June 2006

8
Post-Colonial Literature
The passagecomes from Sizwe Bansi is Dead (1974)by Athol Fugard.The play is set in South
Africaduringthe Apartheidera. All blackworkersneededa passbook,containingtheir personal
details,to entitlethemto work in specifiedareas.
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Bttntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Bwntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Buntu opens the two reference books and places them side by side on the
table. He produces a pot of glue, then very carefully tears out the
photograph in each book. A dab of glue on the back of each and then
Sizwe's goes back into Robert's book, and Robert's into Sizw*e's.Sizwe
watches this operation, at first uninterestedly,but when he realizes what
Buntu is up to, with growing alarm. When he is finished, Buntu pushes the
two books infront of Sizwe.
(shaking his head emphatically) Yo! Haai, haai. No, Buntu.
It's a chance.
Haai. haai. haai ...
It's your only chance!
No, Buntu! What's it mean?That me, Sizwe Bansi ...
Is dead.
I'm not dead, friend.
We burn this book ... (Sizwe'soriginal)... and Sizwe Bansi disappearsoff
the face of the earth.
What about the man we left lying in the alleyway?
Tomorrow the Flying Squad passes there and finds him. Check in his
pockets ... no passbook.Mount Road Mortuary. After three days, nobody
has identified him. Pauper's Burial. Case closed.
And then?
Tomorrow I contact my friend Norman at Feltex. He's a boss-boy there. I
tell him about another friend, Robert Zwelinzima, book in order, who's
looking for a job. You roll up later, hand over the book to the white man.
Who does Robert Zwehnzima look like? Youl Who gets the pay on Friday?
You, man!
What about all that shit at the Labour Bureau, Buntu?
You don't have to go there. This chap had a work-seeker's permit, Sizwe.
All you do is hand over the book to the white man. He checks at the Labour
Bureau. They check with their big machine. 'Robefi Zwelinzima has the
right to be employed and stay in this town.'
I don't want to lose my name, Buntu.
You mean you don't want to lose your bloody passbook!You love it, hey?
Buntu. I cannot lose my name.
(leaving the table) A1l right, I was only trying to help. As Robert
Zwelinzima you could have stayed and worked in this town. As Sizwe
Bansi ...? Start walking, friend. King William's Town. Hundred and fifty
miles. And don't waste any time! You've got to be there by yesterday.Hope
you enjoy it.
Buntu ...
Lots of sceneryin a hundred and fifty miles.
Buntu! ...
Maybe a better idea is just to wait until they pick you up. Save yourself all
that walking. Into the train with the escort! Smart stuff, hey. Hope it's not
too crowded though. Hell of a lot of people being kicked out, I hear.
Buntu! ...
But once you're back! Sit down on the side of the road next to your pondokl
with your family ... the whole Bansi clan on leave ... for life! Hey, that
sounds okay. Watching all the cars passing, and as you say, friend, cough
your bloody lungs out with Ciskean Independence.
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Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man.:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
Man:
Buntu:
(now really desperate)Buntu!!!
What you waiting for? Go!
Buntu.
What?
What about my wife, Nowetu?
What about her?
(maudlin tears) Her loving husband,Sizwe Bansi, is dead!
So what! She's going to maffy a better man.
(bridling) Who?
You ... Robert Zwelinzima.
(thoroughly confused) How can I marry my wife, Buntu?
Get her down here and I'll introduce you.
Don't makejokes, Buntu. Robert ... Sizwe .. . I'm all mixed up. Who am I?
A fool who is not taking his chance.
And my children! Their father is Sizwe Bansi. They're registeredat school
underBansi ...
Are you really worried about your children, friend, or are you just worried
about yourself and your bloody name? Wake up, man! Use that book and
with your pay on Friday you'll have a real chanceto do something for them.
I'm afraid. How do I get used to Robert? How do I live as another man's
ghost?
Wasn't Sizwe Bansi a ghost?
No!
No? When the white man looked at you at the Labour Bureau what did he
see?A man with dignity or a bloody passbook with an N.I. number. Isn't
that a ghost? When the white man seesyou walk down the street and calls
out, 'Hey, John! Come here' ... to you, Sizwe Bansi ... isn't that a ghost?
Or when his little child calls you 'Boy' ... you a man, circumcized,with a
wife and four children ... isn't that a ghost? Stop fooling yourself. All I'm
saying is be a real ghost, if that is what they want, what they've turned us
into. Spook them into hell, man!
1 oondok: hut. shack
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