CONFLATING YORUBA AND SESOTHO LITERATURE

By Omoseye Bolaji

Is it not a wonderful thing when we devour (read) a gripping, superb book written in our African languages, the mother tongue in particular? Such books read at a very young age often transport us into another world entirely, especially if the pertinent author is a fluent wordsmith.

Hence millions of Yoruba speaking people around the world (including myself) realise only too well the debt we owe to D.O Fagunwa, a more than proficient and dexterous writer in the Yoruba language. What an imagination! What florid captivating descriptions! Reading Fagunwa’s books enriched our childhood prodigiously, especially as we were so lucky to read him as kids.

It is rather zany that as regards writing in the mother tongue, our African languages, there is often complete ignorance among readers from other linguistic groupings about superb writers strutting their stuff in other African languages. That is the burden such great writers often necessarily carry. For example we Yorubas know all about the one and only D.O Fagunwa, but how many Yorubas know about Thomas Mofolo or KPD Maphalla? Or vice versa?

Okay, Thomas Mofolo (pix, above) and Maphalla are regarded as all-time greats of Sesotho (a South African ‘African language’) literature. Since there have been many translations (into European languages) of Mofolo’s books - especially Chaka – we can assume that from the international point of view Thomas Mofolo would be more celebrated than Maphalla.

Yet KPD Maphalla arguably is the greatest writer ever in the Sesotho language. Here is a living legend indeed! (He is still very much alive unlike Fagunwa and Mofolo who died many decades ago) Maphalla has published well over 35 books in Sesotho, a man whose books have been read by successive generations of (Sesotho language) readers in schools and Colleges in the pertinent regions. Just like D.O Fagunwa in the Yoruba niche.

Years ago, Fagunwa’s books were recommended reading in proliferating schools in Yorubaland, as it were, (mainly western Nigeria) And we all relish those good old days! Reading any work of Fagunwa then – like Ireke Onibudo, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale, Igbo Olodumare, Aditu Olodumare etc - was being transported into a fantastical, exhilarating world where human beings, evanescent spirits, animals, ancestral African legends are intertwined inextricably.

As scholar Bayo Adebowale has put it: “Whoever among them can ever forget Fagunwa’s powerful character portrait of his major characters like Esu Kekereode, Anjonnu Iberu, Olowoaye, Ojola Ibinu, Kako, Akaraoogun, Imodoye, Olohun Iyo, Aramanda Okunrin, Egbin, Ibembe Olokunrun, Ifepade, Arogidigba, Baba Onirugbon Yeuke, Ajediran, Iragbeje, Ajantala, Ogongo Baba Eye, Edidare people and Omugodimeji their Royal Father, Ireke Onibudo, itanforiti, Ologbo Ijakadi, Iyunade and Ahondiwura!”

Not that Fagunwa is the only superb writer in the Yoruba language. There have been a number of others over the decades like the revered Adebayo Faleti, Akinwunmi Isola, and Afolabi Olabimtan (who I once interviewed for a Nigerian weekly in the past). Prof Faleti’s Yoruba classics (books) include O leku and Efunsetan Aniiwura – which we read long ago.

Yet there is no doubt about it that D.O Fagunwa will always be considered the greatest creative writer ever in the Yoruba language; the same way Thomas Mofolo and KPD Maphalla are regarded as all-time greats (or ‘greatests’) in the Sesotho language. Mofolo, being a pioneer (first novelist in the Sesotho language) will always be given pride of place by scholars and pundits. Ditto D.O Fagunwa in the Yoruba language.

It is a crying shame that these days, most African youth seem to consider it a burden, an imposition, even “infra dig” to read books written in their mother tongues across the continent. They do not know that this is sheer folly on their part. The ideal thing is to master both our mother tongues plus “international language” – bask in them all!

In this wise we all remember that one of Africa’s greatest ever writers, Ngugi wa Thiong’o (from Kenya) made his name as a brilliant writer in English, and then suddenly announced that he would be focusing on his mother tongue (Kikuyu) in his writings. Many scholars have regarded this as “extreme”, but the point is that there is great joy in the literature of our copious African languages…suke…

MELANCHOLIC PALL OF MARIKANA

By Omoseye Bolaji

August 16 – yesterday - is the date of my birthday – but alas, the heart-rending events at Marikana last year (2012) in South Africa, have made this date one for sober reflection in the country. This is because of what has now gone down in history as the “Marikana massacre”

Some background information here. The Marikana miners' strike or Lonmin strike was a wildcat strike at a mine owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa – last year. The event garnered international attention following a series of violent incidents between the South Africa Police Service, Lonmin security, the leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and strikers themselves which resulted in the deaths of 44 people, the majority of whom were striking mineworkers killed on the day.

On the afternoon of 16 August, members of a contingent of the SAPS, from an elite special unit, opened fire on a group of strikers. 34 people were killed, and at least 78 were wounded. The striking mine workers had gathered nearby Nkaneng Hill armed with spears, pangas, and sticks. A large group of women, not employed at the mine, some armed with knobkerries, joined them. Six guns were found at the scene, one of which belonged to a police officer "hacked to death" earlier during the strike

At least 78 additional workers were also injured on 16 August last year. The total number of injuries during the strike remains unknown. In addition to the Lonmin strikers, there has been a wave of wildcat strikes across the South African mining sector. ^..

Now a year after South Africa's bloodiest post-apartheid labour incident awoke the world to the potential for unrest in the country's mines; the industry still suffers from worker poverty, pay disputes, shrinking profits and a violent union feud.

It is still remembered that squalid living conditions and hard work coupled with indebtedness in a violent crime-ridden environment, contributed toward mounting resentment among the miners.

This was exacerbated by a perception that trade unions, the supposedly democratically controlled shields of the workers, had been mere stepping stones to wealth and privilege for the few.

Yet the sad reality is that now, a year after SA’s bloodiest post-apartheid labour incident awoke the world to the potential for unrest in the country's mines, the industry still suffers from worker poverty, pay disputes, shrinking profits and a violent union feud.

The shooting incident on 16 August last year that the press dubbed the Marikana massacre was the single most lethal use of force by South African security forces against civilians since 1960, and the end of the apartheid era. The shootings have been described as a “massacre” in the South African media and have been compared to Sharpeville massacre in 1960. The incident also took place on the 25-year anniversary of a nationwide South African miners' strike.

The commission of inquiry appointed by the powers-that-be in SA to establish just what happened in the days leading up to the fateful events last year has yet to conclude its work. Retired Judge Ian Farlam and his team were initially given four months to finish their probe but their work has been plagued by numerous problems; including the issue of funding for the deceased’ families to attend proceedings, and also the fact that several key potential witnesses were killed. Despite the challenges, the commission continued probing what happened in the dusty mining town last August.

On Friday yesterday (my birthday), prayers were offered at the rocky outcrop known as the "Hill of Horror" near the Marikana mine where the 34 strikers, many carrying clubs and spears, died in hail of police gunfire when officers moved to disperse their protest last year.

But the fact is; the date is still my birthday. On a personal note, I have been surprised with the plethora of birthday wishes, congratulations, gifts et al that I have received this year - especially as I am considered by many as something of a ‘a recluse and old fogey’ who has always steered away from ‘social networking’ paraphernalia like facebook and twitter. Thanks…

TANTALISING GLIMPSES OF THE IVORY TOWER

By Omoseye Bolaji

The South African academic, Dr Somadoda Fikeni (pictured above) is a top-notch intellectual I enjoy watching whenever he is on TV analysing political issues with elan. He has an extraordinary ambience of gravitas, which complemented with his suavity and excellent diction adorns him with a special aura.

I can not make great claims that I know much about this gentleman, but just listening to him intermittently on air one becomes somewhat entranced. Even without being told, one ineluctably has the distinct conviction that this is a man of distinction and erudition, a man who would have churned out world class books in his field.

And, voila! This is indeed the case. The good Doctor – or/and Professor – is the author of massive analytical, painstaking books like Conflict and Accommodation: The Politics of Rural Local Government, and Exile and Return: The Politics of Namibia’s “returnees”

Somehow, when I see Fikeni on air, my mind goes back to a few decades ago back in Nigeria when as a youngster I used to see another eminent academic, Dr Ben Elugbe on TV analysing football with awesome proficiency. As kids we marvelled at his knowledge and skilled delivery – on football. Somehow we could not get to grips with his already considerable pedigree as an academic.

It was only later on that one would learn that Elugbe is a renowned academic in his own field (linguistics?), a man who has published the usual awe-inspiring works – like his “thick” book, A comparative Edo phonology, Comparative Edoid: Phonology and Lexicon; and Nigerian Pidgin: Background and Prospects.

It does appear that academics, though respected prodigiously in their own niche, seem not to belong to the “ordinary” world, it is as if the “Ivory Tower” is where they should be ensconced; as if they are rather unreal and ethereal; that the works they produce can only be appreciated by a removed, restricted, cerebral audience. This is a perception which continues to persist, even among so-called mainstream writers and public “performance poets”

At this juncture, let us throw in the names of two great, world class African writers; one a Nigerian, one a South African. Both academics. Nigeria’s Isidore Okpewho is an outstanding writer who has produced scintillating works. But how many “ordinary readers” know about him or his works, including his fiction? The same applies to South Africa’s Zoe Wicomb (“coloured”) a woman whose writing skill is easily one of the best in the world. Yet this duo seems inextricably submerged into the world of academia and one would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of ordinary, mainstream readers familiar with their published works. And I must also mention the polished, superb (also an academic) female writer, Menan Du Plessis, author of stunning books like A State of Fear and Longlive…

A few years ago, I met an incredibly modest, quite young woman (incidentally white) at a conference. Whilst other mediocre participants were making their presence felt volubly, she was mouse-like, funereally quiet, as if it was incongruous that she should be at the occasion. But nevertheless, I had the feeling that she was an immense intellect and managed to share a few words with her.

“I am sure you have published a lot of quality stuff. You are an academic,” I said to her. Deprecatingly, she admitted that yes, she had published some “weak stuff. Nothing much,” Books? Shuffling of feet. “Just one…a small book…”

Subsequent research on my part soon elicited the fact that this lady had indeed published a book; and the “small book” she had published in her field was over 300 pages long! In my mind (I won’t publish her name here) she strikes me as a quintessential academic, exceedingly modest yet already top-notch.

Since academics always aim for the skies, and are so painstaking that it is not easy for them to become part of the warp and weft of the mainstream, I suppose that is what makes the achievements of writers like Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiong’o more astonishing. They were (Ngugi still is) academics for many decades yet most of their published works are generally accessible to virtually everybody.

Ah, the lofty academics…