South African poet, playwright, and teacher Sipho Sepamla has in his second novel, produced a fictional but tensely revealing narrative of events surrounding the 1976 Soweto riots. Dedicated to the young heroes of the day, the novel chronicles daily life in an atmosphere of fear, suspicion, distrust and terrorism

Abbott, Linda M. C.

English

VCU Scholars Compass

"bl ack pussy, " whom you can fool with " any shit if he believes it will  prolong the sex act ,"  and who given an inch will  take a mile .  When he's not working, h e  slouches in a chair, leafing through comic books.  Moreover, as a member of the "party , "  he  possesses all the loathsome traits of the white bleeding hearts and sob sisters. However, at last after Bo b' s marriage to white Jeannie and Moses'  obliging act of " lending" the newlyweds the penthouse as a " bridal suite , "  the roles are reversed. Bob, now " Robert ,"  orders Moses about:  Moses again lives in the basement, and Robert is writing the book. But Moses fears that black power militants will misconstrue the moral to be:  "that after the ballad and the episode, it is the w hite man who ends up  Upstairs and the black m an who ends up Downstairs ,"  so he  concludes the  novel  by letting us in on his  revenge plan.  C learly this book s atirizes man and his institutions;  the condition of cities, of humans,  of relationships.  Nor does Selvon lie when he asserts "None of this n arrative  is fiction:  if ! lie I die. " People living in cities do live in a dream world, refusing "to believe or accept the things that h appen under their very noses . "  Yes,  we have h ere satire, stinging satire, delightful satire that combines language and situation to give us Selvon's truth:  humans are a sorry lot.  - La Verne Gonzal ez San Jose State University Sipho Sepamla. A Ride on the Whirlwind: A Novel of Soweto. (London: Heinemann, 1 9 8 1 )  244 pp., $7.50 p aper. South African poet ,  playwright, and teacher Sipho Sepamla has in his second novel ,  produced a fictional but tensely revealing narrative  of events surrounding the 1 976 Soweto riots. Dedicated to the young heroes of the day, the novel chronicles daily life in an atmosphere of fear, suspicion, distrust and terrorism.  The fundamental themes ofthe book,  identity and trust, are developed through vignettes exploring the interplay of black and white, age and youth, male and female.  Il luminated by the glare of h ate-filled extremity, these relationships,  shorn of subtlety, reveal in  their starkness the pathos of terrorized life. The novel covers a brief period in the summer of 1 976 when a series of terrorist acts challenged the stability of white rule in Soweto.  The youthful M andla and his loosely organized band of teenage saboteurs take great pride in  their ability to embarrass the h eavily armed and Exp lo ra tions in Sights and Sounds No. 5 (Summer 1 985) 75 fin anced police.  Sympathetic bourgeoisie, given a fleeting hope of freedom by the actions of the terrorists,  provide cars, supplies,  and cash.  The simple and gentle Sis Ida,  whose home shelters the rebels ,  goes about h er daily business selling cosmetics as the youths in  her care try on v arious roles ,  tease  out their social  and sexual identities ,  and fear informers,  al l  the while m aking soup and bombs i n  her kitchen.  Motivated primarily  by kindliness toward the children , she distances h erself from the meaning of these activites so effectively that at the end of the novel ,  she faces her interrogators without guilt ,  innocently trusting her civility to create a humane relationship.  Trusting no one at all ,  the protagonist Mzi enters Soweto and the novel to j oin his terrorist training, unidimensional commitment, and automatic rifle to the cause .  Devoid of past  and future, Mzi exists as a point o f focus for l arger movements of history. A trained gueri l la  w arrior, his mission is  to kil l  the policeman B atata who in his m adness and cruelty symbolizes and personalizes racial oppression.  Paradoxically ,  Mzi 's  anonymity enables  him to succeed in  identifying and destroying the enemy.  As troubling throughout the novel as the issue of the bases ,  purposes ,  and development of identity is  the equally unresolved issue of trust. B arriers of age,  gender ,  race,  economic status ,  and political affiliation rise frequently to challenge trust. I nformants abound, and the result of their disloyalty is  anguish.  Sepamla suggests a low v alue on truth.  For a bowl of fruit,  a bottle of beer, a brief sexual encounter, one 's  friends and n eighbors are betrayed.  Where firm and loyal affiliations exist ,  they seek relief from the pervasive atmosphere of fear; relief through action ,  escape ,  or death .  The burden of trust i s  nearly unsupportable in  such a context. The risks inherent in  these fleeting encounters of trust remain throughout the novel.  A bit of sympathy from one police officer, a brave refu s al to yield to torture, a car freely loaned for an escape-these are the hooks on which the reader is  left to hang shreds of hope.  Commandeering safe passage abroad from an ambivalent but ultimately supportive white woman missionary,  Mzi escapes after the killing of B at at a ,  only to learn that there are many more Batatas, and no true escape. His youth,  power, and agility are painfully inadequate against an armed oppressive state, but his survival is  meaningful ,  n onetheless .  Unhappily dependent upon a white woman,  there is in  his attraction to her a message of human unity .  The questions of identity and trust remain unresolved, trouble­some,  and ful l  of hopeful promise as the story ofthe 1 976 riots closes ,  but does not end.  76 - Linda M.C. Abbott California School of Professional Psychology, Fresno Exp lorations in Sights and Sounds No. 5 (Summer 1 985) 

[Review of] Sipho Sepamla. A Ride on the Whirlwind: A Novel of Soweto

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1199&amp;context=ess

[Review of] Sipho Sepamla. A Ride on the Whirlwind: A Novel of Soweto

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

VCU Scholars Compass