By Mpho Mabala

Every time I look at my dowdy mother, Afrika, I smile broadly. My face beams for she is beautiful and intelligent. She has everything, she is rich with minerals, buffalos, rhinos, Kalahari desert, the cichlids of Malawi, table mountain, Taung cradle of humankind. She gave birth to all forms of life, she is my mitochondrial Eve, yeah!! That’s my mother, I am so proud. But one day it happened that I inadvertently saw her naked body. I was shocked!! I saw many scars all over her body. My mother has been thumped, whipped, kicked and more. My heart bleeds. "But she looked intact and unscathed from the outside"- I said to myself.


Out of anger and pain, I then asked around, "Who did this to my beloved Mother?"...."Your mother has been raped numerous times by a cruel man called a Westerner. This man raped your mom overtly and he did that together with his friends (acculturation, brainwash, oppression, missionary, kleptomania and many others)" he said.

Deep inside my mother is damaged. I felt a tear trickling down my cheeks as I was pondering how she managed to remain so composed after such an unspeakable harrowing ordeal.

My mother's reputation has been denigrated and sullied, her image has been defiled. They came, rape her, stole our bounty, brainwash her children and grandchildren, oppress them and all that. Then while in a daze and sombre mood I looked around and saw Haile Selassie,Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, Winny Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Chris Hani, Nkwame Nkruma, Julius Nyerere, Robert Mugabe, Robert Sobukwe, Mamphele Ramphele, Ntuli ka Shezi, Oliver Thambo, Patrice Lumumba, Samora Machel, Kenneth Kaunda, Joyce Banda, Joe Slovo and many others. A flicker of delight, pride and contentment immediately crossed my face. I became even more proud when I realised that my mother gave birth to all these audacious people with extraordinary and unfathomable tenacity. These people have played their major roles in bringing back Mama's shape, integrity and dignity, so its up to ME and YOU to continue with the task.

Good people I say an African should show an insight understanding of where we come from as Africans. It’s easy to know where you going if you know where you coming from. An African should learn to forgive all those who did that to his Mother, so we can move on. An African should be smart and compete with a Westerner, intellectually so. Competition that is driven by hardwork, equity, knowledge and creativity. An African should know that he or she is smarter than a Westerner, it just happend that he got robbed of his brains back in the days through social engineereing which ensured prosperity and wealth for the whites and poverty and servitude for the blacks. An African should be proud of who he is. An African should remain African in England and Norway. Intellectual prowess of an African was manifested by the use of Nature's resources instead of gadgets. An African is inseparable from Nature. He speaks with Nature. He derives widom from his pristine surroundings. An African should be inspirational, aspirational and visionary. For Biko, a true African leader is someone who refuses to auction their soul to the imperialists only to become slavish instrument in the recolonisation of the African continent in the name of "foreign investment" and the "maintenance of world peace". Let’s re-write our history Ma-afrika, lets re-write it and revive the names of those heroes that have been forgotten, teachings of our ancestors is essential for the prosperity of posterity. Let’s follow in the footsteps of our ancestors for the mind is trained through knowledge.

And please let us stop being Banana republic to the West. Let’s do things for ourselves. Let us ignite our latent talents. Let us go to school and learn MaAfrika, let us be creative. Let us abolish Nepotism, corruption and incompetence that have mutated to be laws in our government, they are the hallmark of our government. Like Eskia Mphahlele once said:" As Africans we must learn to find ourselves happening to events, not always responding to events happening to us".

Mayibuye iAfrika. I love you Mama Afrika. You remain the best in the world.