Staffrider Vol.6 No.2 1985 - DISA

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Andries W. OliphantT he Eye of the StormOn a blue nightStaggering under the weight of the worldI contemplate:Who contends againstThe power of malignant men?A name stirs withinThe centreOf my being:Steve Biko, your head hovers aboveA multitudeOf towering fists. You speakIn your characteristic sharp and candid way.Your voice ignitesA black fire without any dread of death.In court, you call the law to justice.Under house-arrest you speak.In solitary confinement,You are one with all incarcerated people.Naked under the interrogators' lamps,You mirror the dignity of man;You are the eye of the raging storm.On a night as blue as prison barsThe locusts cameTo prey on your brain.You declared yourselfOpen to frank talk.They replied with brutality and chains.Thembeka MboboYou liveIn life and death and far beyond;A black fireBurning brilliantly night and day.Andries W. Oliphantu n titledSome never liveto say it all.In time we understoodyour few words.We cried for you againyesterday.We hated to admitthat our pace hasfailed to match yours.But in our heartsyour glow still burnsand your spiritis still leading.We still see youas a guardianand pray never todisappoint youtomorrowBra Steve.Thembeka MboboMEDU Newsletter is the quarterly publication of the Medu Art Ensemble, based in Botswana. Contentsinclude short stories, interviews, graphics, poems and articles on cultural work in Southern Africa. MeduArt Ensemble posters are regularly enclosed with the newsletter.• • • SUBSCRIPTION RATES (4 EDITIONS/ONE YEAR)Surface MailAirmailBotswanaSouthern Africa (excludes Zambia)AfricaEuropeP4.00P6.00P8.00P10.00P10.00P16.00P20.00Americas and AustraliaP12.00P24.00Postal orders from all Southern Africa (excluding Zambia);Bank Drafts from Africa, Europe, Americas andAustralia. Subscription ratesquoted in Botswana Pula.Send your name, address and payment to.Medu Art EnsembleSubscriptions Dept.,Box 1356GaboroneBotswana22 STAFFRIDER, VOL. 6 NO. 2, <strong>1985</strong>
By Jan Esmondrand UIllustrated by Percy Sedumedi'Unfortunately there is still a commonbelief that the main thing one should dofor someone having a fit is to forcesomething between their teeth so as tokeep them from biting or choking onthe tongue. This manoeuvre shouldnever be attempted as it may damagethe sufferer's mouth. I'll finish off thelecture by reminding you that the mostimportant contribution you can make ifsomeone has an epileptic fit in yourpresence is to ensure that the person isnot in any physical danger during thefit. Thank you. That is all.'Downing always finished his lectureswith a formal 'that is all', as if theinformation imparted would be incompletewithout it. Many a student,eager to get down his every word (afterall he did make it clear that the examswould be based on his notes) would findthe rushing pen taking down thosecompleting words. This session however,books were closing as he said 'you'.News had come down from the maincampus that a protest meeting hadbeen called. It was always a mysteryhow these rumours circulated, like nervecells in the brain communicating bysending tiny electrical signals back andforth.I wonder ifthere will be anythingmore than just talkthis time.We drove out of the now worldfamous Groote Schuur hospital whereChris Barnard had recently performedhis first heart transplant, passing througha number of stop streets, only yielding,over the bridge and onto the highwayleading to the main campus a mile away.Above the busy highway, looking downonto the hospital, lie hundreds of acresof sloping lush fields and forest wheredeer graze contentedly at the feet ofCecil Rhodes, his vision cast northwards,all the way to Cairo. A view taking inwealth and poverty, rolling hills anddesolate flatness, neatly laid out suburbsand sprawling shanty towns whose tinwalls reverberate to the sound of jetengines passing so low overhead thatmakeshift holes in the ground latrinescan be seen from the aircraft windows.T wonder if there will be anythingmore than just talk this time.' John'sfather had recently been arrested andwas being held in detention with nofixed trial date. 'All they seem to do atthe meetings is pass resolutions. Fancywords and no action. We need to get outinto the streets and take our proteststo the people.' His father was a wellknown commercial attorney, who, tothe surprise of his contemporaries, hadstarted taking on more and morepolitical work. 'We are so cut off hereon the campus what's the point ofmeetings and sit-ins. Look at it,' he saidpointing. 'Sure it is the most beautifulcampus in the world, but it must be theepitome of the isolated ivory tower. Itlooks supercilious sitting there on theside of the mountain way above themain road, like an observer, watching,disapproving, criticising but not gettingoff its bum to change anything.' He wassilent a moment. 'Look how JamesonHall juts out from the side of themountain like a chin waiting to take ablow. Maybe it is freedom that is goingto get a beating,' he said almost tohimself. continued on page 26STAFFRIDER, VOL. 6 NO. 2, <strong>1985</strong> 23
Page 2 and 3: NEW BOOKSFROM RAVANHis second autob
Page 4 and 5: hoseby Bheki MasekoIllustrations by
Page 6 and 7: Ihe teacher hadhardly dismissed us
Page 8 and 9: That I had to run away from home wa
Page 10 and 11: screaming his head off in his own s
Page 12 and 13: Nikitinsky. He was sitting in a roo
Page 14 and 15: Damian Garsidec9lukTo surpass the g
Page 16 and 17: meeting we — the LiteMaster worke
Page 18 and 19: or thirteenth of July we were all d
Page 20 and 21: 'What do you want Johnny,' I saidin
Page 22 and 23: I shrugged an embarrassed smile but
Page 26 and 27: orkingomenMabel was a garment worke
Page 28 and 29: He was dedicated to his medicine,ye
Page 30 and 31: 'You have two minutes.' The silence
Page 32 and 33: Staf frider Popular HistoryMhala, t
Page 34 and 35: Dombo RatshilumelaIn secret lepers
Page 36 and 37: R regnancyf A poem should be palpab
Page 38 and 39: one night in Meadowlands, another i
Page 40 and 41: Hugh Lew intJ/ ACK*The manwho died
Page 42 and 43: esources of living should constitut
Page 44 and 45: SOUTH AFRICA: PASSPORT REFUSED TOSO
Page 46 and 47: y Walt OyisiphoKaMtetwalood'What! I
Page 48 and 49: TALKING STORYWhat this delayed reco
Page 50 and 51: Andries W. Oliphant Lancelot Maseko
Page 52: IN OUR NEXT ISSUEThami Mnyele, Dona

Staffrider Vol.6 No.2 1985 - DISA

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