freedom

it is Madiba's birthday - and in my life today, i have learnt that:

"freedom often comes at a price! yet, no matter how high - is far surpassed by the sense of freedom it brings..."

i am free in 10days time - i quit my day-job, and will be beginning a new journey doing my life's work!

"Basadzi Voices", aka I write is eventually being published, and though i am still in shackles - the sense of freedom near is subtley amazing...


Save the birds

Afro-haired soulman
Gluttonous soul of the market,
Voracious appetite!
Lynch pin on the hunt:
Sharpened claws, oiled blades;
Smiling teeth, finger-licking tongue…

Who will free the chicken from extinction?

© Mphutlane Wa Bofelo



Caring for Black Labour

To drown all your sorrows and refresh your wretched and wrecked body, forget about Laugh it Off’s insinuations that this beer- and the wealth accrued from it- is built of black labour and that our noble social responsibility programmes are at best the results of white guilt and at worst a mere public relations exercise…..At least we know that after all the hard-work of the day and the physical depravity you suffer in the townships and rural areas, you deserve to find mental solace in a glass of extra-matured, carefully brewed beer for quick and ultra effects:

At the end of the day … The union and the employers agree
In the interest of economic growth
The workers will be retrenched
And then re-enter the job market
Via sub-construction consortiums
Owned by former shopsterwards
Turned avid entrepreneurs
More rewarding ……..
After a glass & few puffs
The casual worker counts
The few days left before
The ‘piece job’ is over

Refreshing ……. When the sun goes down
Mqwathi takes a cold shower
Jumps into bed
After shouting instructions
To his wife and kids
To tell the shebeen queen
He is doing over time


© Mphutlane Wa Bofelo