Scene 7 - Exile

Summary

zenzile hobbles over to the stove and removes the boiling kettle from the heat. She pours herself a cup of tea, dunking the tea bag in and out before heaping in four spoonfuls of sugar.

zenzile: The only thing I like about living in this hostel is that men are not allowed inside. No, Nkulunkulu, men cause too many problems. Ngiyakutshela! Wabenzelani baba nje, eh? It's impossible not to be jealous when a man gives money to one woman and you don't get any. You would want that man for yourself if he was bringing in money like this. [She sips her tea conspiratorially.] That man would not even reach your room if he was allowed to come to visit! Yah, he would be stolen before he reaches your door, and when his girlfriend realises what has happened she would leave her room with a cooking knife to set matters right. [Beat.] If men were allowed to come inside here, there would be many women living here who would be dead by now. [Chuckling.] Wooooh weeee, Lord my Saviour, you can be certain of that!

zenzile replaces the kettle with a cooking pot of water on the stovetop. She retrieves a cutting knife and a bowl of potatoes and makes her way over to the wheelchair, which is placed beside the countertop. As she passes the window she notices a framed picture of her husband, Bangizwe. She looks at it fondly for a moment.

zenzile: I met my husband, Bangizwe, when I was a teenager and we married soon after. I only married once. Kwakwanele nje lokho kumina. [Beat.]

Sometimes I wonder if I married him just to escape the house of my uncle that I was living in at the time.

It was very, very painful for my grandmother and me to be separated, but it was no longer safe for me to stay in Ipharadesi with her.

She sits in the wheelchair and begins peeling the potatoes with her knife.

zenzile: Whenever death visited our people … whenever the rains washed away their houses or lightning struck … stories were whispered about how Zenzile had been seen down by the river plotting with that lightning bird. Eventually men from the community surrounded Gogo's house and threatened to burn it to the ground.