From the Cape to Cairo: The stories of three remarkable African women

My mind has actually been roaming up north in Cairo over the past few months. I have been wondering about the fate of Sherine Abdul Wahab, a taarab singer, who was sentenced to a jail term for her stage remarks about the water of River Nile. You can see there a perfect mix for the Bukenya mind: a striking woman, creative performance and the environment.

But this week Winnifred Nomzamo Madikizela Mandela, like a lightning flash, compelled my gaze towards the Cape of Good Hope. A cliché has never been truer than the current one that all eyes are on South Africa, because of this uniquely remarkable woman.

TRIBUTE

I knew all along that I could not write a fitting obituary or eulogy for Winnie Mandela, even if any was required, amidst the deluge of tributes to her from better-placed and more informed personalities. Even Mama Maria Nyerere has spoken, and I must confess I was touched to the quick to hear her speak.

Prof Njabulo S. Ndebele, Chairman of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, who has actually written a novel, The Cry of Winnie Mandela, inspired by the legendary lady, said in the early hours after Winnie’s death that he felt he owed a great debt to her.

He could have been speaking for each one of us, as Winnie Mandela’s life had a significance way beyond the boundaries of her country. This was a person whose life, as an African, freedom fighter, patriot, woman and struggling human being, has relevance to anyone who cares to observe and reflect.

But, as I said, when it comes to talking about her, I find myself tongue-tied (or is it pen-tied). She is such a complex, tantalising, elusive and ultimately confounding character that you are left feeling that whatever you say cannot do her justice.

I remember, for example, Winnie dropping a hint in her autobiography that she might not be a believer (like me). I always feel sorry for nonbelievers because I know the huge amount of energy and high level of intelligence it would take to be a good nonbeliever. But then, I hear that Winnie was in church on Good Friday, just days before she passed away. Who are we to judge?

The same goes for all the “controversies” and reservations that have followed her eventful struggle through her illustrious and agonised career.

When, for example, she was awarded an honorary LLD (Doctor of Laws) degree at Makerere’s graduation ceremony this January, some academics there demurred. But for most of us, schooled in the tough and bare-fisted ring of life, our response was: who are we to judge?

Winnie had the destiny of a bitter fight against a demonic system thrust upon her. She fought fiercely, tooth and claw, and it is not easy to wage such a fight and be or remain a saint. The best we can say is that, in the midst of all the battles, the triumphs and the failings, she remained an inspired and inspiring human being, a woman.

FREEDOM

But I was going to tell you the heart-breaking story of Egyptian Sherine Abdul Wahab and her taarab. 

Sherine, a hugely popular star, is almost comparable to the legendary Kulthum, who was beloved even on our shores, might probably be serving a six-month prison sentence just now. She was convicted of the curious offence of “insulting the State” and spreading “fake news” about her homeland. She had been heard joking onstage that the waters of the Nile might be polluted.

Since that is a judged and determined matter (“res judicata” as the lawyers might say in their Latin), we need not quibble about it. The points to ponder, however, are the limits of freedom of expression, including artistic expression, and, obviously, Egypt’s sensitivity about the Nile.

Should a person go to prison for saying that a river is polluted? Does this not remind you of Dr Stockman in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People? If I were to hear someone say that River Tana was polluted, I would ask them to produce incontrovertible evidence that their claim was true. Putting them in prison would not solve the problem.

I will not venture into the controversy over the purity of the waters of the Nile over its 6,853-kilometre journey through the continent. But we all know that the river is a matter of life and death for Egypt, and joking about it, especially negatively, may not be in very good taste.

We should know, as Cairo’s concerns over what we do with the Nile, from Burundi to Ethiopia, are constantly signalled to us. Be that as it may, I certainly would not, without caution, “drink from the waters of the Nile”, as one of Sherine’s songs has it.

HEARTWARMING THINGS

But let me end on a happy note, connecting Cairo and Cape by introducing another remarkable woman, from the halfway point between them. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, a Uganda novelist, recently won the 165,000-dollar Windham-Campbell prize for her first novel, Kintu. That in itself is no small matter for a young woman from a country with a per capita income of $2,350 per annum.

There are, however, several other heart-warming things to the success of Makumbi. One of them is that she weaves her story around one of the best known matrixes of Ugandan orature, with which I have been toiling for decades. Does this justify our prophesying that the future of African literature lies in the fusion of the spoken and the written word? But of even more significance is that Makumbi’s novel was first published by the Kwani Trust, Nairobi’s own unique experiment in promoting writing and publishing among local writers.

Congratulations, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, and congratulations, Kwani Trust! Between Cape and Cairo, you stand out, proud and strong.

Prof Bukenya is a leading East African scholar of English and Literature. [email protected]