The Sunday News
WE follow Sofia again this week as she awaits to be tried for the death of her husband Nyati. She has endured hours of severe introspection trying to get an answer to the question, “Am I a cold blooded murderer?” What is your take? Is Sofia a cold blooded murderer? Whatever answer you give to this question, the point is Sofia has learnt that anything can happen in this world. Even the unthinkable can happen.
Sofia asks: “Who would ever have believed that I of all people, would one day be sitting in this remand cell awaiting a trial for murder? The little things that can happen to us are as many as the grains of sand in the soil. Those who claim to be in control of their own lives should be taught this simple truth. Events weave into each other like many strands of the spider’s web.” She adds that no event stands on its own in our lives.
This event will trigger off the next, whose outcome is equally unpredictable. These are hard facts presented by this writer. Those who have ears let them hear, says the Holy Book. Sofia presents the cause of her problems. She says had Nyati never come into her life, she would not be languishing in that cell awaiting a murder trial. If she had never seen Nyati, maybe she would be happily married to Jeremiah then. Nyati has played a pivotal role in pinning her down to her fate.
Sofia rests everything on fate. Through fate she finds herself under the heavy influence of Nyati. She declares that from the beginning when she met Nyati she could not help but notice that this fat man exerted such an overwhelming influence on her father. She remembers how her father would immediately jump to his feet and surrender his chair to Nyati whenever he entered their house. Takundwa, Sofia’s father would instruct his family to greet Mr Nyati, declaring that he is a councillor and very important man.
Is Sofia to blame for her predicament? After the greetings Nyati shows deep interest on Sofia. “So this is your daughter? I didn’t know that you had such a beautiful daughter. E-e Sofia — come forward and greet me,” Nyati said, licking his lips. Sofia says there was something about that man that she did not like right from the word go. He says he looked at her the way a dog looks at a piece of roasted meat. Those were the eyes of a puff-adder about to strike.
She says at that moment she felt the hands of her father pushing her towards Nyati. She involuntarily stretched out her hand. Nyati immediately grabbed the extended palm. Then something strange happened. No man had ever done such a thing to her before. She felt Nyati’s fingernails scratching inside of her palm. She immediately pulled out her hand from Nyati’s clutches. Sofia like many young people of today would not understand the inside scratching of one’s palm, it was a traditional sign of showing one’s affection towards you.
Nyati was indicating his affection for Sofia. Joseph Takundwa, Sofia’s father, reveals that he is materialistic. He introduces Nyati as one of the richest man in the country. When Nyati hears that Sofia has finished her Form Four, he cannot wait for the chance to pounce on her. He says as soon as her results are out, she should come to his offices straightaway. He would make her manager in one of his supermarkets.
There are no standards in Nyati’s businesses or he uses them as a bait to lure young women. How can somebody straight from school with no relevant experience be promised a managerial post? We can conclude that Nyati is corrupt. Takundwa chips in with a voice full of admiration for Nyati saying he has got many big supermarkets all over Harare. He is already taken up with Nyati. and is prepared to offer him anything including his daughter just to get money from him.
Asked what she wants to do after her O-levels, Sofia says she wants to train as a teacher. Nyati calls that a waste stating that a girl of Sofia’s beauty should not waste her talents like that. Nyati boasts that he can pay thrice the teacher’s salary. Nyati then fires a broadside on teachers. He claims teachers are the poorest people in the country and tells Sofia that if she wants to die poor then either she becomes a teacher, or marry one. If she wants to die rich and happy then she should come to him.”
Sofia is not amused by this kind of talk as she says Nyati broke into a laughter that sounded like the jingle of coins being shaken in an empty tin. Her father joined in the laughter and she had never seen him laugh so heartily. She looked at her father and wondered what it was that was so funny to make him laugh so much. Sofia is unaware that her father wants to impress the rich Nyati.
Meanwhile, all this time Nyati is focused on Sofia. He tells Takundwa that he could use his daughter’s talents to advertise his cosmetics from the beauty products factory. He says she has all the qualities of a model; beautiful face, graceful figure, and the aura of innocence. Are Nyati’s comments about Sofia genuine, or he wants to draw her towards him?
Nyati pretends to be concerned with Sofia’s welfare as he says a beautiful girl like Sofia must watch out for these useless fellows who are members of “looking for a job” profession.
Nyati and Takundwa talk about difficulties in finding jobs in the current situation. Nyati says it is absolutely impossible to find a job. Paper qualifications no longer matter. Degrees, diplomas are a thing of the past. It is now a matter of “who knows you”, that makes the difference between getting a job and not getting it.” Takundwa misunderstands Nyati on this matter as he says these days it is indeed who you know that is more important than passing.
Nyati immediately disagreed saying: “It is not who you know that matters, but it is who knows you that is more important. He goes on to explain that these days it is no longer enough just to know important people, but one has to go further than that. One has to expose himself to the people that matter presenting himself as a typical example of those people. All this emphasises corruption in the society. Paper qualifications are no longer necessary to secure a job giving way to corruption.
Sofia is later sent to Nyati’s office as pre-arranged with her father. She was given a job by Nyati who later raped her.
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