Apartheid Walls Falling On Broken People. Poem by Black Consciousness Poetry BCP
Apartheid Walls Falling On Broken People.
City of Johannesburg, a history of architected otherness, invisible citizen
in abandoned buildings, it's two thousand eighteen and still the apartheid walls
are falling on broken people, red clouds of dust rose from the so-call-forgotten
past, the air thickened with cunnings of death.
Whose child lies dead beneath this fallen wall, again this morning a black
Woman is mourning; another part of her has been taken by this city of gold.
We were brought here for labour; we are still here to labour, what lies here,
Beneath this apartheid wall it is not a pupil, but a future of a people.
This country, its cities, its buildings and walls maintains the anti-black demeanour,
only an old racist wall would fall on a black child.
|Sazi KaMzibeni|
09 April 2018 - 14: 35
BY NALEDI SHANGE
The mothers of the children sat on the tar road amid the stench of sewage‚ with heaps of rubbish and piles of bricks near them‚ waiting for the bodies to be collected.
The mothers of the children sat on the tar road amid the stench of sewage‚ with heaps of rubbish and piles of bricks near them‚ waiting for the bodies to be collected.
Image: ALON SKUY
Shimmering foil covered the bodies of three children who were crushed by a wall in Davis Street in Doornfontein‚ on Monday morning.
Their mothers sat next to their bodies‚ their heads covered in doeks with blankets draped over their shoulders.
The wall of the yard of a dilapidated building they called home tumbled down shortly after midday as the children played on the street‚ crushing them to death.
One man told TimesLIVE he saw the wall collapse.
Relatives mourn the loss of young children, after a wall collapsed onto them while they were playing, in Doornfontein, Johannesburg.
Relatives mourn the loss of young children, after a wall collapsed onto them while they were playing, in Doornfontein, Johannesburg.
Image: ALON SKUY
"I was near the collapsed wall‚ about two metres away from it‚ playing with my two-year-old nephew‚" the man‚ who did not want to be named‚ said.
"I saw the wall come down and I dragged my nephew. He was hit by some bricks on his leg but he survived‚" said the man who was still visibly shaken by the incident.
"The wall has had a large crack for some time but we didn't think this would happen‚" he said.
Three children killed after wall collapses
At least three children playing in a rundown section of Johannesburg's inner city suburb of Doornfontein died on Monday‚ after a wall collapsed.
NEWS 27 days ago
The mothers of the children sat on the tar road amid the stench of sewage‚ with heaps of rubbish and piles of bricks near them‚ waiting for the bodies to be collected.
The mothers of the children sat on the tar road amid the stench of sewage‚ with heaps of rubbish and piles of bricks near them‚ waiting for the bodies to be collected.
Image: ALON SKUY
"We don't know what triggered the fall‚" he added.
He said he had heard the children scream as the wall fell on them.
"The sound of the wall... It sounded like a big car crash."
The distraught man said he knew all of the victims.
"I don't know if I can still live here‚" he said.
Relatives mourn the loss of young children, after a wall collapsed onto them while they were playing, in Doornfontein, Johannesburg.
Relatives mourn the loss of young children, after a wall collapsed onto them while they were playing, in Doornfontein, Johannesburg.
Image: ALON SKUY
The mothers of the children sat on the tar road amid the stench of sewage‚ with heaps of rubbish and piles of bricks near them‚ waiting for the bodies to be collected.
The women huddled together as they engaged in conversation among themselves and officials.
Scores of people peered from the police red and white tape while others stood on the rooftops of some buildings‚ watching the scene below.
The street was filled with scores of children who were to return to school later this week for the start of the new school term.
"That could have been my child‚" one woman in the crowd said‚ holding onto her little daughter with her bare feet and her uncombed hair.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Delivering Poems Around The World
Poems are the property of their respective owners. All information has been reproduced here for educational and informational purposes to benefit site visitors, and is provided at no charge...
5/10/2024 4:30:34 PM # 1.0.0.1119
This country, its cities, its buildings and walls maintains the anti-black demeanour, only an old racist wall would fall on a black child..tragic situation..... after nelson mandela. the new generation........ race problem., freedom, equaltiy. deaths of children.. thank u dear poetess. tony