Grade 9, Rena Le Lona
In the village of Ntabezimhlophe in KZN, lived underprivileged people who did not have schools, clinics, hospitals, shops, etc. All they had was their beautiful village with beautiful mountains. You would see a great view from those mountains. They had big yards and beautiful gardens with all kinds of fruit and vegetables. They didn’t have any King or government like everyone else has: they did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
In 1990, something really strange happened in the village. The Yenkosi family was blessed with twins: a girl and a boy. The girl was named Nontabezimhlophe and the boy was named Ntabezimhlophe. No one in this village had this luck before, so that’s why they named them after the village.
The whole village loved the twins. Ntabezimhlophe was the smartest, but he was cruel. He had pride and everyone in the village respected him like he was a king. In 2005, he decided to leave the village to see how people lived in other villages. He left the village with his five friends.
Within a few months while they were away, his parents died. Nontabezimhlophe had to deal with the situation alone because her brother was away and they did not even have cell phones to communicate.
Ntabezimhlophe and his friends travelled to almost the whole country with a small ship they had built when they were kids. They came back in 2007 and when he entered the yard, he found his sister sitting under a tree, looking really worried. He said, ‘sawubona dade.’ Nontabezimhlophe looked behind her and when she saw her brother, she jumped into his arms and cried.
Bengithi ngeke ngiphinde ngikubone mfowethu’ she said, with tears rolling down her face. ‘Baphi o-Yenkosi?’ Ntabezimhlophe asked. That’s what they called their parents. Nontabezimhlophe pulled her brother to the back of the house where their parents’ graves were. She said nothing as tears rolled down her face. ‘Ngiyaxolisa bengingekho dade,’ he said.
They entered the house, and Ntabezimhlophe told his sister everything about his trip and what he is planning to do. He called all the people in the village and introduced his plan to them, and told them that the other places he visited have leaders, and he was going to be the leader of Ntabezimhlophe village.
His friends wanted to be part of the leadership too, because they travelled together looking for this information but he refused. He then asked the people in this village to vote for him and they all did because they loved and respected him. They also thought that he was going to be a great leader.
He started businesses of fruit and vegetables from the village, and sold them to big companies across the country. He was the first rich person in Ntabezimhlophe village, and he made a lot of money from these businesses. He only thought of himself and bought many cars and a huge mansion. He started treating people in his village very badly and would take all the fruit and vegetables that people kept to eat, and sell them. This meant that the villagers were starving. Some even died of hunger because of him.answered.
Nontabezimhlophe was now married and had children. Shevisited her brother one day and could not stop looking aroundwhen she was inside the huge house. It had everything.‘Ntabezimhlophe Yenkosi’, she said to her brother who was in the swimming pool, enjoying life. ‘Nontabezimhlophe Yenkosi,’ he answered.
‘You are busy enjoying yourself while people are dying because of you!’ she said. ‘You promised them the whole world, Ntaba. Where are the clinics, schools and hospitals you promised them? All you do is take the only food they have and then you leave them starving. They work for you but you don’t even pay them a thing from these millions you are getting. How could you be so cruel?’ She said this with anger, and with tears rolling down answered.her face.
He said, ‘If you are here to judge, then leave Nonto, these people you are talking about are mine, I own them. They knew nothing and if it was not for me, they would still be in the dark.’ Nonto left and went back to her house. She called all the villagers and told them that she had a plan to make things right. Ntaba’s friends helped her. They asked the people of the village to vote again, and this time, Ntaba did not get any votes, but it was his sister that was voted in by the whole village.
She built a strong government and worked with a team to do this. It was not only her in charge. She shared power with her team and she learnt about the South African Constitution. The village lived happily like everyone in the country, and they had everything that they asked for. Nontabezimhlophe was a great leader.