Scene 13 - The cleansing

Summary

zenzile: Day by day, Nkulunkulu, you are helping me … helping me to wash away all that dirtiness. A woman who once lived the life of a man … You are cleansing me. [Beat.] When I see a person feeling sorry for me, I say no, no, no, that's not how my God wants it. I, the person who had this stroke, am not feeling sorry for myself, so why now must you? It's not your business to feel sorry for me. No, I don't want anyone to pity me. Ngenzeni ke mina ngalokudatshukelwa? Ngeke ngikuphuze, ngeke ngikudle, ngeke ngikubheme, ngeke ngikwazi ngisho ukukudayisa … inonsense nje yento engenamsebenzi.

zenzile begins her bathing ritual. She lugs a bucket of hot water from the stove and pours it into a plastic tub at the foot of her bed. She removes a dressing gown from the washing line and lays it beside her. As she removes the gown she notices a frilly bra hanging on the line and inspects it suspiciously.

zenzile: Yah, Nqobile, my granddaughter, she has been hiding from me for many days now. Is it because I embarrass her with my rudeness? [Beat.] I’m telling you, it's her behaviour she needs to be embarrassed by, Nkulunkulu. Yah, all those different men … And what must happen? … The next time she visits it will be to tell me she has HIV, just like her mother.

zenzile undresses down to her petticoat. She sits on the edge of the bed and dunks her cloth into the tub of water, wringing it out.

zenzile: Wooooh weeee, I’ve seen too many women cursed by this thing in the past. Yah, Nkulunkulu, I feel that pain when a person gets sick and the world turns away from them. Kubuhlungu kimina ukubona lokho. I told you that my daughter Thuthukile has it. When I first learnt she was suffering from this thing, my aunty had died two months before, so I knew what it was. It wasn't like it is today, where someone can live a normal life … Back then it was very different.