Zabalaza Republic

Sihle Ntuli

Description

“Zabalaza Republic reiterates the need for my people to find value in our blackness. For my generation, the battle against white supremacy culture has taken on psychological implications echoing sentiments of what Du Bois referred to as double consciousness. My poetry comes from the wreck left behind after ethnic and racial collisions. For me, this book represents an optimistic step forward towards healing and a return of black self-love.’’ 

As Sihle Ntuli describes the essence of his collection, the poems encompass numerous aspects of black alienation resulting from collisions with the white world, which despite the ‘zabalaza’ seemingly having been won in 1994, still remains the ruling environment. In poems inspired by Winnie Mandela, Miriam Makeba, Nokuthula Simelane, Hugh Masakela, Seitlhamo Motsapi, Caiphus Semenya and Letta Mbuli (to name some of his black heroes) Ntuli dissects the gulf between the black psyche (both pre-and post-colonial) and Europe’s imposed culture. On a more personal note, he also sets out the challenge to prove that he is indeed a Zulu man ‘’whilst never having held a knife to the neck of a lamb”, and to navigate the contradictions of his upbringing: ‘how deep the scars, years of tongue lashings from black mama discipline’’. There is also the question of his being a student of European Classics and someone who ‘’only dreams in English.’’ And so one can see that this collection breaks new ground in South African poetry by diving into the effects of the 1994 ‘negotiated settlement’’ on a new generation of urban black youth who are held back by a failing public education system, massive unemployment and various plagues of social abuse.

Sujets

• African
• Poetry

Informations

• Publié par: Botsotso Publishing
• Date de parution: 18 septembre 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• EAN13: 9781990922695
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

ZabalaZa Republic

Sihle Ntuli

First published in 2023 by Botsotso 59 Natal St Bellevue East Johannesburg [e-mail] www.botsotso.org.za

ISBN: 978-1-990922-64-0

In the text © Sihle Ntuli

Acknowledgements

Earlier versions of the poems in this collection have appeared in20.35 Africa, Agbowo,Ake Review, ANMLY,Botsotso,Daily Maverick,Down River Road,Herri, Interpret Magazine, Imbiza Journal, Isele Magazine,Press & Mag, Jalada Iskanchi Africa, Lolwe, Porstside Review, Protean Mag, Puerto Del Sol, The Rumpus, Salamander Mag, Sand Journal,SEED: Objects of Wonder Journal, Sprout Poetry Journal, The Shore, Mizna,Moria Literary Magazine,New Contrast,The Hellebore,Lolwe&Olongo Africa

Cover: Graeme Arendse

without Azania’s heartbeat black pain black voices all the struggle songs turned against us

cONteNtS

NoTEs

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Children of Winnie Freestyle Sawubona Princess Magogo Stadium Julius Nyerere Avenue Cape Verde Zabalaza Love Soft Eyes Zambezi The Sun Turns On Us The Sunset Clause The Lucky Dube Theory B.R.T.V Letta & Caiphus Banana Republic Mozambique Ramadan The Great Flood The National Screening of Saraîna, Every Year on June 16th Zulu Mecca Remember Nokuthula Simelane Energy Closed for Prayers

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10 15 16 18 19 20 22 25 26 27 28 30 32 34 35 36 38 40 43 44 46 47

ii The Jazz Bantu Zabalaza Republic Conditioning Meditations on The Near Death Buried Alive Ebony Ivory Coup d'état Robin ThirdLoor Taste Umoba The Click Poem Aftertaste Meditations on Sharpness To The 27 Year Old Who Knew No Better Rickshaw Grace IPRAYWITHMYEYESOPEN Black Shadow Man Die Swart Gevaar A Little Deeper 29 Questions for Azania

FooTnoTEs/GLossàry GràTITUdE aBoUT THE aUTHor

50 52 54 56 58 60 64 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 74 76 77 78 81 82 85 89

91 95 96

NoTEs

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‘Children of Winnie Freestyle’inspired by a speech by EFF leader is Julius Malema at the funeral of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on the th 14 of April 2018 at Orlando Stadium, Soweto. This poem uses language from Kendrick Lamar’s “Backstreet Freestyle”

‘Princess Magogo Stadium’refers to the multipurpose stadium located in KwaMashu, refurbished in 2010 for the FIFA World Cup and named after Princess Constance Magogo, a Zulu princess and musician.

The poem ‘Julius Nyerere Avenue’is inspired by the Durban street of the same name; formerly known as Warwick Avenue, it is a hub for both formal and informal trading in the Durban CBD.

The poem ‘Letta & Caiphus’ is inspired by the musical couple/duo & makes reference to the songs ‘Not Yet Uhuru’ by Letta Mbulu & ‘Nomalanga’ by Caiphus Semenya respectively.

‘B.R.T.V’or Black Reality Television makes reference to the reality television shows ‘Uyajola Nine-Nine, ‘Nyan-Nyan’& ‘Khumbul’ekhaya’.

The poem ‘Zulu Mecca’based on an incident that occurred in is September 2021 when the devotees of the Nazareth Baptist Church Looded the streets of Durban as part of a protest in support of a faction contesting for control of the church structures.

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‘Conditioning’Americanto the behaviourist theories of  alludes psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner & Russian neurologist Ivan Pavlov.

‘Ebony’ is dedicated to the youth of KwaMashu who continue to succumb to a terrible drug pandemic; the poem is based on a 2016 incident concerning the ecstasy-based pill known colloquially as ‘Mercedes’.

The opening line of‘Taste’the refrain from theis an interpolation of poem ‘She Left the Tap Open’ as performed by Makhaolo Ndebele on an episode of Yizo-Yizo Season 3.

‘Black Shadow Man’inspired by an episode of Vicelands’s ‘The is Therapist’ with Dr Siri Sat Nam Singh featuring the late U.S rapper, Prodigy, of Mobb Deep.

‘The Jazz Bantu’makes reference to the song ‘Night in Tunisia’ as performed by Hugh Masekela from the 1974 album ‘I Am Not Afraid’.