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Remember Nokuthula Simelane

by Sihle Ntuli

 

for daughters of the armed struggle
the ones pictured standing alongside revered black male deities,
partaking in the same contestation for liberation,
the very same undergrounds of eSwatini coated in the same camouflage
+++++++also crouched down to evade detection from an enemy that later received amnesty

& the weight of it all,

even the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu placed his forehead down on a table
& began to weep
you could only tell from the gentle shaking of his shoulders
+++++++he was hurt deeply

revolutionary daughter wakaSimelane seemingly gone and forgotten
remind those who have failed to remember the Umkhonto we Sizwe operative who disappeared
+++++++in 83’ ++++++++++last seen alive in the underground parking of the Carlton Centre,
remind the brothers of ‘Everything Must Fall’
that she could have led the revolution just as well as they,
& our great misunderstanding is our migrating in different directions —
+++++++even though when movements started from one ideological place,
a blinding during the journey almost certain to end up going nowhere

& for years, the Simelane family never received closure
the search never truly ended
+++++++for the same kind of serenity that matches her first name