PULL MY HEARTSTRINGS (COMPLETE)

61

                               

     

The Robert Bongeziwe Luthuli Foundation was established in 2005, two years after his death and Mam’khulu became the CEO until the beginning of the year when Jabulile was appointed for the position and succeeded her.
     
Since its inception they’ve done tremendous work with non-profits and their educational fund provided thousands of students the opportunity to further their studies at the best universities across the country. His aunt did a phenomenal job at the helm, and he had no doubt Jabu would fill her shoes with no trouble.
     
He was at the Bongeziwe Archive Centre, which also served as the Foundation’s headquarters in Rivonia upon his mother’s request and he had a feeling she didn’t call to play nice. He used a separate entrance to avoid the group arriving for their free tour of his father’s personal artefacts such as photographs documenting every stage of Bongeziwe’s life, from his days as a young student and member of the Youth League, as well as the letters he wrote while awaiting trial at the infamous Number Four prison.

Anesu always found those difficult to read because the conditions his father endured were inhumane, from the vicious beatings and the humiliating ‘Tauza’ dance, which were meant to demoralize a man. And he believed that experience changed his father and not for the better.
     
Going inside was like taking a trip down memory lane and Bongeziwe’s spirit was very much alive within these walls. It made Anesu feel close to him unlike Tinashe who couldn’t stand this place because their father expected him to carry the torch and continue his unprecedented legacy. The pressure was too much and sent him into the clutches of addiction.
     
“Hi.”
     
Jabulile almost bumped into him, coming out of his mother’s office. 
     
“Oh, hi.” She flipped her hair back. “Ncane is expecting you.”
     
“Where are you rushing off to?”
     
“I’m going to meet with Kgomotso, she needs help choosing a dress for the gala. I think she’s nervous, shame.”
     
Oh, that was news to him.
     
“Okay, have fun.”
     
She looked up from her phone and narrowed her eyes. “Is everything fine between you two?”
     
“Yes, why?”
     
“Then why did you leave her alone at the dead of night to sleep at Tinashe’s place?” she asked, not backing down from his pointed gaze. Nothing intimidated Jabu once she put on her tough lawyer act.
     
“Why are you in my business?” he demanded.
     
“Because she’s pregnant, Anesu and you’re clearly acting like an idiot.”
     
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
     
For someone who held a law degree she wasn’t even trying to hear his side and then decide whether he was guilty or not.
     
“For your sake I hope you don’t mess this up because I’ll make sure Kgomotso finds a sexy step-father.”
     
“Over my dead body.”
     
The frown on his face deepened when Jabu laughed at his reaction. “Relax, I’m just pulling your leg.”
     
He couldn’t get that thought out of his mind, Kgomotso raising his child with another man had a higher probability of killing him than being struck by lightning. But Jabu was right he shouldn’t have left that night, letting his emotions dictate his actions was careless on his part. 
     
“Anesu?!” She snapped her fingers with great impatience.
     
“Yini?” 
     
“I asked you a question, have you found a suit already?”
     
“I’m still working on it.”
     
“Work faster and get it done. I need everything to be perfect, I can’t look bad as the new CEO and ruin my stellar reputation.”
     
All this drama over a suit!
     
“Have I ever disappointed you?” he asked.
     
“I don’t think you want me to answer that.” She smirked, hand on her waist and ready to take him on if he argued.
     
Being a lawyer must mean having a long memory because she kept count of every transgression committed against her.
     
“Khululeka, because I won’t this time.”
     
“If money magically fell from the sky every time a man said they won’t disappoint me, I’d be rich like Oprah.”
     
His lopsided smile spread across his lips and flirted with the mirth dancing in his eyes.
     
“Oh, shit! I have to go,” she said, while typing on her phone. “Don’t keep ncane waiting any longer and good luck.”
     
Good luck? How much trouble was he in?
     
He fixed to open his mouth and ask but Jabu had already disappeared around the corner and the echo of her heels trailed behind. There wasn’t a flurry of activity because this part of the building was off-limits to the public, so he was left alone with his endless thoughts.
     
He let himself in after a brief knock. “Sawubona, MaDlomo.”
     
The corners of her mouth drooped when his lips landed on her cheek, she wasn’t happy to see him and couldn’t even hide it. She acknowledged his greeting with a slight nod and her gaze ran back to the documents in front of her. 
     
“I hope I didn’t come at a bad time.”
     
The lukewarm reception was surprising because he couldn’t think of a reason why his mother would be like this.
     
“I called you, remember? Sit down, we need to talk.”
     
He didn’t let her repeat it.
     
“Is there a problem?” He scratched the back of his head as he grew uneasy.
     
“You tell me because I saw the speech you wrote.”
     
The only person he sent the speech to was Jabu because she wouldn’t stop pestering him about it, little did he know it would end up on his mother’s desk without warning.
     
“But there’s nothing wrong with my speech.” He insisted.
     
She took off the reading glasses and pinned her stern gaze on him. “So, you see nothing wrong with trying to tarnish your father’s legacy?”
     
“And how did I do that?” 
     
His tone was firmer than intended and her eyebrows shot up without restraint at his audacity to speak to her in that manner. He needed to tread lightly.
     
He sighed, rubbing his hands as if they were cold. “I didn’t mean to use that kind of tone with you.”
     
“I know you mean well, Anesu, but Bheki was not a good man. His ideology got warped along the way and ended up murdering innocent people he suspected to be informants. Do you know how terrified I was when the police arrested your father in the middle of the night, taking him to John Vorster where he was held and tortured for days? I thought I’d never see him again.”
     
She spoke with a poignant pain pulled from the depths of despair, like that all happened yesterday and not 30 plus years ago and it was hard to see how the long side effects of Apartheid still lingered like dark clouds after a rainy day.
     
“And when the TRC happened your father was summoned to answer for Bheki’s crimes because there were people who still believed he was implicated. He was dead then, leaving your father to clean up the mess. That was a difficult time for us, Anesu, you might not remember because you were still quite young.”
     
He noticed how she referred to his uncle by name like that would somehow erase their relation to him. 
     
“I just didn’t want ubabomncane Bheki to be remembered as the villain forever, he had a lapse of judgement most people did during that time. The system wasn’t fair so they fought the best way they knew how.”
     
“You don’t need to remind me how it was during ‘that time’ because I was there and lived through it, and I fought an honourable fight so did your father. We worked hard to put what Bheki did behind us but you know those kinds of things always find a way of resurfacing, I just didn’t expect it from you. The purpose of this gala is to celebrate your father and I won’t let you taint it by talking about Bheki, or don’t you care about everything I’ve built to keep your father’s legacy alive?”
     
Of course he cared which was why he was one of the biggest donors to ensure that the future generation will live to know his father’s name.
     
“That’s not a fair question and you know it.” He clenched his jaw.
     
“You’re right and I’m sorry, but I can’t let you read this speech as it is.”
     
He got up from the chair and went to the window, there wasn’t much to see but tree tops and the deserted street.
     
“Okay, fine, I’ll change it because I know how much the gala means to you. But just so you know I don’t agree with how you’re choosing to handle this, I won’t dispute the fact that ubabomncane was a complicated man but there are two sides of the story and I don’t understand why you’re choosing to stick with this one.”
     
All that mattered was the fact that Anesu was willing to make the necessary changes because she would never betray her husband’s memory by portraying Bheki as a martyr.
                                                             **********