Dada South (for S’Bu Zikode)

http://kaganof.com/kagablog/2009/12/12/dada-south-for-sbu-zikode/

12/12/2009

Dada South (for S’Bu Zikode)

Only the thieves are really here
in Dada South – and S’bu
Zikode’s gone
underground

The Wardens of Life
can never be friends
with the Ungrateful Dead
when they are it’s only an act
the Ungrateful Dead always want
some small change, and S’Bu Zikode’s

gone underground

All my warden friends
are becoming sangomas
Those that aren’t are becoming
komas. Apparently a koma is the one
who heals a sangoma. But who heals the komas?

. A full stop?

And S’Bu
Zikode’s
gone
underground

The wardens are funny
First they grabbed the land
Then they made slaves of everybody
that wasn’t a warden. and when they eventually
let everybody vote they made sure to keep the land
(and all the valuable stuff in and on it) for themselves.
They even washed old reverend Frank Chikane’s feet
(which gave them the
spiritual upper hand)
they always get their warden friends overseas to boycott
the ungrateful dead when the dead try to grab back
their land. Nowadays the wardens are all
becoming sangomas and komas. In
this way they are colonising all
those ungrateful dead
ancestors, Robbing
the dead of their
souls
that’s all
those rowdy
deads have got left
And S’Bu Zikode’s gone underground

The ungrateful dead are funny too
they keep on smiling
at me and killing
each other
Here in
dada
south
where S’Bu
Zikode’s gone underground

Dear God
tonight I’m
thanking you
for some small
mercies: I don’t
live in a shack that
the government wants
to tear down (in an area
it calls a slum and won’t take
the responsibility for as its own)

I don’t live in Blikkiesdorp or Kennedy Road

I haven’t had to go underground
for speaking my mind

I’m not a dead (YET)

But I am nearly
forty six years cold.
I haven’t got a bean
in the bank. Every day
I hear from reliable sources
that I’m unemployable. I’m terrified
that i won’t be able to feed my daughter
or send her to a posh wardens-only school
But all of that pales into insignificance
When you think about the fact
That – fearing for his life for
speaking his mind – S’bu
Zikode’s gone
underground

here in dada
south