I found myself blinking away tears and choking while watching the televised buria of South African Prime Minister, Jackson Mthembu on Saturday morning
My boys were having breakfast. I did not want them to see me shedding a tear for a man. Tigers dont cry.
Thoughts of Jackson crossed my mind today. And this poem came out. I was haunted by his soul and what it represents.
The Soul of the Nation
(For Jackson Mphikwa Mthembu)
You know our deepest fear
is not Covid or death
We must die some day
We have always been prepared to die
though we know not the hour or day
Our deppest fear is a life empty of purpose
It is to stand for nothing that frightens us
Being blown about
by fleeting winds of factions
Not to know who we are
or what we represent
We doubt ourselves, now
After all that Mandela, Biko &
Sobukwe have done
We have lost our bearing
are overwhelmed by blind fear
Thus the absurd questions
we ask of ourselves
‘Who the hell are you, to think
that you can challenge
the abuse of power?”
Actually, who will stand up
or power the Truth if we do not?
Do not look beyond the man in the mirror
to do what needs to be done.
History and destiny chose us
and have long clarified our roles
It does not help to
live up to other people’s expectations
or to please the boss
or seek approval of fake comrades
We now know there is nothing
better than being true to self
He who wants to be the greatest
must be a servant to all
We remain the foot soldiers
of the aborted revolution
the custodians of our people’s hopes
We were not born to be lackeys
or money bag boys
We are the manifestation of
the the true spirit
of the glorious movement
born of warrior kings
who were beheaded alive
for fighting for the ancestral land
It is not everyone who can do this
except those chosen by history
And when we die
we unconsciously know
what we have failed to do
It is unfinished business this
Death is a political thing
Our souls should not be glorified
through comfortable lies
but uncomfortable truths
Our flesh and bones shall be buried
in the ground
But our souls must liberate this country
It is not yet Uhuru
