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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2025
zenzile grabs her purse and slings it over her shoulder before pushing her wheelchair to centre stage as the lights close in on the scene. As she manoeuvres her chair into position, she insults and curses people she sees in the Home Affairs queue, barging her way to the front, where she plonks herself in the chair and eyes pink nails with utter contempt. Once again zenzile shifts between pink nails and herself in the reenactment of the scene.
pink nails [chewing gum and rolling her eyes]: I said we’d phone you! …
zenzile [to Nkulunkulu]: Said Pink Nails. [To pink nails.] Why then have I heard nothing from you for over six months?
pink nails: We must deal with many people's struggles in here at once, Gogo. You see our system has confused you with someone else and …
zenzile: Then make it unconfused. Can't you see that I’m alive? Can't you see I’m in need of my grant money to eat and pay my rent? Ngibuke. Look at me! Look at me with the two good eyes God has given you and tell me ukuthi ngisekhona!
pink nails: I can see that but it's not up to me, Gogo.
zenzile: Who is it up to then? Eh? Ngitshele ubani!
pink nails: The system.
zenzile [adamant]: Then teach your system to see!
pink nails: It's a machine, Gogo. Ayinamehlo.
zenzile [losing her cool completely]: What must I do, eh? What must I do to prove to ikhompyutha yakho that I’m still breathing? Give me those scissors on your desk and I will show you that there's still blood moving in these veins! Letha la lesosikere ngizisike khona ngizokupruvela.
pink nails: Lokho akudingekile! I’ll send another query to the head office and notify you when the matter is resolved.
zenzile: Ixazulule manje!
pink nails [a little taken aback]: There's no need to be rude!
zenzile: Rude! Ekse wena! … You know what's rude? What's rude is that no one even remembered to invite me to my own funeral! [Beat.] I’m not leaving this place until your system tells me that I’m living again.
pink nails: There's no need to raise your voice. Vele uphumule! Just relax.
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