Out of the blue I decided I should write about the time I spent at Soweto-on-Sea, Port Elizabeth, between 1991-1992. After spending just a year (1990) at Nomzamo High School in Port Alfred I decided to go and study in PE. It is not quite clear to me now as to why I took this decision, but part of it was motivated by two things: the fact that Nomzamo High was a school in shambles, and that my sister had completed her high school in PE a few years earlier. After passing my standard six, I moved to PE with a hope of getting a place at Kwazakhele High School, my sister school. I was going to live with relatives in Soweto. Soweto of 1991 was a particularly bad place. The place had no infrastructure to speak of; no sanitation; no real roads; no real houses; no schools; it was simply a dump of a place. Yet, Soweto was brimming with life. I was an active soccer player then, I joined Sea Robbers Football Club. So passionate were its fans, that they even placed a boulder at the area's popular intersection that was painted in the team colours. This stone would prove iconic for a long time there.
Opposite our shack, which was situated just next to the boulder, there was a shebeen (Kwa G-man. The owner's full name was Ngise). This shebeen only operated during weekends. This was the era of cassettes, and G-man had huge and loud speakers. I remember some of the songs that used to play in this shebeen, like for example, "Thath'uKiss" by Special Five, Papa Stop The War by Chicco ft Mzwakhe Mbuli. A new song used to be repeated a hundred times here, so this is probably the reason I am able to remember some of the songs up to this day. His shebeen was very popular, and surprisingly peaceful. It was mainly frequented by women, and fights were easy to diffuse. G-man as would be expected in this area, did not have toilets to cater for his mainly women patrons. They simply relieved themselves just about anywhere, even using our bucket! Chasing them became a futile exercise.
"Kwa-Sgxabhayi" situated just at the back of our shack was in stark contrast to the situation you will find at G-man's shebeen. The owner, Sgxabhayi or "Sgxeyla" was a foul-mouthed public dagga smoker, whose zol was always in his mouth. An avid Kaizer Chiefs fan. His shebeen was particularly rowdy and fights were commonplace.
About 200m from our shack we had another shebeen, "KwaBalise". Things were particularly organised there, because Mam'Balise would not allow boys into her shebeen. She catered for the mature age. Mam'Balise had run the shebeen for years, and it had developed something of an elevated status in the area. It attracted patrons from outside Soweto. Although Mam'Balise had grown up sons, Kototo and Mphumezi who could run the shebeen, she still chose to run it herself. Her family had a house in Zwide. She had managed this shebeen for years, and through it was able to build and own her own house, and also take her sons to school. About three years ago I was told that the shebeen is still in operation.
This area was not far from Soweto square. Found in this area as well, was a towering building, dwarfing everything near it - KwaNontume. This was a double storey shack, one among the few in Soweto. Another one was KwaNontandathu not far from this one. These were thriving supermarkets during their heydays, attracting buyers as far afield as Zwide.
In Soweto there was no electricity, and nights were particularly dark. Some form of light was provided by the distant Zwide township high mast evening lights. In this darkness you would think crime will abound, but that was not the case. Soweto was relatively peaceful. A sense of community was very good. Our popular neighbour, "Makheyi"who lived a few houses down the street was such a likeable guy. Every morning of working day, he would shout every owner's name (as a form of greeting) as he walks to work and back. Makheyi had a very short girlfriend, who was to be known as "Igqab'tyisi". This nickname was given by one of our neigbhours who used to visit my uncle in our shack for weekend long drinking sessions. Many other neighbours used to join these drinking sessions making our shack like another shebeen. My uncle was dating a Coloured lady called "Vrou". She had grown up in Soweto, and could speak isiXhosa, albeit with an accent. Our favourite food during these drinking sprees was self-raising flower dumplings, and "carry-pack". On Sunday mornings it was a very chilly oxtail soup. This food was often horrendous. Other things happened during these drinking sprees too. One Saturday afternoon many men and their girlfriends were gathered in our shack as usual. Drinking went on until late in the evening. Simphiwe, who was my friend (probably 3 years older than me) and Bra Piro (my uncle's younger brother) were also there drinking. This one evening one of our neighbours, Malala, had brought his very large girlfriend, "Noduntu" (yet another given nickname).Malala was my uncle's age. He, my uncle other guys decided after drinking that they were going to go and drink elsewhere. For some reason, Noduntu was left behind (probably because she was drunk). Simphiwe and Bra Piro also did not join the guys, they stayed behing with Noduntu. It was during this time that they hatched some naughty ideas. They were going to try their luck on Noduntu, and it turned out that Noduntu was not opposed to this. Because Bra Piro was older than Simphiwe he had to start. Simphiwe stood there with his pants on hand, agitating Bra Piro to finish. This was a risky business given that Malala was a particularly rough man. The following day Simphiwe, Bra Piro and Noduntu behaved as if nothing ever happened. There were however murmurs in the undergrowth, but all parties concerned presented straight face denials. Malala never knew!
But my favourite character has to be Bra Fura (Fumanekile) or "Gqagawusi" to his mother. He was Simphiwe's older brother. Bra Fura was a karateka with a very short temper. He only drank Old Buck Gin! He was the gentleman of the area,who only patronized Mam'Balise's shebeen. I used to polish his shoes on Fridays afternoon before he goes there. Polishing his shoes was such an elaborated exercise: shoes were sprinkled with spirit, setting them alight, douse them with water and shine some more! At the end they looked like glass, you could literally see yourself on them. On his was way to Mam'Balise, he would trot like a fox. My reward was a pack of Halls sweets that he bought in plentiful supply. These he took so that he does not reek of alcohol.
This piece will be incomplete without the antics of a family (if you can even call it that) of "Makay". This was another Makay (not to be confused with the affable one who greeted the neighboughood everyday). This was the alcoholic Makay. Weekends in his house were always about drinking sprees and embarrassing episodes of sex. Embarrassing because, his young kids had to be chased out, and they sat outside during these bonking sprees. His girlfriend, herself a drunkard, gave birth to a baby boy. I will never forget this, the kid did not know motherly love, because she never stopped drinking. Neighbours gave him the name, "Gweb'ulesepha" and that was shortened to "Gwebu". It will be very interesting indeed to see Gewbu today!
People of Soweto had this tendency of walking barefooted, despite the dirt that was just all over.Also what was interesting about Soweto is that we had to go and fetch water from a communal tap using 20L drums. When the drum was full you rolled it with your feet to your shack.
Opposite our shack, which was situated just next to the boulder, there was a shebeen (Kwa G-man. The owner's full name was Ngise). This shebeen only operated during weekends. This was the era of cassettes, and G-man had huge and loud speakers. I remember some of the songs that used to play in this shebeen, like for example, "Thath'uKiss" by Special Five, Papa Stop The War by Chicco ft Mzwakhe Mbuli. A new song used to be repeated a hundred times here, so this is probably the reason I am able to remember some of the songs up to this day. His shebeen was very popular, and surprisingly peaceful. It was mainly frequented by women, and fights were easy to diffuse. G-man as would be expected in this area, did not have toilets to cater for his mainly women patrons. They simply relieved themselves just about anywhere, even using our bucket! Chasing them became a futile exercise.
"Kwa-Sgxabhayi" situated just at the back of our shack was in stark contrast to the situation you will find at G-man's shebeen. The owner, Sgxabhayi or "Sgxeyla" was a foul-mouthed public dagga smoker, whose zol was always in his mouth. An avid Kaizer Chiefs fan. His shebeen was particularly rowdy and fights were commonplace.
About 200m from our shack we had another shebeen, "KwaBalise". Things were particularly organised there, because Mam'Balise would not allow boys into her shebeen. She catered for the mature age. Mam'Balise had run the shebeen for years, and it had developed something of an elevated status in the area. It attracted patrons from outside Soweto. Although Mam'Balise had grown up sons, Kototo and Mphumezi who could run the shebeen, she still chose to run it herself. Her family had a house in Zwide. She had managed this shebeen for years, and through it was able to build and own her own house, and also take her sons to school. About three years ago I was told that the shebeen is still in operation.
This area was not far from Soweto square. Found in this area as well, was a towering building, dwarfing everything near it - KwaNontume. This was a double storey shack, one among the few in Soweto. Another one was KwaNontandathu not far from this one. These were thriving supermarkets during their heydays, attracting buyers as far afield as Zwide.
In Soweto there was no electricity, and nights were particularly dark. Some form of light was provided by the distant Zwide township high mast evening lights. In this darkness you would think crime will abound, but that was not the case. Soweto was relatively peaceful. A sense of community was very good. Our popular neighbour, "Makheyi"who lived a few houses down the street was such a likeable guy. Every morning of working day, he would shout every owner's name (as a form of greeting) as he walks to work and back. Makheyi had a very short girlfriend, who was to be known as "Igqab'tyisi". This nickname was given by one of our neigbhours who used to visit my uncle in our shack for weekend long drinking sessions. Many other neighbours used to join these drinking sessions making our shack like another shebeen. My uncle was dating a Coloured lady called "Vrou". She had grown up in Soweto, and could speak isiXhosa, albeit with an accent. Our favourite food during these drinking sprees was self-raising flower dumplings, and "carry-pack". On Sunday mornings it was a very chilly oxtail soup. This food was often horrendous. Other things happened during these drinking sprees too. One Saturday afternoon many men and their girlfriends were gathered in our shack as usual. Drinking went on until late in the evening. Simphiwe, who was my friend (probably 3 years older than me) and Bra Piro (my uncle's younger brother) were also there drinking. This one evening one of our neighbours, Malala, had brought his very large girlfriend, "Noduntu" (yet another given nickname).Malala was my uncle's age. He, my uncle other guys decided after drinking that they were going to go and drink elsewhere. For some reason, Noduntu was left behind (probably because she was drunk). Simphiwe and Bra Piro also did not join the guys, they stayed behing with Noduntu. It was during this time that they hatched some naughty ideas. They were going to try their luck on Noduntu, and it turned out that Noduntu was not opposed to this. Because Bra Piro was older than Simphiwe he had to start. Simphiwe stood there with his pants on hand, agitating Bra Piro to finish. This was a risky business given that Malala was a particularly rough man. The following day Simphiwe, Bra Piro and Noduntu behaved as if nothing ever happened. There were however murmurs in the undergrowth, but all parties concerned presented straight face denials. Malala never knew!
But my favourite character has to be Bra Fura (Fumanekile) or "Gqagawusi" to his mother. He was Simphiwe's older brother. Bra Fura was a karateka with a very short temper. He only drank Old Buck Gin! He was the gentleman of the area,who only patronized Mam'Balise's shebeen. I used to polish his shoes on Fridays afternoon before he goes there. Polishing his shoes was such an elaborated exercise: shoes were sprinkled with spirit, setting them alight, douse them with water and shine some more! At the end they looked like glass, you could literally see yourself on them. On his was way to Mam'Balise, he would trot like a fox. My reward was a pack of Halls sweets that he bought in plentiful supply. These he took so that he does not reek of alcohol.
This piece will be incomplete without the antics of a family (if you can even call it that) of "Makay". This was another Makay (not to be confused with the affable one who greeted the neighboughood everyday). This was the alcoholic Makay. Weekends in his house were always about drinking sprees and embarrassing episodes of sex. Embarrassing because, his young kids had to be chased out, and they sat outside during these bonking sprees. His girlfriend, herself a drunkard, gave birth to a baby boy. I will never forget this, the kid did not know motherly love, because she never stopped drinking. Neighbours gave him the name, "Gweb'ulesepha" and that was shortened to "Gwebu". It will be very interesting indeed to see Gewbu today!
People of Soweto had this tendency of walking barefooted, despite the dirt that was just all over.Also what was interesting about Soweto is that we had to go and fetch water from a communal tap using 20L drums. When the drum was full you rolled it with your feet to your shack.
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