MoAfrika wa Mokgathi (Southafrica)

Por: MoAfrika wa Mokgathi

Girls without names

South Africa is a country in waiting,
A maiden whose groom has yet to return 

From exile 
From the claws of the British and the Dutch masters
From the koppies of daydreaming bustling rainbow land

Toiling in perpetual servitude
To the ideals of independence,
Despite the obvious irony
Of his bondage to his master.

Mfecane, Mayibuye Uprising and Mamelodi 10
Are virgin brides whose honeymoon night- postponed-
Once eagerly anticipated
Hovering over their heads.
A ghostly shadow,
Haunting a future far fetched

Afrika, a rural girl whose dowry,
Negotiated in her absence,
Keeps depreciating with trotting of time
Whose heifers-dwindling in her father's kraal-
produce stillborn calves with each heat
While the neighbours show gratitude
For the succulent veal
Offered in shame.

Her elderly, now bent with arthritic wear
Shuffle in dejection, grave-bound
Bemoaning the lives they've squandered;
Chasing Nelson's rainbow,
In search of pots of gold
Long sold by the leprechaun
And other similar myths
Like democracy: Freedom is coming
Free education,
Equality
And Ubuntu.

The soothsayer whispers:
A child that derails from its destiny
Needs a naming ceremony.

30.5595° S, 22.9375° E

Hold your breath 
Not the hand of a lead drummer in an existing kiba dance 
Dance is an invitation to dust 
Dust, an invitation to rain 
Rain, an invitation to hope
Hope, an invitation to those who got lost on their way home 
Home without a name is a cardinal point  
South of Africa is home
Home is home.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela 

When your mother is a commander
Who lures young men and women 
To fight
For freedom 
Too feeble for their hands to grab 
Too far-fetched

When your mother is a brigadier 
Who stuffs hand-grenades in her head wrap  
Pulls them out when shit hits the fan 
You are about to be great 
Child 

When your mother is Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela 
Greatness is your inheritance
You are born of great women 
Who never sat on the sidelines  
They fought side by side 
For this freedom 

We are born of women of fortitude 
Stand on shoulders of warrior women 
A lineage of Queen Nzinga 
Nefertiti 
Makeda 
Modjadji 
Mantathisi wa Botokwa 
Aminatu 
Queen Nandi 
Yaa Asantewaa  

Re belegwa ke basadi ba ditswerere 
Dinatla tša go ema ka maoto 
Basadi ba go tshwara thipa ka bogaleng

Feminists don’t die 
They multiply  

Unnamed unnamed heroes 
(for black women, whose names are stuck in the margins of history)  

This is not a poem about a child's frantic cry for a name 
This is not a poem about a language  adjuring to be used, fearing its inevitable death
This is not a poem about proving women can work together without squabble
This poem is a city beneath the ground  
Sprouting names from the belly of the earth 
Surfacing names begging to membered 

Hang our names on the washing-lines 
We want to be seen
We have been here before 

My tongue is a rainbow

Rainbows appear after a heavy downpour
No rain falls yet, the sun burns hot and high,
We are still waiting for a hefty rain
A thirsty land beneath a cloudless sky.
Grandma says maybe it will come by train
This wait is becoming a strain
My tongue, a rainbow, speaks in shades untold,
Strokes of colour per language
My people prayed in all eleven
Each to the spectrum of
Home, Hope and a heavy downpour
To shake hands with the rainbow
Even after 25 years
It hasn’t rained

MoAfrika wa Mokgathi is a multifaceted South African artist and leader. A writer, performer ,cultural curator and radio broadcaster. She champions social justice through her work. wa Mokgathi's influence transcends disciplines. From co-curating Nobel Peace Prize events to leading cultural exchanges to running The South African Saxophone Symposium and Awards. She is a recognized leader 2020 Mail & Guardian 200 Young South African.

She is co-founder and Managing Director of  Hear My Voice and the South African Poets Guild advocating for poetry and literature. She has facilitated poetry and Capacity building and arts entrepreneurship programmes nationally and internationally.

Her passion to advance policy developments in the arts fraternity and approach education using artistic methods has secured her a seat as a board member of Teach the nation, an NPO global subsidiary of Teach For All (Global education network), placing and developing unemployed graduates in schools as educators and/ or extracurricular facilitators. She is currently working on a poetry and music album.

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