…Tsotsi…
1
Excerpt from the novel “Tsotsi” 4,2 NS
by Athol Fugard
…
His name was Gumboot Dhlamini and he had been chosen1. But he
never knew until it was too late. They gave him no warning.
Gumboot was a man from the country. 'Maxulu,' he had said a
thousand miles away, standing on the side of the road with his wife,
'Maxulu, I will be back.'
The white man had pointed along the road as the way to the Golden
City2, so he started walking that way. His wife stood and watched him
for a long time and later when she got tired, because she was heavy
with child, she sat down on the grass and he saw her like that until the
road took him over the hill, and he remembered her like that ever since.
He had also asked the white man how many days it would take and the
white man had said he reached the city travelling in two days in his
motor car, which of course was faster than walking. Anyway, he started
1
2
udvalgt
The Golden City = Johannesburg
…Tsotsi…
2
counting and when he reached ten and could count no further he made
a notch3 in his stick4. Thereafter he made a notch in his stick every time
he had counted another ten. There were quite a few notches in his stick
when he broke it killing the snake and had to throw it away. So he
stopped counting.
He worked once and with the money he earned bought himself a pair of
shoes which he carried wrapped up in his blanket. He lived through
days of vast5 silence, tramping along the road over the unending6 veld7,
tramping through the clouds of dust left by the hurrying cars, silent
and very alone, but never without hope. Then one day he saw the
buildings of the Golden City in the distance. And they were big, and
that day Gumboot laughed, and hoped again, and put on his shoes for
the last day of his long walk.
In the city he found work on the mines and a room in one of the
townships8, and for a year he had been travelling from the one to the
other in the early morning, with many others on the crowded9 trains, to
work, and back in the evening, on the same trains, to sleep. He travelled
safe for a year because he heeded10 the advice of others, and in that
same year he worked hard and earned well and wore through the new
shoes he had bought on the road, and had them mended11, then wore
through them again and then through them again and bought a new
pair.
In some ways the year was a short one, and in others it was long,
especially when he remembered Maxulu sitting on the side of the road
and he got him a man who could write words to do him a letter back
home. And now at last the year was almost over. In a week, only one
3
hak
Stok, vandrestav
5
enorm
6
endeløse
7
(Afrikaans) open grazing areas of southern Africa
8
A racially segregated area in South Africa established by the government as a residence for people of
colour
9
overfyldte
10
lyttede til, fulgte
11
repareret
4
…Tsotsi…
3
more week of work under the ground, he would be going back with the
money he had saved. Maxulu would be getting back her man.
But Gumboot was a man and that has a second meaning: It has to do
with death because a man is frail12 and the life of a man is easily spilt
in the dust13. Gumboot was a man also, in this meaning, because on
that Friday night train going back to the township, a week before going
home, Butcher was behind him and Butcher knew with unfailing14
accuracy15 the position of the heart.
Gumboot had made three mistakes. Firstly, he smiled. It was because it
was only a week to going home and ahead of him was a weekend of no
work and a man coming round to his room to write Maxulu the letter
that he was coming back - it was because of all this that he smiled and
Tsotsi noticed16 him because that smile was as white as light.
His second mistake was the tie17. Flaming red it was. He had bought the
tie at lunchtime from the Indian hawker18 who trundled19 his cart20 of
scarves21 and beads22 and bangles23 and bright things to the mine gate
every Friday, bought simply because he had never had one and it would
surely impress24 Maxulu. But it was a bright tie and made it easy for
Tsotsi to follow him at a distance as the queue25 shuffled26 on its
thousand legs, like a millipede27, to the ticket office.
And there, the third mistake. He bought the ticket with money from his
12
skrøbelig
støvet
14
ufejlbarlig
15
præcision
16
lagde mærke til
17
slipset
18
kræmmer
19
trillede
20
markedsvogn
21
tørklæder
22
glasperler
23
billige armbånd
24
imponere
25
køen
26
tøflede
27
tusindben
13
…Tsotsi…
4
pay packet28. He had forgotten an important piece of advice for getting
home safe on the Friday night train...don't let anyone see your money.
Why should he remember the silly warning when thousands of his own
people stood around him, who like him were honest29 men and about
their own business of getting home safely and quickly? One whole year
and never any trouble on the 5:49 (always ten minutes late)...and so he
forgot to keep a small coin ready in his pocket and instead he now
tore30 his pay packet open in a hurry, because the others behind him
were in a hurry, because of their laughter and curses31, tearing the pay
packet open to find a coin among the notes32.
He hurried to the platform and waited there. See! He was still alive! But
Tsotsi was closing in33 on his man, and when the train, the 5:49 (always
ten minutes late), pulled into the station and the crowd surged34 for the
doors, he used that moment to close in on his man.
And now in the train (still alive!), jammed35 in with as many as the
coach36 could hold, going home in a smell of hard work and tobacco
smoke, his ears as full as his nose with the low murmur37 of tired
voices, himself impatient38
because the writing man
was coming to his room at
six-thirty and there was still
a half-hour walk from the
station, and in between all
this thinking of Maxulu,
28
lønningspose
ærlige
30
rev
31
eder
32
pengesedler
33
close in on = omringe, indhente
34
bølgede frem
35
proppet
36
vognen
37
mumlen
38
utålmodig
29
…Tsotsi…
5
then his tie, and seeing it crumpled39 by the rush40 to get in, wanting to
straighten41 it but finding with surprise that he could not move either
arm.
He never had time to register42 the full meaning43 of that moment. He
tried a second time, but Die Aap44 was strong. Tsotsi smiled at the
growing bewilderment45 on the big man's face, waiting for and
catching46 the explosion of darkness47 in the eyes as Butcher48 worked49
the spoke50 up and into his heart. Even as that was happening, Tsotsi
bent close to the dying man and in his ear whispered51 an obscene52
reference53 to his mother. A moment of hate at the last, he had learnt,
disfigured54 the face in death.
Die Aap still had his arms locked55 around the man's waist56. As the
body slumped57 the other three crowded in58 and with the pressure59 of
their bodies held it erect60…a move unnoticed61 in the crowded coach.
Boston who was nearest, and who was feeling sick62 through his heart
into his stomach63, and was fighting to keep it down, Boston it was who
39
krøllet
hastværket
41
glatte
42
opfatte
43
betydning
44
Africaans: ”Aben” – øgenavn for en af Tsotsis kammerater
45
forvirring
46
opfattende
47
mørke (der hentydes til, at når døden indtræder, udvides pupillerne, så øjnene virker helt sorte)
48
”Slagter” – en af Tsotsis kammerater
49
arbejdede, masede
50
egen (Butcher bruger en ege fra et cykelhjul til at dræbe manden med)
51
hviskede
52
fræk, sjofel
53
bemærkning
54
forvrængede
55
fastlåst
56
talje
57
sank sammen
58
crowd in = stod tættere sammen
59
trykket
60
oprejst
61
ubemærket
62
feel sick = have kvalme
63
mave
40
…Tsotsi…
6
slipped64 his hand into the pocket and took out the pay packet.
When the train pulled into the station the crowd made a second surge
for the door, as happened every night, and the few on the station who
wanted to go further up the line battled65 their way against this flood66
to get into the coaches, as also happened every night, but the 5:49 (ten
minutes late) did not pull away, as it used to on Friday nights, because
those left behind in the coach and the few who got in found Gumboot
Dhlamini and saw the end of the bicycle spoke67.
Adaptation, glossary and worksheets: Bente D. Eskildsen, 2006
64
stak, smuttede
kæmpede
66
strømmen
67
cykel-egen
65
…Tsotsi…
7
Questions for understanding - circle the right answers:
1. Gumboot Dhlamini was
from…
5. Gumboot…
A: worked on the train
A: the country
B: worked in a shop, selling beads
B: Johannesburg
and bangles
C: Cape Town
C: worked in the goldmines
2. A township is…
6. Tsotsi and his friends
A: a large boat
noticed Gumboot because
B: a residential area for colored
he was…
people
A: …wearing a red tie
C: a mining town
B: …looked happy
C: …taking money from his pay
3. Gumboot’s wife Maxulu…
packet
A: was sick when he left her
B: was pregnant when he left her
C: had died, so he left their home
7. Who did the killing?
A: Die Aap
4. Gumboot…
B: Butcher
A: couldn’t write
C: Tsotsi
B: couldn’t count
C: couldn’t work
8. Tsotsi whispered an
obscenity in Gumboot’s
ear…
A: …to make him keep quiet
B: …to make him feel hate in the
moment of death
C: …to make it look like he kissed
him
…Tsotsi…
8
…Tsotsi…
Translate into English:
Gumboot var en mand fra landet. Han kunne hverken læse
eller skrive. Han rejste til Johannesburg for at arbejde i
minerne. Han sendte penge hjem til sin kone hver måned.
Kun en uge før han skulle rejse tilbage til landsbyen, blev
han dræbt af gangstere. Han blev omringet af nogle unge
mænd, og en af dem stak en cykel-ege i hjertet på ham.
9
…Tsotsi…
10
If you want to know more about the film….
Check out the Tsotsi website www.tsotsi.com
The Term "Tsotsi" 2,3 NS
Origins and Meanings
The word "tsotsi" means a black urban criminal, a street thug or gang
member in black townships in South Africa. Its origin is possibly a
corruption of the Sesotho word "tsotsa" meaning to dress flashily, zoot
suits being originally associated with tsotsis. A male is called a tsotsi
and a female tsotsi is called a noasisa.
Tsotsis are usually part of the urban youth gang society that grew up
on the streets of the ghetto. Their history goes back to the famous youth
gangs of the 1930s in the Soweto township area outside Johannesburg.
Former South African president, Nelson Mandela, in his autobiography
Long Walk to Freedom, recalls them as part of the crowded township life
in Johannesburg of the 1940's.
The film “Tsotsi” won an Oscar – in this picture presented by former South African Prime
Minister Nelson Mandela and the two main characters from the film: Presley
Chweneyagae and Terry Pheto.
…Tsotsi…
11
'As so often happens in desperately poor places, the worst elements
came to the fore,' writes Mandela. 'Life was cheap; the gun and the knife
ruled at night. Gangsters - known as tsotsis - carrying flick-knives or
switchblades were plentiful and prominent; in those days they emulated
American movie stars and wore fedoras
(see picture) and double-breasted suits
and wide, colourful ties.'
There were the zoot-suited, big-time
tsotsis and small-time tsotsis. In the 50's
and 60's the big-timers often had Asians
or Whites behind them and did large-scale
crimes, and the small-time ones were
amateurs, often boys who didn't go to
school and young men who didn't care to
work a regular job or could not find work.
Today the word is used more generally as a name for displaced young
criminals. Whereas in the past the word Tsotsi tended to conjure up a
glamorous gangster image, today the word is more usually associated
with younger street gangs whose lives are often far from glamorous. But
one thing hasn't changed: Most Tsotsis still come from underprivileged
backgrounds. Under the apartheid rule of the Nationalist Party (1948 to
1994), pass laws restricting black movement were introduced in 1952.
Blacks had to have a pass permitting them to live and work in certain
areas. Having no pass or the wrong pass was a criminal offence.
As Drum magazine journalist Henry
Nxumalo wrote: "No education, no work,
or no pass - that means that a young
man must live by night and not by day and that makes criminals. Able men are
frustrated by the lack of opportunity in
their lives: soon they find that they can
make more money by crime than by
honest means." And so a tsotsi is born.
Although the ANC (African National
Congress), PAC (Pan African Congress),
ANC Youth Movement and Black
Consciousness Movement tried to draw
the volatile township tsotsi gang
movement into disciplined political
activities, they ultimately failed.
www.drummagazine.com
…Tsotsi…
12
Tsotsis talk Tsotsi-Taal, or Isicamtho, the South African township slang
which is made up of Afrikaans and a mixture of all other local
languages like Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana and Sotho. Tsotsi-Taal has been
incorporated into daily conversation through music, radio and general
communication. Consequently, most people who live in South Africa
understand at least some Tsotsi-Taal.
Increase your vocabulary: Look up words in your dictionary, take notes. Make sure you
use your new vocabulary in sentences.