Amagama Enkululeko: Poetry – Passes and Petty Apartheid

Poetry: Passes and Petty Apartheid

The poems gathered here stage for us the ways in which racist Apartheid laws severely limited the freedom and opportunity of black people during the years of Apartheid. Not only do the poems show what it felt like to be stripped of dignity and humanity as individuals, they also reveal how these laws ripped families and loved ones apart. They are historical artefacts of great value as they communicate the lived experience of oppression under Apartheid.

The Pass Office

Poet: Solomon Linda

Remove your hat.
What’s your home name?
Who’s your father?
Who’s your chief?
Where do you pay your tax?
What river do you drink?
We mourn for our country.

Questions

Who do you think is asking the questions in the poem?

What is the effect of having one question after each other, without answers?

Explain the meaning of the last line. Is it spoken by the same voice that asks the questions?

Taken for a Ride

Poet: Stanley Motjuwadi

I get my cue cue Sign.
from the glint glint Flash of light. in the cop’s eye.
I have seen it before.
So I have to find it.

I pull away from Mono
and hug myself in desperation.
Up, down, back, front, sides,
like a crazed tribal dancer.
I have to find it.

Without it I’m lost, with it I’m lost,
a cipher cipher Nobody or nothing. in Albert Street.
I hate it. I nurse nurse To look after or care for something. it,
my pass, my everything.

Up, down, back, front, sides,
Mono’s lip twitches,
She looks at me with all the love.
She shakes her head nervously.
Up, front, sides, back, down,
like a crazed tribal dancer.
Molimo!

The doors of the kwela-kwela kwela-kwela Police van. gape,
I jabber at Mono.
The doors swing lazy, sadistic sadistic Cruel; enjoys giving others pain. like Jonah’s whale.
l take a free ride.

Questions

How does the man know what the policeman wants?

How does the man react to having to show his pass to the policeman? What effect does the pass inspection have on him? Make reference to the metaphor of the “crazed tribal dancer” in coming up with your answer.

What do you think the speaker means when he says “without it I’m lost, with it I’m lost”?

Who is giving the speaker a “free ride”? Why is calling it a ‘free ride’ ironic?

Pigeons at the Oppenheimer Park

Poet: Oswald Mtshali

prosecuted Made to stand trial; punished. trespassing Being on someone else’s land without permission. insolent Rude.

I wonder why these pigeons in the Oppenheimer Park
are never arrested and prosecuted for trespassing
on private property and charged with public indecency.
Every day I see these insolent birds perched
on “Whites Only” benches, defying all authority.
Don’t they know of the Separate Amenities Act?
A white policeman in full uniform, complete
with a holstered .38 special, passes by
without even raising a reprimanding reprimanding Showing disapproval. finger
at offenders who are flouting flouting Disregarding, ignoring, breaking. the law.
They not only sit on the hallowed hallowed Holy or sacred. benches,
they also mess them up with birdshit.
Oh! Holy Ideology! look at those two at the crest
of the jumping impala, they are making love in full
view of madams, hobos, giggling office girls.
What is the world coming to?
Where’s the sacred Immorality Act? Sies!

Questions

What laws are the pigeons breaking?

Is the speaker really angry with the pigeons?

What point do you think the poem is making?

To Whom It May Concern

Poet: Sipho Sepamla

Bearer Bearer Carrier.
Bare Bare Without. of everything but particulars particulars Personal details, like name and address (and in South Africa: race and ethnicity).
Is a Bantu
The language of a people in Southern Africa
He seeks to proceed from here to there
Please pass him on
Subject to these particulars
He lives
Subject to the provisions of the Urban Natives Act of 1925
Amended Amended Changed or updated. often
To update it to his sophistication sophistication Complexity or cleverness.
Subject to the provisions provisions Requirements. of the said Act
He may roam freely within a prescribed area
Free only from the anxiety of conscription conscription Being forced to join the army.
In terms of the Abolition of Passes Act
A latter day amendment
In keeping with the moon-age naming
Bearer’s designation designation Title or name. is Reference number 417181
And (he) acquires a niche niche Foothold; place of belonging. in the said area
As a temporary sojourner sojourner Visitor. During Apartheid, black people were described as ‘temporary sojourners’ in the cities, meaning they were not allowed to stay there permanently.
To which he must betake betake Go to, remove. himself
At all times
When his services are dispensed with for the day
As a permanent measure of law and order
Please note
The remains of R/N 417181
Will be laid to rest in peace
On a plot
Set aside for Methodist Xhosas
A measure also adopted
At the express request of the Bantu
In anticipation of any faction fight
Before the Day of Judgement.

Questions

“Bearer” means the person who carries something. Who is the bearer here, and what physical thing is he carrying?

What are some of the ways in which this man’s life is shaped and limited by what he carries, and the laws around it?

What do you think the speaker means by saying the law has been “amended often/ to update it to his sophistication”?

A lot of the language in the poem is technical (legal, bureaucratic, official), not emotive (feeling, expressing emotions). What does this make the poem sound like to you? What do you think the poet is trying to show by doing this?

List the different ways the poem has of speaking about the man. What do we know about who he is? Do we know his name? What has happened to his identity?

What does the poem tell us about the way Apartheid divided oppressed people?

But O…

Poet: Adam Small

You can stop me
drinking a pepsi-cola
at the cafe
in the Avenue
or goin’ to
an Alhambra revue, revue A theatre show.
you can stop me doin’
some silly thing like that
but o
there’s somethin’ you can
never never do;
you can stop me
boarding a carriage
on the Bellville Bellville A suburb of Cape Town. run
white class
or sittin’ in front
of the X-line
on the Hout Bay bus,
you can stop me doin’
some silly thing like that
but o
there’s somethin’ you can
never never do;
you can stop me
goin’ to Groote Schuur Groote Schuur A hospital in Cape Town.
in the same ambulance
as you
or tryin’ to go to Heaven
from a Groote Kerk pew pew A bench in a church.
you can stop me doin’
some silly thing like that
but o
there’s somethin’ you can
never never do;
true’s God
you can stop me doin’
all silly things of that sort
and to think of it
if it comes to that
you can even stop me hatin’
but o
there’s somethin’ you can never
never never do –
you can’t
ever
ever
ever stop me
loving
even you!

Questions

Who is the character in the poem speaking to?

Which places mentioned in the poem have been segregated? Try to think of the laws which would stop the speaker in the poem from doing the things listed in the poem.

Discuss the ending of the poem. How does it challenge Apartheid and Apartheid’s values – is the character in the poem breaking a law? How else was it possible to undermine Apartheid?