Biographical Notes of Vusi Moloi

A shepherd boy in a matrilineal society of Matamong and a former Television Journalist with the SABC TV News of South Africa, Vusi Moloi was born with a pen in his hand. Prior to going into exile, during the era of the anti-apartheid struggle, he worked with the South African women’s movement like the Black Sash of Johannesburg. Vusi rendered his last poetry at the women’s liberation conference held at the University of Witwatersrand in his hometown of Johannesburg organized by the Federation of Transvaal Women (FEDRAW).

His contextual poetry book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles narrates a unique human experience of formidable struggles using the analytical and interpretive medium of contextual poetry as observed during his formative years in an African traditional society of Matamong in the Eastern Free State of South Africa. Moreover, contextual analysis is a natural part of the conjugating rules of the languages spoken in a traditional African society.

The powerful women figures of this African society applied contextual analysis in their story telling to inculcate a sense of transcendence over adversity and a worshipful sentiment towards the sacredness of their natural environment. This paradigm of story telling was like a glue between the new generation and those that had gone before them helping to foster the principle of ubuntu towards the well being of others. As a result of this irresistible influence, A Goodbye To My Little Troubles is predicated upon African didactics and each poem is accompanied by a contextual commentary. The book is dedicated to the commanding women who injected a sense of buoyancy in Vusi’s life in the face of impossible odds such as Mmaketsa Mlangeni of Matamong, Manneheng Mangena of Naledi, Mannuku of Naledi, Mrs. Sheena Duncan of the Black Sash, Mrs. Albertina Sisulu of Phomolong and many others. Moreover, as the exiled son that has sojourned in far away lands such as Canada, Vusi continues to be guided by the spirits of those who have gone before him.

Sisters Must Arise

By Vusi Moloi © 2008

The African morning sun shone brightly across the beautiful land of QwaQwa. The breeze blew softly over the tree leaves and grass. The green leaves danced in the breeze as if in a festive mood. Suddenly the breeze stopped. The grey clouds moved quickly to hide the sun. At that moment a message came threw that a situation of labour unrest was brewing at the Phuthaditjhaba industrial complex.

I rushed to the scene. I was a young reporter for the Pinnacle newspaper of QwaQwa. When I arrived at the scene there was a large contingent of women workers who had been locked out of their place of work. The racist/sexist Afrikaaner industrialist was throwing all kinds of epithets at these economically disenfranchised women. He had decided to lock them out on a Friday morning without pay. This was supposed to be their pay day.

The industrialist pulled no punches in putting down and insulting these women. At the time Mr. Nelson Mandela was still confined to the infamous Robbern Island where he was serving his treason term. The African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress and other liberation organizations were banned. COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions) was not in existence at the time. The year was 1984. The homeland of QwaQwa was under the leadership of Chief Minister Mopeli whose collaborationist administration provided no protection against the exploitative industrialists. The only individual who organized and agitated on behalf of the oppressed in an anti-establishment movement of Lechabile was Mr. Monnafela Mota. Chief Minister Mopeli detested Monnafela Mota and successfully suppressed the movement of Lechabile using legislative, administrative and other techniques of attrition. The White supremacist Mr. P.W. Botha was the President of South Africa and Mr. F.W. de Klerk was a Minister of Education.

One of the women said “Ntate re thuse hle! Re sile bana ba rona malapeng. Retla ba fepa jwang ha re sa fumane moputso warona oo reo sebelleditseng kathaka haka?”. The English translation goes like this “Mister please help us! We have left our children at our homes. How are we going to feed them when we are denied our pay for which we slaved so hard?” The mister they were referring to was me. I was a young reporter and a greenhorn with tender feet. I did the best I could and that was to write about their story in the newspaper.

A week or so later two things happened. Firstly, the QwaQwa Industrialist Association convened a meeting one evening in Phuthaditjhaba. I attended for purposes of reporting for the newspaper. One industrialist stood up and singled me out as a cause of industrial trouble. He threatened to shoot me. Other industrialists stopped him; he felt I had defamed his business`. He threw a tantrum and said I was causing a lot of trouble when writing about the industrialists. Secondly, a few days later I was invited by two Afrikaaner industrialists to have lunch with them. I declined to even enter the premises. The women workers warned me that this was a ploy where I was going to be savagely attacked under the pretext of trespassing. The apartheid government and the apartheid police would not protect me in anyway. My body would be dumped somewhere in the bush and that would be it.

Yet another few days down the road I received a letter addressed to me from the lawyers of the industrialist. The letter threatened a libel suit of R60, 000. The South African rand was equivalent to an American dollar at the time. In my journalism studies I had learnt a lot about libel and slander and other aspects of media law. The industrialist had no legal basis for libel action. Moreover a lawyer friend of mine who worked at the butchery of Ntate Molefe (co-owner of The Pinnacle Newspaper) helped buttress my view that they had no strong case against me or the newspaper. I wrote back to the lawyers to back off and they did.

Why did I go through all this? The workplace sexism had been exposed. Economic exploitation of women workers thrives when there is silence and complicity. Today South Africa is celebrating Women’s Day which is celebrated every year on August 9 in commemoration of the 1956 Women’s March Pretoria’s on Union Buildings. As we celebrate this important day let’s remember the women workers of QwaQwa. Some of them would have died under the sexist chains of economic exploitation. On that day many of their children went to bed without food in their stomach.

A poetic tribute to these indefatigable women workers Sisters Must Arise was published in the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles by Vusi Moloi. The poem follows via a link to Google Books:

Sisters Must Arise

About the Author

Vusi Moloi was employed by the Pinnacle Newspaper of QwaQwa which was co-owned by a business man Mr. Molefe at Phuthaditjhaba. Mr. Molefe owned other businesses including a butchery store. The Pinnacle was published out of Harrismith a small town bordering the Free State and KwaZulu Natal provinces. Vusi is a published author of the book A Goodbye To My Little Troubles which is available via Amazon and previewable at Google Books. A Youtube video Sisters Must Arise was published on Youtube Channel Colormedicine.