By Peter Moroe
Because of the ever-expanding growth of Free State black literature, it has not always been easy to keep abreast with all the recent trends in the writing available, or even the introductory parts of it. I was delighted to read the book, get hold of the book, Perspectives on Free State Black Writing (Omnibus)(1). Here there are many essays on our local black literature with notes.
Because I seemed to have an affinity with Omoseye Bolaji’s exciting brand of fiction, I read the essays touching on his work carefully. Then when I re-read them after reading his work of fiction Tebogo Fails (2), I realized only too well the importance of one of the essays in Perspectives on FS black writing titled "Vendetta in Bolaji’s writing"(3)
Those who have not read the book Tebogo fails might prefer not to read this essay which somewhat gives the game away. Yet this book of Bolaji once again reinforces the belief that there is a lot of "vendetta" in Bolaji’s writing.
The book, Tebogo Fails starts - and ends - with some romantic undertones which for the purpose of this review I prefer to discount; wishing to get to the heart of the mystery itself. Which simply involves two murders in a certain neighbourhood in Botshabelo. A girl; ,or very young lady (around 14) is raped and murdered and soon after a gentleman (Sizwe) is brutally knifed to death too. Who could have killed them? This is what sleuth Tebogo Mokoena has to find out (4)
The murders are somewhat interlinked though we don’t know for a long time. But a pivotal figure or character is "Bareng" who seems to have suffered most from these murders. Firstly, his own younger sister, Jane, is the murdered girl; then the killed Sizwe is - was - his best friend. From all indications Bareng is a fine character and one sympathises with his losses.
The following passage is taken from Tebogo Fails: "You see, Tebs (Tebogo) Bareng is well known as the complete gentleman in this area. A bit boring perhaps, but honest, decent person… recently two people very close to Bareng have been murdered: Bareng was probably Sizwe’s best friend, and just a few weeks ago, Bareng’s younger sister, Jane was killed, her body left in a field..."
(Pages 10 and 11)
Let us look again at this passage: " (Bareng is talking here about his sister):
"I’m afraid I am a bit emotional where my little sister is concerned. She was an angel. Very responsible. By 7, 8 she was cooking fine food for the family…a delightful soul; well brought up. Rapists! Child molesters! They should all be punished... did you read the book, The Ghostly Adversary?" He did not wait for my reply. "Just deserts for rapists," he concluded (Page 16)
The interesting thing about this passage is not - as some think - that the author, Bolaji - took the chance to "plug" a book of his, The Ghostly Adversary. No, the main thing is the recurrent idea of revenge, vendetta, that the author re-inforces here. It is clear that Bolaji believes in "just deserts" in this wise.
By the time we get to the end of the book, Tebogo Fails we realize that it is Bareng himself who killed his "good friend" Sizwe! Why? Some excerpts from the book here as Tebogo investigates:
Bareng talking: "Tebogo, I could not believe what I was hearing (after Sizwe had confessed to killing his sister). The bastard. Thinking about the outrageous way my sister had died I made up my mind that Sizwe must not get away with this... I did what had to be done. I got in front of him and plunged the knife into his chest. Wiped my fingerprints off it. The bastard deserved to die!"
(Page 52)
But what we should note is that the narrator ("Tebogo" - as the book is written in the first person)) and of course Bolaji himself, is only too anxious for Bareng to get away with his ruthless murder. As Tebogo first muses, then says:
"I certainly would not expose him; rather I’d claim I had failed to unravel the mystery. Lets forget about what we discussed (Bareng’s confession) today, eh?"
(Page 52)
The point here is that Bareng plunges the knife into his friend after he realizes he killed his sister. It is a clear case of revenge or vendetta which our Tebogo - and of course Bolaji - fully supports. Tebogo would rather tell the whole world that he had "failed" to discover the secret behind these Botshabelo murders, than have Bareng arrested or impugned...
NOTES
1. Perspectives on Free State Black Writing (Omnibus edition) By MA Mokhuoa. 2003
2. Tebogo Fails By Omoseye Bolaji. Drufoma 2003. Republished 2005 and 2008
3. "Vendetta in Bolaji’s fiction" By D. Xangaza. Published in "Perspectives on Free State Black Writing"
4. Bolaji has now published seven books on the investigator Tebogo Mokoena - in order of publication, the four books are: Tebogo Investigates (2000), Tebogo’s spot of bother (2001), Tebogo Fails (2003),Ask Tebogo (2004), Tebogo and the Haka (2008), Tebogo and the epithalamion (2009), and Tebogo and the pantophagist (2010)
* First published in The growth of Free State Black Writing Journal (2005). Slightly edited and brought up to date here
