Saiyuri Chetty

Student number: 19004513

PATHWAY: ENGL6221

Lecturer: Peter Bayer

6 April 2021

South African literature creative poetry and critical reflection

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TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

1 INTRODUCTION 3

2 CREATIVE POEM AND CRITICAL REFLECTION

2.1 Mother Africa is dead – Saiyuri Chetty 4

2.2 Past and present landscape of South Africa 6

expressed through South African literature

3 CONCLUSION 11

REFERENCES 12

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1. INTRODUCTION

Many spaces of South Africa as a geographical place, have developed its own
cultures, beliefs and history within the post-apartheid era to the current landscape.
South African poetry acts as a literary agent responsible for delivering the historical
message of struggle as well as a the current affairs as result that effect an individual
in the present landscape of South Africa. Through influential poetry Such as Karen
press's hope for refugees and Elizabeth Cloete's, The Spartan woman, a deeper
understanding of the emotional impact of the political and social occurrences such as
xenophobia and apartheid, can be understood and adapted to current affairs and
Poetry. Several political and social issues are present in the current time frame and
landscape of South Africa both as a result of past turbulences and the build-up of
mismanaged issues in the present landscape.

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2. CREATIVE POEM AND CRTICAL REFLECTION
2.1. Mother Africa is dead
- Saiyuri Chetty

They spoke of a ‘new era’

As if it were the first ray of sunlight
Kissing the skin of a new born.
There was hope
never another,
Chain,
Sickle,
and thorn.

They laid their bare feet on her soft sand

Cried her name!
and held hands with the white man
Palms wet with fear
Anticipating a war,
from a childless mother
who peeks from the horizon
fiery as a sun,
her eyes burning with vengeance.

Mother Africa holds her hand

and promises a ‘new era’.
She tells her to close her eyes,
to picture her granddaughter
on the highest mountain
singing their anthem
soaring further than the tallest wave
close to God’s fingertips.

I Am
Sorry
To disappoint

Your bloodshed still is a stain on my carpet

but the struggle will remain in your grave
Mother Africa is dead
I am sorry
but you can take the blame
We no longer care
Unity sounds foreign
It is all for one
and none for all

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Here lies the beaten body
of the daughter you pledged to protect
Sing your anthem but face the music
nothing is hers,
nothing at all

His alien accent

It calls for war
thank you for the roof over their head
but sorry
we owe you nothing,
nothing at all

Fees must fall

Fees must fall
we deserve education!
let us leave our footprints on the sacred lotus
let us burn every book and art on the walls
if I get nothing,
you get none
nothing at all

A happy family
with a copious buffet
the children aren’t hungry
but I will swallow a bowl of bullets for breakfast
I am so full
I will have nothing
there is nothing at all

All the life her womb carries

can never fully feed us
the tears that rise from her swollen eyes
will never quench
our thirst,
our greed.
we set fire to her temple
and step on her aching heart
she no longer lives here
I am sorry to disappoint
Mother Africa is dead
there is no one here
no one at all

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2.2. Past and present landscape of South Africa expressed through South African literature

The Landscape of South Africa within the concept of place, which is the geographical
locations and space, which refers to the social and cultural identity development within this
landscape, has witnessed a fast pace of change. Such rapid change can be analysed from
South Africa’s apartheid period to the present day. Meanings along the way had been
adopted, some places when observing the locale, had deteriorated while others thrived. All
geographical places within the landscape of south Africa that has experienced this
locomotion or process of becoming and existing can be understood as a result of events that
occurred during and post- apartheid. Cresswell (2009), encapsulates the concepts of Greek
philosophers Plato and Aristotle, who developed he notions of Chora and Topos, which
seeks to understand the existence of an origin by understanding the process of becoming
(Chora) and an achieved place existing as a result of the Chora (Topos). Similarly, in the
South African context the present landscape can also be understood as a direct result of the
past occurrences and struggles. By analysing South African literature and poetry, a
humanized and personal perspective can be developed on the turbulences present and past
South Africa has and continues to endure. The poem Mother Africa is dead, depicts the
change of place and space in South Africa with regards to social and political issues.

The poem Mother Africa is dead, is a nine-stanza allegory, which implicitly conveys the
message through an extended metaphor of South Africa losing a figure that can be
associated with hope, strength support, forgiveness and an agent of unity, by personifying
Africa as a motherly figure. The concept of personifying Africa through a motherly woman
was adopted from Elizabeth Cloete’s ‘The Spartan Woman’, as Cloete (1931), refers to
Africa as a powerful woman who protects her people. By using diction which refers to the
death of the mother it therefore gives an idea to the reader that Africa’s strength have been
taken away. The poem begins with a triumphant tone as the struggle of keeping South
Africans of colour separated and oppressed was now dismantled. This imagery in the
beginning created a hopeful and anticipatory atmosphere, which is indicated through the
positive diction and usage of punctuation to create a slow and peaceful pace to poem. The
poem however shifts, taking a frantic and apologetic tone when the present landscape of
South Africa. This is depicted through the usage of punctuation being minimal to and using
enjambment and run-on lines to create a distraught tone and chaotic pace to the poem.
Many prominent South African political and social issues are addressed and critiqued
through the poem, apologising for the way South Africa has become and for killing mother
Africa to those who fought for South Africa’s positive development. The Death of a Mother

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within the context of space in the poem, represents the death of hope and unity and the birth
to materialism and self- absorbed behaviours displayed within society.

The first three stanzas of the poem is set in South Africa when apartheid laws had been
newly dismantled. The poem firstly creates imagery of the oppressed community now
envisioning a new lifestyle that does not involve demeaning labour and exploring new
opportunities - ‘never another chain sickle and thorn’. The second and third stanza highlights
a very historically important Act which impacted the Present South Africa, known as the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The poem mentions holding hands with a white man and his palms being ‘wet with fear’ in
lines eleven and twelve. This indicated the fear white members of South Africa developed
through years of propaganda and the realisation that many induvial would seek revenge.
Manzo and McGowan (1992) suggest that many Afrikaner individuals in South Africa feared
that by mixing races, the Afrikaner identify would be tainted and that they also had concern
for their safety as “swaart Gevaar” (black danger) propaganda pushed by The National
Party, had incited the fear of African citizens. In the second stanza, lines thirteen to
seventeen, the Imagery of an angry mother is depicted, who has lost her child to hate crimes
during apartheid. Susser (1983) argues that within the apartheid era black mortality rates
were staggeringly high as a result of unfair discriminatory persecution permitted by the
National Party. By adding the imagery of a mother loosing her child in the poem, it gives a
face and an identity to the mortality rate to evoke the readers emotions and sympathise with
the mother and not merely view the victims as numbers.

In stanza three, the imagery of Mother Africa pacifying and reassuring the mother who has
lost her child is presented and is a metaphor for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
With the usage of this metaphor, an understanding of an unjustified, but a debatably
necessary measure taken by the African National Congress in 1995 after negotiations. This
allowed perpetrators who violently oppressed people of colour and freedom fighters who had
fulfil the National Parties regulations, to admit to their crimes and were granted amnesty
depended on the nature of the crime. Dullah Omar the former minster of justice suggested
that in order for South Africa to have a peaceful transition into the free and democratic South
Africa many victims and their families had to come to terms with their past (The Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, 2021). Dullah Omar’s proclamation was introduced in the poem,
on lines eighteen to twenty- five:

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 “Mother Africa holds her hand
and promises a ‘new era’.
She tells her to close her eyes,
to picture her granddaughter
on the highest mountain”

This passage in the poem indicates Mother Africa assuring the childless mother that the only
way for further generations to benefit from the struggle is if there is peace and no civil war
against black and white individuals. This decision has greatly impacted the space and place
of present South Africa as well as the past south Africa, with many arguing it was an
unjustified decision and others acknowledging the peaceful transition it allowed for South
Africa to heal.

when addressing the current landscape of South Africa, the subject matter of place and
space gives an explanation as to the processes and locomotion that led to the eventual
destination and the meaning the space carries to an individual, Cresswell (2009). When
leading on to stanza four the line “I am sorry to disappoint” is spaced out using white
spacing. The reason for the white spacing is to represent a change of time frames as the
words travel down, as well as to signify events that have occurred in the space around the
build up towards the present South African Landscape. This also creates an anti- climactic
build up as the poems mood automatically shifts in the fourth stanza.

The anti-climactic stanza discusses the current South Africa where youth blame the many
current issues on the way ANC dealt with the many unresolved inequalities of South Africa,
highlighting the corruption and greed, where the poor get hungrier and the wealthy politicians
get greedier. SABC (2019) surmises that during former President Jacob Zuma’s nine years
in office, South Africa has incurred a loss of close to one trillion rand due to corruption. This
therefore supports the poems criticism of blaming the issues of poverty and power inequality
in South Africa and how the past has caused major negative impacts within the place and
space of South Africa.

Gender based violence in South Africa is at its peak, according to Shoba (2020), South
Africa has been identified as the rape capital of the world, with a staggeringly high number of
cases reported per day. The fifth stanza of the poem, addresses the femicide and gender-
based violence of woman, as it is a very prominent issue in South Africa, which over time
has progressed to become a norm in the current society. In the lines ‘Sing your anthem, but

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face the music, nothing is hers, nothing at all’, toxic masculinity and the societal
misconception of woman being the subordinate to men is heavily criticised. The choice of
diction and imagery imply that singing the anthem of the country and being proud is
hypocritical, as South Africa is not a safe place because of the individuals who continue to
feed their belief into the patriarchal system being correct. Within the place and space of
South Africa gender-based violence has become an ineradicable norm in South Africa, as a
result of these social issues being avoided for many years. Therefore, there would need to
many more years of progress within the space of South Africa before the desired outcome is
achieved.

Xenophobia and hate crimes have become an increasingly common issue, within the
present landscape of in South Africa. The lines ‘thank you for the roof over their head, but
sorry we owe you nothing, nothing at all’ within the poem can be understood as situational
irony, as foreigners are greeted with the opposite of that they expected when seeking refuge
in south Africa. The South African History Organisation (2019) surmised, that during the
Apartheid struggle countries such as Nigeria, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and many other
neighbouring African countries assisted South Africa in regaining freedom and refuge. The
poem therefore critiques South Africa’s current response to foreigners and refugees as it is
ironic that we don’t owe anything. The idea of xenophobia was adopted from Karen presses
hope for refugees, drawing from Press’s repetition of the line “you can go back” which has
the similar notion of be trapped as no place accepts refugees (Press,1956). The shift from
past south African landscape and the present is made aware though this observation.

Due to the bantu education act being passed in 1953, many Black South Africans were
unable to receive adequate education during the apartheid era which had deeply affected
South Africa in the present landscape. Many black South Africans still don’t have access to
adequate education systems and opportunities to study further due to finances. The
development of the fees must fall movement started off as a triumphant protest which aimed
to allow free education to those who were qualified to study further but could not afford it.
The movement took a questionable turn when libraries and student art were destroyed
during the process. The University of Kwa-Zulu Natal incurred a R 144 million worth of
damage to their library and buildings. This is implied in the poem through lines fifty-three to
fifty-six, as the inconsideration for burning and destroying sources of education come
forward as ironic critiquing the violent protesters actions. Lines forty- five and fifty can be
identified as repetition to create an imagery of chanting and protesting. The line “let us leave
our footprints on the sacred lotus” refers to the Goddess of education, Saraswathi, in

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Hinduism who sits on a lotus, and critiques the violent behaviour toward learning material as
disrespecting a book is considered an insult to the Goddess.

Within the present South African landscape, the issue of suicide and mental health is very
common among the young adults, however continues to remain an issue that is surrounded
with a stigma that many individuals do not wish to talk about. Professor Schlenbush’s
findings recorded twenty-three suicides per day in South Africa, findings are estimated to be
higher as many cases aren’t reported due to stigmatization of mental health. The depiction of
suicide is present in the line, ‘I will have a bowl of bullets for breakfast’, as the alliteration of
the ‘b’ consonant acts as a sound device of bullets been fired through the mouth. This
stanza therefore implicitly uses gruesome imagery to create awareness of the issue in the
current landscape of South Africa. The last Stanza of the poem concludes the poem and
uses repetition of the lines “nothing”, “sorry” and “mother Africa is dead” as an emphasis of
the emptiness and loss experience by Africa. Through the imagery of ‘swollen eyes’ signifies
the exhaustion and loss of fertility of the land.

By analysing South African literature and poetry, a personal perspective can therefore be
developed on the turbulences present and past South Africa continues to endure. The poem
Mother Africa is dead has depicted the change of place and space in South Africa with
regards to social and political issues, and therefore indicated that’s by analysing South
African literature can depicts the change of place and space in present South Africa with
regards to social and political issues as a result from past occurrences.

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3. CONCLUSION

Through literature, it is therefore possible to provide critique of current issues and

events that are a direct result of past affairs. Through the creation and analysis of
'Mother Africa is dead', the reader will be evoked to also critique the current
landscape of South Africa and struggle Post-apartheid. By providing commentary
through literature several serious subject matters were addressed acting as an agent
of change, as poetry does the have the ability evoke emotion through imagery and
diction to influence new literature and awareness on the current space and place of
South Africa. It was therefore evident that place and space can changed by certain
events.

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REFERENCES

Cloete, E. 1931. The Spartan woman. In: Moffet, H. Seasons come to pass: A poetry
anthology for Southern African students. Cape Town: Oxford University Press
Southern Africa, 154-155.

Cresswell, T. 2009. Place. Egham: Royal Holloway, University of London, 1-9.

Kahn, T. 2018. High cost of campus chaos during fees must fall. Herald Live, 9
August 2018. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.heraldlive.co.za/amp/news/2018-08-09-high-
cost-of-campus-chaos-during-feesmustfall/ [ Accessed 3 April 2021]

Manzo, K. and Mc Gowan, D. 1992. Afrikaner fears and the politics of despair:
understanding change in South Africa. International studies quarterly, 36(1): 1-24.
[Online]. DOI: 10.2307/2600914

Press, K. 1956. Hope for refugees. In: Moffet, H. Seasons come to pass: A poetry
anthology for Southern African students. Cape Town: Oxford University Press
Southern Africa, 264-265.

SABC. 2019. Corruption has cost South Africa close to R1 trillion: Ramaphosa.
SABC News, 15 October 2019. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/corruption-has-cost-sa-close-to-r1-tril
[Accessed 3 April 2021]

Shoba, S. 2020. Increase in rape and assault a grim marker of rising levels of
gender-based violence. Daily maverick, 3 August 2020. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-08-03-increase-in-rape-and-assault-a-
grim-marker-of-rising-levels-of-gender-based-violence/amp/ [ Accessed 3 April 2021]

South African history organisation. 2019. South Africa foreign relations during
apartheid. [Online]. Available at: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/south-africas-
foreign-relations-during-apartheid-1948 [ Accessed 3 April 2021]

Susser, M. 1983. Apartheid and the causes of death: disentangling ideology and
laws from class and race. American Journal of public health, 73(5): 581- 584.

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The South African Depression and Anxiety Group. 2014. Suicide takes its toll.
[Online]. Available at: https://www.sadag.org/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=2246:suicide-takes-its-
toll&catid=92&Itemid=154 [ Accessed 3 April 2021]

The truth and reconciliation commission. 2021. The media articles. [Online].
Available at: https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/report/index.htm [Accessed 3 April 2021]

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