between Na-Judy and Zihonqo. The two women were openly at loggerheads for Mr. Mahlangu. Because of the way Na-Judy and Zihonqo were openly competing for the affections of Mahlangu, elders were convened to decide which one of the two women was to go. The elders decided in favor of Zihonqo, citing the fact that she had never been married, and the fact that, in fact, the custom was to give the youngest daughter. On the day the elders made their decision, all the children in the Mhodi home, and they were many of us, also had a separate secret court. We decided in favor of Na-Judy because Na-Gi had a daughter, Collen, exactly the same age as Zihonqo, and we feared that Zihonqo was going to have a hard time disciplining a child as old as herself. The problems that Zihonqo was to later have with Na-Gi’s children were to prove us right. However, Mahlangu was a good husband to Zihonqo as he had been to Na-Gi, and they had another seven children before Mahlangu himself died. Na-Judy continued living alone at her home next to Bhopopo’s house.

Na-Chipo was married in Mashonaland⁵. It was very common in Matebeleland those days for men from Mashonaland to come and look for wives. The Shona men were very popular with the girls too because it was said that they never divorced their wives. Lobola⁶ was cheaper in Mateleland than in Mashonaland, and Ndebele girls were said to be very beautiful. Na-Chipo had been married in Mashonaland. She had seven children, including Chipo, Eula, Alpha, Sibongile, and Jabu. Enoch worked in the city of Bulawayo, which was almost a whole day’s ride by bus from Manase. Enoch was married to a very beautiful woman called Ma-Vilakazi. One day, Ma-Vilakazi asked me if I knew that my uncle had another wife living with him in the city. I did not believe it until I went to visit Matilewa and her husband in Bulawayo. The bus rank where I got off, Renkini was a stone’s throw from Enoch’s house and he came to meet me since I had been ‘posted’ to the city. Enoch was in the company of a woman called Ma-Nkala, whom I later learnt during my short visit to Bulawayo, was his senior wife. Ma-Nkala could not have children, so Enoch had married another wife to have more children for him. Enoch was the only man, other than Sa-Pi (Dube) I knew who had two wives. Ma-Vilakazi was the village wife, while Ma-Nkala lived in the city and never went to the village. I was only a child when I saw Ma-Nkala, but I remember being intrigued by the way she was always very quiet and lost in thoughts, and answered It’s a quarter past six to any question that she was asked. Before Ma-Nkala, Enoch had been married to Na-Jo, a celebrated witch in her marital domicile of Manase. While Na-Jo lived in the Mhodi household, strange things happened, and they were all attributed to her. Tea cups would be found outside in the morning with blood stains, babies’ clothes would be found on top of trees in the morning and there would be unexplained tiny foot marks all over the yard in the mornings. All the kids in the household told me that the tiny footmarks were of Na-Jo’s tokoloshes⁷. I always inspected the ground within the compound in the morning before stepping out of the house, because I was afraid of stepping over the tokoloshe footprints. I had this idea in my mind, that the invincible little fellers were watching everyone and would be angry with anyone stepping over their footprints. I did not want a slap from a being I could not see. Na-Jo eventually, and mysteriously, disappeared from the home. She never returned, and Enoch went on and married Ma-Nkala, and then Ma-Vilakazi from the neighboring village of Singwangombe. Ma-Nkala eventually left Enoch, allegedly because his visits to Manase became a little too frequent for her to handle. I used to wonder whether Na-Jo could have had a hand in making Ma-Nkala a quarter past six person.

Ma-Vilakazi was a toffee complexioned woman with a forest of pitch-black hair. She was so beautiful that wherever she went, people turned to look at her. But not all that glitters is gold. Ma-Vilakazi’s beauty was, in later years, to lead to the death of her husband. Soon after the liberation of Rhodesia, a civil war broke out, and the countryside was infested with guerrillas against the government. Manase had its share of the guerrillas, and the young men soon found the beauty from Singwangombe. Unfortunately, government soldiers also discovered Ma-Vilakazi. She had affairs on both sides, which led to several skirmishes between the two sides inside the Mhodi home. In the end, the government soldiers, the Fifth Brigade, prevailed, and their only enemy became Enoch. Enoch visited the village only on weekends, which left a whole week for anyone who wanted to entertain Ma-Vilakazi. However, even that was not good enough for the Fifth Brigade. One theory is that the men Ma-Vilakazi was having extra marital relationships with decided to kill Enoch so that they could have Ma-Vilakazi all to themselves. Enoch died a heartrending death at the hands of the Fifth Brigade infront of his parents, children and Ma-Vilakazi herself.

Na-Gabiso (Na-Ga) had Gabiso with a very proud Ndebele man whose totem was Mabhena. Mr. Mabhena, like all other Mabhenas, was also called Mtungwa, because his isitemo⁸ started with that name. The Mtungwas belonged to the top cream of the Ndebele ethnic group, and made it a point that all knew that. Mr. Mabhena was considered a wealthy man, because he rode a bicycle while other men sunk their feet in the hot sand of Manase. Mtungwa never married Na-Gabiso; neither did he ever care for his offspring. A man called Lupahla then married Na-Ga. She and Lupahla had only one child, a spoilt brat called Sthembile. Sthembile literally grew up on fried fish and chips. All of us envied the life that Sthembile lived. However, the honeymoon life that Na-Ga and Lupahla lived later on in life came to an end when Lupahla became wild, and started behaving like the entire female species was made for him alone. Years of being spoilt by her parents also caught up with Sthembile, and she ended up in jail for stealing livestock and selling it.

Matilewa (Na-Mxo) married a man called Mahlangu, (not related to the Mahlangu who was married to Na-Gi). They lived together in a nice middleclass part of Bulawayo until the Lions Matches Company that he worked for transferred Mahlangu to Harare. The family decided that Matilewa was going to live at Mahlangu’s village and keep their home there in good shape. This was to later prove to have been a big mistake, because once Mahlangu arrived in Harare, he got himself a barren woman and lived with her. Mahlangu totally forgot about his family and never went home to visit them, nor did he send them any money. Matilewa maintained a farm, and with the farm produce that she sold, she brought up her several children and educated them. Sadly, one of Matilewa’s seven children, Mxolisi, left for Johannesburg and never went back home to visit his mother and brothers. There is a saying in Southern Africa that, Once they leave for Johannesburg, they never go back to their own. Mxolisi was rumored to be living with a barren woman older than his mother. A few years after Sa-Mxo was transferred to Harare, Na-Mxo decided to take a train to Harare to go and check on him, as he was not communicating with the family. At the time Na-Mxo had a toddler son named Mkhululi. Mkhululi had always been a sickly child. While he was in the train with Na-Mxo, he started getting sick. Na-Mxo was hoping to take him to a doctor in Harare as soon as she arrived there. However, Mkhululi’s condition became worse in the train, and eventually he died in the train. The train had to stop for more than four hours while an ambulance was called to come and get Na-Mxo and the her baby.

Obed married a plump toffee colored woman called Serufe. She secretly delivered a baby and killed it. When her heinous crime was discovered, Serufe told people that her mother had told her that, to ensure that her husband would love her forever; she should kill her first-born child with him. Obed divorced her. The matter, however, was never reported to the police. Obed then married Na-Spe, another toffee colored woman, who would be a deserving candidate for a Guinness Book of Records title of being the laziest person on earth, if there was to be such a title. Na-Spe loved basking in the sun in the morning, and lying on her bed when the sun became too hot.

Maneja moved to Johannesburg after the liberation of the country from colonialism, and worked for an upscale restaurant on Van Ribieck Road. He married, but never had children with his wife, though he claimed that he had a son from another relationship before he was married. No body in the family believed he could bear any children, because of the torture that he had been subjected to while a guerrilla.

Na-Chipo’s husband was a policeman in Bulawayo at Mzilikazi Police Station. The officer’s houses were inside the police station compound. Pilate (Pi) was a young officer in the same police Station. Na-Chipo happened to bring her little sister, Bessie, to help her with household chores and her children in Bulawayo. Pilate and Bessie struck a friendship. Pi and Bessie got married because, at the time, officers were not allowed to live with women they were not married to. After the marriage, as was Kalanga custom at the time, Bessie had to go to Bechuanaland to live at Pilate’s village with his mother for sometime. While Bessie was at the village, Pilate met Elizabeth, a former classmate of Bessie who was so thin when she was growing up that her school enrolled her into a feeding program. Pilate’s mother encouraged her son to divorce Bessie and marry Elizabeth. Bessie and Dzekenya did not see eye to eye, because Dzekenya saw no reason why her son should give any money at all to Bessie. Whenever Pilate sent money to Bessie, Dzekenya demanded it. Since Bessie resisted Dzekenya’s efforts to get the money, Dzekenya wanted Bessie to leave her son. When Pilate started neglecting Bessie, Dzekenya and her daughter Naki, confiscated Bessie’s Bechuanaland passport and drove her out of the home one morning. Bessie was penniless, and had no traveling documents for both herself and her child. Bessie walked several miles to a train station where she begged for a free ride in a goods train to go back to Rhodesia. Her baby had sores on the ears, and was very sick, but that did not prevent Dzekenya and Naki from bullying Bessie.

Dzekenya was one of three children of the late Chief Jackalas of Jackalas 1 village. The other two children of the chief were Manyu and Mafohla, the Chief of Jackalas 1. Dzekenya’s father had had two wives, who each had sons. When he died, the eldest sons of the two wives each wanted to be the chief. To avoid turmoil, the area had been divided into two: Jackalas 1 and Jackalas 2, and each son given a section over which to rule. Dzekenya’s father was the son of