Vala Umqodi and open veins of Mzansi A-Poem

By Hassen Lorgat

Pic: Courtesy SABC News

Smoke em Out!
Let them starve!
His master’s voice blazers all over our airwaves
The people response
No to Torture, Yes! to Dignity

Thousands of humans / labelled and vilified/
/ Criminals who went underground not for the good of the republic/Lay at a risk/
before the gods of law and order

Khumbudzo Khumbudzo
don’t deny
You’re repeating
the fascist lie

Who are your teachers?
Don’t beat about the George Bush
Or is it the genocider Yoav Gallant?
Who promised Palestinians in Gaza:
“no electricity/ no food, no water, no fuel/
– everything will be closed”
Over 44 000 are no more

Who are your teachers?
Tis not Madiba who wails in despair

Starvation as a weapon
is a crime in international law
At the ICJ we rose to dizzy heights
We’re now sweeping filthy floor

The president and his minister of mines know
Planning for mine closure starts
Long before the digging of holes begin

It is not the patch-up-job at the end
When bosses and regulators
Are driven beyond the bend

Umgodi: Close the holes
Umgodi doesn’t mean close your earholes
Lalela: Listen
Lalela
To the cries of former miners and the poor

Today the attorney general tells us
Over 6 thousand mines lie
Forsaken and officially emptied
But this did not start yesterday

Operation Vala Umgodi
Seeks to close the holes on the foot soldiers
As they leave their friends in their cushy
Sandton/Dubai offices untouched

Operation Vala Umgodi
close the holes, but open your eyes
What about the government and the bosses
..they have failed to close mines properly

If khumbudzo means reminder
We are asking you
open your eyes and ears

Khumbuzo thinks she’s being bold
But she sings from a fascist mould

Sibiya, Khumbudzo
Please, we beg do take stock
Or we’ll see you in the dock
Starving our people is a crime
be warned: you will do the time

Author
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Hassen Lorgat

Has worked in trade union movement, civic associations, and anti apartheid sports movement led by the South African Council on Sports (SACOS) as well as NGOs for the past while. He has worked with civil society groups opposing harmful and exploitative mining and extractivism. Hassen is active with the SA BDS Coalition.