Foreword By Tee Ngugi

Space and time seem to remain unchanged in Africa. That was the thought that oppressed me when I read Joseph Molapong’s poetry anthology - The Scars on My Skin, for even though I am from the geographical space that is Kenya, the theme of disillusionment with the post-colonial Namibia that permeates the poems, was painfully familiar. The demons that have tormented Namibia since gaining Independence in 1990 are the same ones that torment Kenya, fifty years after gaining her Independence in 1963. But this is not just Namibia’s and Kenya’s predicament. It would seem to be Africa’s fate. In Africa, the promise of Independence now suffocates under greed and cynicism, as the ruling elite and their allies retreat behind well-guarded walls, abandoning the rest of us to poverty, disease and hopelessness. And yet even in the depths of despair, Mola remains defiant and hopeful. And he reminds us that even in the squalor of our lives, there is time for love. The African spirit, the human spirit, is hobbled, yes, yet it still trudges towards its destiny of true freedom.

Foreword By Tee Ngugi (An extract from The Scars on my Skin: Poetry anthology of Keamogetsi joseph Molapong)