Somewhere outside the dreamstate
As Azania burns
A quarter century turns
A million missed opportunities
Overpromised, under-delivered realities
Fat-cats unconcerned that society yearns
For the dreamstate Uhuru which returns
Every night to haunt us with might-have-beens
Until we learn to unlearn
Our hopes spurned we finally discern
We are not their priorities.
Somewhere outside the dreamstate
Azania lies wrecked
Wracked by racism unchecked
Apartheid is history, so they prate
Ubuntu, empty phrase in a captured state
Trillionaires dead to their own disconnect
From values of elders they no longer respect
Minds still colonised, ape the baas to desecrate
The despised till they recollect
Who has power, in effect, to re-elect
– Those, they constantly underrate.
Somewhere outside the dreamstate
Azania still endures
Fuelled by hope’s insistent allures
Though we fail to embody Ubuntu
And Letta Mbulu sings not yet Uhuru
Foolish, thirsty, immutable hope so pure
Ensures the dream is secure till no more
Clay idols remain and Abantu will want to
Raise Azania we’re true to, maybe then Ubuntu
No longer obscure, will endure, mine and yours.
@ayeshakajee is a storyteller, poet and rights activist whose research on governance and democracy in many parts of sub-saharan Africa has been published in various media. Her research interests include post-conflict transformation, socio-economic renewal and gender and environmental rights. She writes because she can’t not.
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Searing, honest commentary on the state of the nation. Excellent!