Mzuvukile Maqetuka
This collection of engaging short stories emanates from the Camdeboo region of South Africa’s Karoo. They are told by a traditional African griot (career storyteller), Ndabazabantu, who knows all the gossip about the enigmatic as well as the ordinary folk in his town.Partly drawn from Mzuvukile’s book, Children from Exile and other Stories (featuring Oom Asval and His Donkey Cart), the stories expose both the struggle to live comfortably in South African townships of old and the harshness of having to deal with the strictures of Apartheid. The Day the Town of Xhogwana almost Collapsed, deals with this second challenge, specifically the prohibition on mixed race relations and degrading treatment of black people under Apartheid’s Group Areas Act; when blacks had to report to the township superintendent’s office when visiting places outside their registered hometowns.The author, through Ndabazabantu, tells these stories with humour, pathos and poignancy. While Camdeboo Stories is unique in style and content, the tales are somewhat reminiscent of Herman Charles Bosman’s storytelling style and are valuable additions to the stories of the South African platteland.
