The writer from Matobo speaks...

Vuso Mhlanga (VM) interviews Zimbabwean novelist, Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya( TNN) on her new novel, A Portrait of Emlanjeni published by Carnelian Heart Publishing in the UK this March 2023.

VM: Your new novel, A Portrait of Emlanjeni is basically about a country girl from Matobo who is made pregnant while she is still in school and her painful fights. Why did you pick on a young woman and accidental pregnancy as the central issue to this story?

TNN: Understandably, the story is not solely about Zanele and her pregnancy. Indeed her matter is one of the main reasons for the story. I write about things that break my heart. When growing up in Matobo, I saw a lot of girls with brilliant minds being turned simply into mothers and wives of men who only visited their families once in two years or never returned from eGoli.

VM: Sad indeed

TNN: Yes, my heart goes to the girl child of Matobo and all Zimbabwe. The girls become mothers prematurely not because of their willingness but because of the environment. Schools are few, scantily-resourced, and far away. After walking 10 kilometers to and from school, the girls come home to help with house chores thereby making them fail to study. That is not the only problem; male school drop outs wait for these girls by the river or in the valleys and persuade or force them into these doomed relationships. That is is the Zanele territory!

VM: And I also see that these voracious boys actually have one destination, eGoli!

TNN: The matter does not end there, in most cases, these marriages fail and even these young mothers end up going eGoli too, to work. Children are then left with senile grandparents who cannot properly manage. Even if Emlanjeni people try to preserve their moral values and culture, these new issues cause the moral fabric to decay. Children no longer belong to the community because the generation of young and middle-aged parents is not there to keep the social values as they were before. This is the matter of this novel.

There is need to balance the socio - economic situation in building more schools with teachers and revival of industries so that families can stay together and built a more responsible future. South Africa is the only place where Emlanjeni people can work, but this is not about Emlanjeni village only. Almost every family in the country is supported by members who work outside the country. It is not a problem of Emlanjeni alone.

VM: Zanele is an intelligent girl but during her first accidental slip, she is made pregnant by a fellow village boy. What lessons should young people have from this?

TNN:  Young people, not girls only, must always guard their bodies and think about a future and a life they want.  They must know that it does not take many sexual encounters to fall pregnant.

VM: Someone may say that you carefully present the breathtaking environs of Matobo as a rich and key character to this novel just like in Cry the Beloved Country and Waiting for the rain. What do you say?

TNN: I had to take the reader with me presumably from Bulawayo, to Emlanjeni village, where the story is happening. We discussed this a lot with my initial editor, Tanaka Chidora. So, making Emlanjeni Village a character was at the back of our minds.

VM: Can you say anything about your growing up in Matobo? What place does it hold in your heart?

TNN: I cannot even imagine growing up in any other place. Ah, Matobo; the sounds and smells of the mornings and evenings shaped my being. I feel the cool morning air of that place and the cold on my shoeless feet. I feel the September heat. I hear the Matobo cows mooing and the cockerels announcing the hours of day. I hear the women laughing by the well as they fetch water and tell each other stories about their men, their children and their many dreams. Even now, I see the men cutting wood and talking among themselves lazily as they share a beer calabash and the momentary cigarette. Rich memories came into this novel and I hope my readers will wallow in them.

VM: The title Portrait of Emlanjeni suggests that this story is some kind of a picture of Emlanjeni. What did you mean by that title? How did you arrive at it?

TNN: The story is about many stories in one, many issues intertwine. It is all about Emlanjeni people’s traditions, culture and their way of life. There is the issue of contestable traditional practices affect women. There is, for example, MaMpunzi being married to her late aunt’s husband. It will cause rich debates. There is the avenging spirit and some will say is it real? There are issues concerning Christianity versus traditional religion, working together as a community, sharing everything and helping each other in everything. There is judicial conflict. The whole thing becomes a portrait, a picture. For that, Chidora said let’s settle on the portrait word. Even the second editor and ultimate publisher, Samantha Rumbidzai Vazhure liked it too.

VM: The women in this novel are explored deeply; especially the way they talk, love, work and feel. For me, they erupt from the page!

TNN: Thank you, Vuso. I did not set out to write as deeply as you say about the women. I just wrote. The women of Emlanjeni are what they are. Working together, accepting, understanding and helping each other. I am still, in my own way, one of those women. I am in each and every one of them. I exist because they do and see, appreciate and value my existence too.

VM: There is a lot of humor and comic moments in this novel and yet the novel also dwells partly on the civil war and tragedies of the early 1980’s that took place in Matobo and the whole southern region of Zimbabwe. How were you able to handle all that together but coming up with a beautiful story?

TNN: I am able to mention the evil tragedies of the early 80’s because the pain, sorrow and fear still exist in the people of that region. It is something that cannot be ignored. Looking at Bhalagwe mine continues to remind the people of what befell them in that time. It is there in our country’s history. It was going to be a mischief and betrayal on my part not to mention, even in passing, since the story of Emlanjeni travels through the place.

VM: How long did it take you drafting, writing and finally publishing this novel?

TNN: I wrote the story in 2013, in anger and mental turmoil, after I had shut down my business. I wrote the whole first draft of the manuscript in 21 days. I was not talking to anyone.

VM: What have you learnt through writing and producing this book?

TNN: Through writing this book, I learned that writing a book and getting it published is not a one man or woman show. Many people are involved who become part of the book. The first person to read the first draft, David Mungoshi, passed on before the back was published. As authors, we must be patient and work well with others. This book went through the hands of four different people because the final editor.

VM: Could you take us through all the books that you have written and what each is about.

TNN: I have published four books so far. The two Ndebele novels, Izinyawo Zayizolo and Zalabantu Ziyebantwini have helped in preserving language and culture for the future generation. The collection of short stories in English, The fifty Rand note and other stories has been well received by readers and scholars.  

VM: What is your view about publishing this story with Carnelian Heart Publishing who are out of Zim?

TNN: I am happy that the book was published outside Zimbabwe by a publisher with the means to take it across the world and back to Zimbabwe itself. It is no secret that local publishers are overwhelmed by economic challenges and have downsized greatly on fiction. Very sad! The other issue is that the local market is struggling under current economic challenges and people cannot afford buying books. The book now competes with mealie meal and relish. So people tend to photocopy or to share that one copy in the village or township. So it is the time to publish abroad.

VM: In Portrait of Emlanjeni your pen takes us back in time to a world of powerful chiefdoms and benevolent, wise and powerful kings. Tell us more about that world and what inspired that motif!

TNN: Tsitsi Nomsa Ngwenya: I was a keen reader of Wilbur Smith, in his stories; he portrays African people as people with no system, no brains, no order. So I was answering his views on issues to do with the hierarchy of the Villages to the Chief and to the Spiritual leaders of African people. I was trying to show that we do have the order, and that in our own ways, we could live in peace and respect of each other.

VM: Thank you so much for your time and responses, Nomsa.

+Vuso Mhlanga is a literary critic and academic based at the University of Zimbabwe where he teaches Literature in English. He also has a keen interest in Law and educational matters.