SCENE 5: TWO FACES ONE WOMAN

SCENE 5: TWO FACES ONE WOMAN: JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA




[THIS SCENE IS SET AT A MEETING OF WAR VETERANS]

Nekuboka and his wife [extending their arms in greetings]



Comrade, how are you? How is your family, komu? How are progressing the work of the Party? How is the revolution? [They do that to everyone attending].

Acknowledgement [we are all well]

Nekuboka: [chanting]



Power to the people! Pamberi neChimurenga; Pamberi nekugova ivhu! Macomrades ngatifarireyi Chimurenga chitsva! [Power to the people, forward with the liberation struggle, forward with the land redistribution. Comrades let’s all celebrate the Third Chimurenga].



Mlambo [moving his beret sideways]



True that komu, that’s why you see some of us clad in these [he holds his denim pants]. We are already one foot in Comrades.



Nyamutaka [chanting]



Pasi nemabhunu, nevana vavo nevanovabikira! Pasi nezvimbwasungata zveMDC nevapambepfumi veBritain neAmerica. Pamberi nekugova minda! [Down with the imperialists and their supporters! Down with the MDC, Britain and the USA!”



Tichafa [emphasising a point by punching the air with a clenched fist]



Pamberi nestruggle! [Forward with the struggle]. Comrades let’s refrain from calling names. Our struggle was principled. It was in pursuit of an ethos of fairness, equality and non-discrimination. We didn’t fight to call others mabhunu. Our spirit has roots in the Freedom Charter. Our struggle will be in vain if it does not mature. Zimbabwe is a country for both blacks and whites. We owe it to Mwalimu, Kwame, Joshua Nkomo, Tongogara, Mangena, Senghor and a lot many others to do the right thing.



[He pauses, sips water and continues]



Like a plant the revolution has to mature.

When you grow plants you put seeds into the soil, they germinate and you prune and weed them. Our revolution is refusing to take shape, it has been affected by paranoia and this is retarding its progress. We have allowed hate and division to exist. We still have disparities. We still call whites mabhunu. We have not welcomed them yet to our family.



Mlambo



Comrade Magorira, all you have said is high sounding. But they caused themselves all the problems. They came to our country, they took our land by force, they chased our king away and no one knows where his grave is. They killed our prophets and prophetesses and defamed all the holy places. They raped our women and abandoned the bastardised children. They enslaved us and took our land and made us second class citizens in our own country. They...



Nyamutaka



In fact we were fourth class citizens....

Ndlovu



If we were citizens!



Nyamutaka [Continuing but gazing towards Ndlovu]



Thanks Comrade Ndlovu, if we were citizens. You see there is no change even today. They squeezed us in tiny pieces of land and they get all the money and with it the luxury; from the sweat of our people.



Mlambo

Thanks Comrades; we cannot apologise. We are the victims and cannot apologise to perpetrators. Think of Nyadzonia, Mkushi, Mgagao and Chimoyo. This land is ours, it grows on our soil and we toil on it. We are born on this land and our kith past, present and in the future will be buried here.





Nyamutaka



Yes this land is ours. We give the plants; the crops, bushes, trees, mountains, rivers, lakes and every land feature here names in our own languages. The animals that roam our forests are our culture; they give us our totems and praise lines. The beautiful, timid and heavy land features up mountains and near unwelcoming forests are the sacred areas which are our shrines and the cemeteries for our royals.



Tichafa: [staring at Mlambo and pursing his lips]



It’s very interesting Comrade Mlambo. By the way which Assembly Point where you? Which district did you operate in? Because I remember you were one of the few black members of the Selous Scouts from this area. Your evolution to be such a champion of the struggle who has all that knowledge about our birth-right is really amazing. What further amazes is how such an illusory son of the soil failed, in fact refused to join his colleagues.



Nekuboka



Because now you seem to remember the cause so vividly, Comrade Mlambo! During the liberation struggle I carried an AK47 and wore jeans. My bullets aimed at the enemy forces such as you; both blacks and whites. We were not taught to kill whites. Genocide was never part of the guerrilla curriculum. Yet you, the one who carried an LMG pointed the other way and now you are lecturing to us and inciting a hate agenda that never was. You are the people who destroy the struggle, Comrade.



Mlambo



That’s my history Comrades; even leadership has addressed it in reconciliation. I am now a custodian of the struggle.

Tichafa [Interjecting]

You see. You deserve reconciliation because you are black and you hang out with the right gang? Now that’s what I call hypocrisy, comrade!!



Nyamutaka [Throwing a clenched fist in the air]



Pamberi nekubatana. Pamberi nekubatana. [Forward with unity! Forward with unity!] Comrades we are one. We should not allow that...........



Mrs Mapembwe: [Standing up]



Correct Comrade Nyamutaka, correct. {Singing] Ahee shuwa, hehe tatukana here....Komuredhi tatukana here [others join in: hapana kutukana, pfungwa ndodzasiyana]

[The discussions continue after the singing]



Tichafa:



It’s all well Comrade; the good thing is that when we meet like this we have the chance to openly discuss. This is why I fought. It was to liberate the mind and conscience; for the freedom and happiness of all. Our enemy hated free speech and the character of our contemporary enemy today will be the one who hates free speech.



Mlambo



Comrade Tichafa, yes Comrade but these imperialists provoke my conscience. Maybe after serving them and later seeing the light I feel a lot angrier towards them. In any case I was the eyes of the revolution in the Selous Scouts. If you ask the senior command they will tell you it was me who leaked vital information, not to mention the daylight defection in 1977......



Tichafa



Comrade wasn’t your defection well after independence? I remember it was Comrade Jumanda Wiridzayi, who had just become a minister, who brought you to our attention and mentioned all what you are saying. But most of the boys at the camp felt it difficult to believe. It simply wasn’t compelling. They just let go because of the spirit of reconciliation. Comrade rumour actually says you had paid Comrade Wiridzayi and that he is also your relative



Mlambo [exclaiming]



Ha, comrade....do you believe that version from traitors?



Nyamutaka



Don’t worry Comrade Mlambo; I personally know what you talked about. Comrade Tichafa you are our senior, Comrade Mlambo came with the leaders. He was given to us by our leadership. They said he is a comrade and who are we to dispute that? I am a disciplined cadre and I obey them without thought.



[Ndlovu, Nekuboka and Mrs Mapembwe]

I too, Comrade Tichafa is drunk, Comrades. Comrade Mlambo is a true cadre, a son of the soil. Leadership says so and we too say so.

[Tichafa disapproves by throwing his arms in the air]



Mlambo

I don’t know Comrades; I thought we were all disciplined cadres and surely what are fighting over? Should we divide ourselves simply because we think these whole imperialists have rights, rights they denied us over and over again?



Nyamutaka



Pasi nemabhunu Macomrades?

[Down with the white imperialists]

[All but Tichafa].

Pasi naro nezvimbwasunguta zvaro! [Down with both him and the collaborators!]



Tichafa [Again shrugs].

They drink beer and then disappear in different directions.
 
THE EXCERPT ABOVE IS FROM "TWO FACES ONE WOMAN" A PLAY THAT I HAVE WRITTEN. THE BOOK RECEIVED VERY GOOD RAPPOITRE FROM PENGUIN BOOKS WHO UNFORTUNATELY DO NOT PUBLISH PLAYS