Scene 8 - The rise of Impundulu

Summary

The noise of the storm grows louder as it draws near. Lighting gradually isolates zenzile in her wheelchair.

zenzile: It wasn't just Bangizwe who paid that price in the end. Thousands of people died back then in the eighties. Before I always used to hear them talking about how this one or that one had been given the ‘necklace’, but that word meant nothing to me. It was only when I saw him with that wire from the wheel burnt into his chest … [She lights a match and watches it burn out.] eshe njengomentshisi ovuthe kwaze kwayofika phansi ekugcineni kwawo … that I understood what they meant.

Thuthukile was still a baby. We were forced to spend many nights sleeping in the bushes. Hawu! There were gangs of schoolchildren terrorising our streets with pangas and petrol bombs, and the police were doing nothing to stop them. [Beat.] How could you sleep peacefully in your home when this was happening outside? We used to hide in those bushes. You remember, Nkulunkulu, how I’d hold Thuthukile close to my breast, not making a sound, covering her mouth with a dishcloth to make sure no one knew we were there.

Beat.

zenzile: After Bangizwe's death, my head became very, very hot and those wild dogs from Ipharadesi – yah, those dogs returned to chase me again in my dreams.

I knew things were about to change when I came home from Bangizwe's funeral and for the first time I saw that bird … the one with a hammer for its head … just sitting on the roof and watching me.

The next day Nzondo knocked on my door and said he wanted to speak with me. During that meeting he told me that Bangizwe had told him I was a very strong woman who didn't put up with people's nonsense. He told me he knew where each of those ANC men – the ones who had killed my husband – were hiding. Then he invited me to work for him … but to do this I would need to give up my old life … I would need to change my name.