Malibongwe: Poems from the Struggle by ANC Women

by Sono Molefe (Editor), Uhuru Phaafala (Preface), Makhosazana Xaba (Introduction)

In the late 1970s, Lindiwe Mabuza, a.k.a. Sono Molefe, sent out a call for poems written by women in anc camps and offices throughout Africa and the world. The book that resulted, published and distributed in Europe in the early 1980s, was banned by the apartheid regime. Half-forgotten, it has never appeared in a South African edition - until now.

Authorised by the editor, this re-issue of Malibongwe re-establishes a place for women artists in the history of South Africa's liberation. These are the struggles within the a book that records the hopes and fears, the drives and disappointments, and the motivation and resilience of women at the front lines of the battle against apartheid. Here we see the evidence, too often airbrushed out of the narratives of national liberation, of a deep and unrelenting radicalism within women; of a dream of a South Africa in which not only freedom reigned, but justice too.

192 pages, Paperback

Published June 3, 2020

Reviews

[Nicole Costello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book of poems written by South Africans on the topic of the white supremacist imposed apartheid.
Poems to ponder on:
• Mayibuye - Ilva Mackay
• Years of the child - Baleka Kgositsile
• Childhood in Soweto - Lerato Kumalo
• Open season - Lindiwe Mabuza
• We demand punishment - Sono Molefe

Highly recommend this read if you’re interested in the truth of the South African apartheid regime and not the propoganda and lies that were used by main stream media at the time.