The Sunday News
Charles Dube
READING of the above named play continues with little attention paid to many aspects of drama raised in it. This is deliberately done so that learners are not confused as they read the play for the first time. But this does not stop anybody from commenting on issues like themes or sub-themes they come across. A case in point, one learner asked me to explain the title of the play, “Harvest of Thorns”, which I did not do because I felt it was not the right time to do so since not much reading of the text has been done.
This does not mean that as we read the play we are blind to issues like stage directions. We got to know that the Tichafa family is languishing in poverty at the beginning of the play through stage directions in Act 1 Scene I. There is an element of suspense concerning Peter’s disability. We are anxious to know what exactly happened to Peter. We are made more apprehensive when there is a heated argument between Benjamin and his mother, Shamiso.
Shamiso says to Benjamin: “You made Peter like this, and now you want to cripple his mind too.” Later on Shamiso tells Benjamin that the whole family is doomed by all the blood on his hands. Tension intensifies when Benjamin (emphatically menacingly, slicing at his throat with a finger) tells his mother, “We’d have killed traitors like you during the war.” The tension has gone to extremes, how can a son be so menacing to his mother?
Shamiso almost lets the cat out of the bag: “I hate to talk like this, Nkazana. He is my son and he is your husband and you must know everything (brandishing the crutch in Benjamin’s face) (To Nkazana) Do you know how Peter came to be like this?” Nkazana professes ignorance of the cause and maintained that she did not want to know. Benjamin shouts to his mother to tell Nkazana every sordid bit. However, that is as far as it goes and we are left guessing as to what happened to Peter.
Quotations cited here show tension between mother and son as well as emphasise the suspense. Readers who have followed the discussion of the play from the start will remember that we have talked about shattered dreams. The bit we have read about ex-combatants shows us a group of disappointed people. We get an insight of this in the stage directions given about the ex-combatants in a queue at the Demobilisation Office.
We hear that they glanced at each other, half embarrassed, as if they did not wish to recognise each other. They are in a sorry state they never imagined would be the case at independence. They are ill-treated by their own folk, not the white man they fought to overthrow. All is not well such that metaphorically they have harvested thorns. Metaphorically these “thorns” are unfulfilled expectations following the end of the war.
Benjamin is dismissed like a dog from the Demobilisation Office for not having discharge papers from the camp commander.
The officer uses uncouth language in dismissing Benjamin. “Take your baboon a**e out of here and don’t ever show up again or I will have you locked up.” We are told that Benjamin staggers away in shock and confusion. He cannot believe his ears. He is an ex-combatant but he gets a raw deal from an officer supposed to assist him.
Agreed, Benjamin did not have all the necessary documentation, but did he deserve to be insulted like that? This kind of treatment made the ex-combatants lose their self-esteem and realise that their expectations and dreams had come to nought.
Today we begin reading Act 11, Scene 6, of the play. The scene is at the district commissioner’s office, Makonde District. The sign reads: On Her Majesty’s Service District Commissioner Makonde District Southern Rhodesia 1955. These signs were found at district commissioner’s offices during the colonial period. They were manned by white officers.
As was the case this office is manned by a white man assisted by a black man. The white district officer comes back to work maybe after lunch having delayed to start work as we hear that the rural folk are chattering; complaining about the delay.
What this officer does is to sniff unpleasantly and complains that he has not had his tea yet the time is 3.45pm. He calls out to Clopas, the black man he works with.
Clopas responds, “Baas”. The district commissioner exhibits the highest form of racism. He says to himself of the people who are in the queue for Birth Certificates: “God said to Adam. Go ye forth and multiply, but these people certainly know how to reproduce. Listen to that gathering.” This district commissioner should do his job and stop complaining about the numbers of people coming for Birth Certificates.
It is unfair for him to emphasise on the reproduction issue of black people. There is contradiction in what he says. We get an allusion of the devil citing scriptures to justify his evil acts. He quotes a biblical verse as if he worships God to justify his evil talk as he speaks ill of the black people’s procreation. Who is he to suggest that it is too much? Obviously, this is purely racist.
Black workers are used by whites to suppress their folk.
We meet Clopas, who is dressed in smart government khakis, and is carrying a tea tray and cups. This gives him airs as he feels superior to his own folk. Clopas addresses the district commissioner, as “Baas”. Meanwhile, the rural folk gathered there is impatient and is complaining loudly in overlapping dialects. To please his master Clopas shouts at them telling them to shut up as his baas is having tea. He goes on to use derogatory terms used by whites to describe workers “mazibhoyi”. This referred to all workers whether female or male. They were all regarded as “mazibhoyi”. They were hired to do menial jobs and treated with disrespect.
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