V.OT.E.
(Vengeance Of The Elites)
June the 30th
As the anti-migration deadline looms
I begin to fear
For my country/ now more than ever
Yesterday
Coming from the Memorial Service
Of a close friend
One of our Mozambican tenants
Called for me
Before I could even take off
My jacket
Asking that we accompany her
To the bus stop
She was going back home
Leaving us with a curse
Or veiled threat
She’s going home
But her man is going nowhere
At which moment
Little Musa was already vomiting in bed
Rolling on the floor in obvious anguish
He was in great distress
His vomit looked like cat food
Dotted with Panados
I immediately thought it was
An attempted suicide
But no
His sibling sister Buhle had given him
Amakiepkiep for keepsake
The staple coloured popcorn we grew upon
As little school kids
Whose origins she refused to disclose
Still I ask
Why not take me instead?
Mbongeni Khumalo: Author of the poetry collection Apocrypha