Beyond The Echoes of Soweto

Matsemela Manaka, Geoffrey V. Davis

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781134406654
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre

First Published in 2004. This volume presents a representative selection from the work of one of the most innovative of the younger generation of South African dramatists, Matsemela Manaka, who productions have been acclaimed not inly in is home country but also tour in Europe and America. Includes are the Egoli, Pula and Children of Asazi, Toro and Goree. Each play has been edited with the particular needs of readers outside South Africa in mind; unfamiliar references have been annotated and African-language passages in the texts provides with English translation. To facilitate a comprehensive view of Manaka's work a number of his essays on the practice of 'theatre for social reconstruction' have been reprinted along with a long introduction by Geoffrey V. Davies.

CHILDREN OF ASAZI

4. Children of Asazi. Peter Boroko as Nduna. © Sols Photosdoc 1986

CHARACTERS

DILIZA – a young activist who is about twenty years old

CHARMAINE – a young apolitical girl who is about twenty years old

NDUNA – an old jazz guitarist who is in his late fifties

GOGO – a disguised woman who is about fifty years old

MAJIKA – an older politician who is about fifty years old

MABU – a jazz saxophonist who is about forty-five years old

OFFICER – an old man in his early forties

Diliza means “demolish” in Zulu.

Nduna means “headman”

Gogo means “old lady”

Majika means “chameleon”

Mabu means “child of the soil”

CAST

The cast of the 1986 production was as follows:

Diliza	Ali Hlongwane
Charmaine	Soentjie Thapeli
Nduna	Peter Boroko
Gogo	Thelma Pooe
Majika	Job Kubatsi
Mabu	Khaya Mahlangu
Officer	Peter Boroko
Blind Woman	Soentjie Thapeli

CHILDREN OF ASAZI

PROLOGUE

(The stage resembles a proclaimed slum in Johannesburg, Alexandra Township.¹ It is a windy night. There are five corrugated irons with windows and candle light burning behind each corrugated sheet of iron. We hear people singing.)

SONG:	Alexandra Khayalami
	Alexandra Khayalami
	Alexandra Khayalami
	Alexandra Khayalami

	You may be a dark city
	but you are a home
	the candle blows
	the night away
	like in all shelters
	Alexandra Khayalami

	You may be a dark city
	but you are a home
	the candle blows
	the night away
	like in all shelters
	Alexandra Khayalami

	Alexandra Khayalami
	Alexandra Khayalami
	Alexandra Khayalami
	Alexandra Khayalami

(The wind blows stronger. Blows off the candle lights. Rain falls. Lightning strikes. They continue to hum the song. The morning breaks. They stop singing. We hear the sound of a bulldozer; a demolition is in progress. We hear angry voices. Some people are moving about. They throw their belongings out of their homes. Others peep through the windows and sing.)

SONG:	Kwenzenjani na!	[What could have gone wrong
	Masiduduka	When we run helter skelter
	Sigoduka	Going away
	Ezwenilethu	From the land of our birth].
	Kwenzenjani na!
	Kwenzenjani na!
	Masiduduka
	Sigoduka
	Ezwenilethu
	Thina siyajikeleza	[We run in circles
	Ho! kulelizwe	In this land
	Ho! siduduka	Running helter skelter
	Ho! sigoduka	Going away].
	Thina siyajikeleza
	Ho! kulelizwe
	Ho! siduduka
	Ho! sigoduka
	Thina siyajikeleza
	Ho! kulelizwe
	Ho! siduduka
	Ho! sigoduka
	Kwenzenjani na!
	Masiduduka
	Sigoduka
	Ezwenileth
	Thina siyajikeleza
	Ho! kulelizwe
	Ho! siduduka
	Ho! sigoduka

(Then the choreographed movement with corrugated irons. It is resistance. The sound of the bulldozer fades. People reassemble their belongings. They sing a song of resistance.)

SONG:	Sothutha siyephina!	[Where will we go
	Kulomhlaba wobawo’mkhulu	In this, the land
	Sothutha siyephina!	of our forefathers].
	Kulomhlaba wobawo’mkhulu
	Sothutha siyephina!
	Kulomhlaba wobawo’mkhulu
	Masithethe ngazwinye	[Let us speak as one and say
	Sithi!	We shall not move
	Asihambi	Here we will die
	Sizofelala	We shall not move
	Asihambi	Here we will die].
	Siyofelala

(It is resistance. The sound of the bulldozer fades off. It’s a choreographed movement of people reassembling their belongings, they arrange props [the chair, table, lamp, Diliza’s bag, jersey and writing material.] Exit the choreography. There is a spot on Charmaine reading a letter and then Diliza also reading a letter.)

CHARMAINE: Dear Father,

Many thanks for your letter. Only silence can keep us apart. Exile is not as far away as the distance of silence. Your letter came at the time when I was begining to feel very lonely. An intimate friend of mine, Diliza, who like you is one of those people who still believe they can change the world. And now I am afraid that exile may snatch him away from me like it did to you.

Baba, I hope you received my last letter. Since the disappearance of mama, strange stories come to me through uncle Gabashiane. Is it true that my mother died on the run from Sharpeville? And if that is the case, who is the woman who has been more than a mother to me?

Baba, today I am a woman. I would like to be able to tell my children about my history. Could you please tell me the truth before it is too late.

Your daughter

Charmaine

DILIZA: Dear Mother,

After all these years of an endless search, I began thinking of asking for your address in heaven. I thought you were no longer with us. Your mysterious letter gave me hope to continue the search. Wherever you are, know that your house is no more. Only memories are there. The bulldozer is striking real blows. I am writing this letter from the streets.

Mama, whenever, I see children in the streets, sniffing glue and drinking methylated spirits, I think of myself an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction to the Series
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• Theatre of the Dispossessed
• Egoli
• Pula
• Blues me (Interviews with Matsemela Manaka)
• Children of Asazi
• Toro: The African Dream
• Gorée
• Afterword
• Appendix: Reviews of Egoli, Pula, Children of Asazi, Toro and Gorée
• Bibliography