Grand Masters Poem by Jabulani Mzinyathi

paulo freire long said it
we have become adept at it
this has now gone beyond mere aping
we have now raised the bar high
as usually happens the students surpassed
long surpassed their teacher

where we used to call them 'baas'
where they were called masters
shefs have now firmly entrenched themselves
crude torture chambers now designed
rights remain dead on the pages
the pages of the many smoke screens

we are now the grand masters
past masters at enslaving our own
never letting crumbs fall off the tables
the high tables of our ostentation
on display the naked, shameless opulence
with inflated egos and arrogance in tow

[shef - zimbabwean term used to refer to a boss especially a political party boss/ member of the ruling elite