Scene 3
from Act Two
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2019
Summary
Lights rise on PROFESSOR. He is sorting out his worldly possessions, which include a few clothes, a blanket, newspapers and lots of books, and packing them into a supermarket trolley. An ebullient MADLOMO enters, dressed in her orange overalls and carrying a sign with the message: VICTORY TO THE PEOPLE. She is singing and dancing, obviously the remnants of a song from her demonstration. She gets to the bench and dances around PROFESSOR. He ignores her and continues with his work.
MADLOMO: We won. The women of South Africa have won. The ancestors heard our call and answered it positively.
PROFESSOR: Congratulations on your victory. I am leaving. I'm relocating to another place where the likes of you will never find me again.
MADLOMO: Wathint'abafazi!
PROFESSOR: I curse the day you came to work here.
MADLOMO: There is nothing that you can say that will dampen my spirits. Nothing in the world can spoil my day today. Come on; tell me any nonsense you like about virginity testing and all your other silly complaints and see if I care. Today is a wonderful day … a wonderful week … a great year. We were vindicated. The verdict came. The Right Reve rend Comrade Chief my Leader was found not guilty. It was consensual sex, the wise judges decided. The bitch has run away and is now in hiding.
PROFESSOR: After she was threatened with death …
MADLOMO: Don't you understand? It was political. She was planted by his political enemies. She seduced him in order to cry rape. She didn't reckon with us. Wathint'abafazi! You strike a woman, you strike a rock.
PROFESSOR: What was he doing, he who has posed as a moral leader, allowing himself to be seduced?
MADLOMO: The Right Reverend Chief Comrade my Leader is a man of God first and foremost. What belongs to God belongs to him. He takes. That's what he does. He takes what he is entitled to. Adle kuphi umelusi? Umelusi udla emhlambini. A shepherd eats from his own flock.
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- Information
- Our Lady of Benoni , pp. 97 - 105Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2012