Although Mda is widely regarded as a post-apartheid novelist, it should be noted that the novel, Ways of Dying (1995), belongs to the transitional period, that is, the period from 1980s to the end of the twentieth century when negotiations for peace were taking place between the National Party and the African National Congress. It culminated in the 1994 democratic elections but a fair amount of uncertainty still reigned in the years following the elections. The purpose of the negotiations was to initiate the eradication of apartheid policies, their concomitant atrocities as well as the general political upheavals that were ripping the country apart. While these negotiations were in progress, social maladies which had propagated the evils that existed during the apartheid era were still prevalent.
These social ills included abuse, betrayal, corruption, discrimination, and violence. The painful reality of the situation that prevailed at this time was that it was mainly those people who were previously marginalised by the apartheid government who became either victims or perpetrators of the social ills prevalent in the transitional period.
Mda’s aim in writing Ways of Dying was to highlight and expose those social ills and show how they affected people’s lives. Moreover, he endeavoured to demonstrate that even those who were engaged in the struggle for liberation were responsible for those social ills and that their irresponsible conduct not only defeated the ideals of democracy but also thwarted the hopes of a better future for many, especially the poor. In this novel, the suffering of those who are marginalised by the new government is portrayed through the characters of Toloki and Noria, Mda’s male and female protagonists, who grew up together in a rural village. Both Noria and Toloki experience abuse in different ways in the village, and later in their adult lives, they are dogged by misfortunes and maltreatment.
Toloki, who was physically abused by his father, Jwara, runs away from home and ends up in the city where he tries to make a living. His dreams of a better life are, nevertheless, shattered by the evils he encounters in the city. Firstly, his shack is demolished when he refuses to pay protection fees to corrupt state-paid vigilantes. Then his meat-and-
boerewors grill business is destroyed when city council officials confiscate his trolley and take it to the rubbish dump. Finally, he is unable to make ends meet; being without money and a home, he is reduced to vagrancy.
Noria, who becomes promiscuous while still at school, also runs away from home with a man called Napu, who later abuses and abandons her. Like Toloki, she moves to the city in the quest for a better life. But, unlike Toloki, she uses indecent means of making a living, by becoming a prostitute. After men had “chewed and then spewed her” (Mda, 1995a:144), she goes to live in an informal settlement with her son, Vutha the second.
Vutha is called the second because Noria’s first son who had died was also called Vutha.
Vutha, an activist at five, betrays his comrades when he divulges information to the rival hostel dwellers. He is consequently necklaced. Noria, who hopes to receive sympathy from those who were responsible for Vutha’s death, is betrayed by the comrades who, instead of taking responsibility, tell her that it was actually her son’s betrayal that led to his death. They further maltreat her by burning her shack to silence her. So, when she and Toloki meet after twenty years at Vutha’s funeral, they are drawn together by their tribulations. They finally find meaning in sharing their misery and in helping others overcome theirs. Toloki assumes the role of professional mourner while Noria becomes involved in social projects such as helping to care for abandoned children in the settlement.
There are multifarious forms of abuse that are discernible in current society. Women and children are abused either sexually, physically, psychologically or emotionally. The maltreatment of children in particular is an old practice that was of little concern to the authorities. “In fact, abuse and violence [were] generally integral to child-rearing and socialization” (http://web25.epnet.com/citation.asp). This view is shared by both African tradition and western religion which propound that beating is a necessary measure towards making children obedient, disciplined and responsible. For example, in African tradition the idiom “Mohlare o kobja o sa le meetse”, which may mean, children should receive corporal punishment right from infancy, encourages physical abuse as a corrective or disciplinary measure. In the Bible there are various references to the rod, especially in the book of Proverbs where it is stated, “He who spares the rod hates his son …” (Proverbs 23:14). Therefore, it is not surprising that physical abuse in particular was not treated
seriously in the past. It should be noted, however, that sexual abuse which will also be discussed in this chapter, was never in any way encouraged by either African tradition or western religion.
Today there are laws such as Act No. 38 of 2005 (Government Gazette No. 28944, 19 June 2006) as well as Section 28 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of South Africa which protect children from all forms of abuse. To give effect to the rights of children, welfare organisations, in conjunction with the South African Police Service, have declared the week 26-31 May 2008, Child Protection week (www.childwelfaresa.org.za). In addition to this, the South African Police Service has distributed pamphlets in schools. These pamphlets explain to children what child abuse entails and what they should do in case they have been or are being abused. Children are also provided with a toll-free Childline number, 0800 05 55 55, which they can call when they need to report incidents of child abuse (http://www.is.org.za/pamphlet/childrens-rights-pamphlet.jpg).
Women, like children, have been abused in various ways in the past and are still experiencing abuse on a very large scale, even in the twenty first century, an era where democratic rights of women are generally endorsed. On 25 November 2005, the day South Africans marked as the beginning of 16 Days of Activism Against Women and Child Abuse, Sandile Memela, spokesperson for the Ministry of Arts and Culture, interviewed several men to get their views on the issue of women rights. One of the respondents asserted, “…[I] would ask the new-age woman who desires freedom to completely stay out of my life” (City Press, 2005). This response clearly shows that there are men who still uphold outdated patriarchal beliefs that oppress women. In African and western traditions the patriarchal system relegated women to inferior positions and roles, hence idiomatic expressions such as “The place of a woman is in the kitchen” and the Sotho idiom, “Tša etwa pele ke ye tshadi di wela ka leopeng” which means, if women are allowed to assume leadership roles, nothing will go right. While these notions belong to the primitive world, Memela (City Press, 2005) argues, “In fact, to this day many … men take mischievous delight in using the name of … culture to justify and defend their oppressive, violent and abusive attitude and behaviour towards their women.”
Nevertheless, the society and the law are working together to eradicate these age-old beliefs. Today structures such as the People’s Organisation against Women Abuse (POWA) and the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), which stipulates that the rights of all people in the country, their human dignity, equality and freedom shall be protected, have helped to create awareness of woman abuse and are fighting towards the eradication thereof. The media is also opposed to the abuse of women and children, for example, Van Schalkwyk (Capricorn Voice, 2005:n.p.) quotes Sello Moloto, Premier of Limpopo Province who stated at the launch of the 16 Days of Activism campaign against the abuse of women and children, “Abuse of women and children should be confronted and effectively dealt with as it destroys the moral and social fibre of society.” In spite of the existence of organisational structures, awareness campaigns and massive media exposure of cases of woman and child abuse, this crime still continues to be part of society and receives abundant attention in the news media, the radio and on TV.