ABORTED FREEDOM?-BY Lydia Ireri

Tata Madiba,
 May his soul rest in peace!

Did Tata die a free man?
My cheeks turn pale a thousand moments
When this, traumatizing rhetorical question run through my fragile mind.

If Tata died a free man
Why do we still fight?
For the soil
We shed our blood
For fame we destroy
The dream
For pleasure
We rape Africa
For religion
We massacre
Our unhatched madibas.

If Tata died a free man
Why can I not marry
From the Foreman’s, the Governor’s, the Senator's or the neighbor's from the river side?
Why must I marry my fellow mine worker?


If Tata died a free man
Why can I not build my house
On the lake-side?
And enjoy the God-given free nature
Yet I am a daughter of the land,
Africa.

Tata said to me
Tata and his Tatas
Cooked together and ate together
Bathed together and danced together
Told stories together at the fire place
Fallowed, planted and harvested together
Where are we counted? I ask myself.

Could this be the reason Why;
Floods are sweeping us?
Stinging bees are wiping us?
Emaciated bodies are failing us?
We are painting our own land scarlet by the sword?

The gods must be angry
For aborting our freedom
Which Tata died for!