Grade 8, Thlokomelo Drop In Centre
They lived happily with no problems, a family that included father Zimele, a daughter Nqobile and a wife and mother, Azania. Azania was not from KZN, neither from South Africa. She came from Kenya as a tourist then met Zimele – they fell in love and she decided to stay.
Zimele was a proud Zulu man. Nqobile was a 14-year old teen who had no problems just focusing on her school work and hanging out with her friends. On 26 March 2020, the President announced that due to the new virus called Corona Virus or Covid-19, the country will go under lockdown for 21 days. Everyone will be required to stay at home, and are only allowed to go out when they need medical care or when they need food from the shops. Schools, work places and also borders will be closed to reduce the spread of the virus.
Azania could not see her family since she is not from South Africa, Zimele could not go to work, and Nqobile could not go to school or see her friends. She was bored! The country went from Level 5 Lockdown to Level 4, and then jobs were open. But Zimele was called to his place of work and told that they need to retrench workers and he cannot work there anymore.
Zimele had a lot of stress, thinking about how he is going to take care of his family with no income, and with his wife also not working. He started getting depressed. There were regulations for the lockdown that all people should wear masks, social distance and be home by a certain period of time and that there can be no social gatherings.
Due to the stress he was feeling, Zimele did not follow any regulations except to wear a mask when he entered a shop, and when he went to meet his friends. Wednesday evening may have been like any other day, but for Nqobile, this was the day of the week that her dad would normally sit in the back garden with his friends and drink. They would talk the whole night but not this time around: the lockdown had resulted in a ban on the sale of alcohol and that caused havoc in their home.
It started one day when Nqobile needed money to buy bread and Zimele did not have the money to give to her. He started shouting at Nqobile, telling her she is old enough to go to work and earn her own money. He said that he is tired of feeding people and Nqobile started crying. He then slapped her and demanded that she shuts up. Nqobile just ran to her room and locked herself up. Later that day, Nqobile was watching TV when her father came up to her and said, ‘ You should be out there looking for something to do but you are sitting here.’ Nqobile did not say anything. Zimele went to check what his wife Azania had cooked, but Azania had not cooked anything because there was no food and she was scared to ask Zimele for money because of what had happened with Nqobile.
Then Zimele started shouting, asking for food, but when his wife wanted to explain about the food crisis, he told her to shut up and started hitting her. Nqobile tried to protect her mother, but she ended up being banged against the kitchen sink. She bled a lot and Zimele did not even care about that. Azania, still in shock, called the ambulance, and when it arrived, Nqobile was unconscious.
The paramedics asked Azania to explain what had happened to Nqobile. She said that Nqobile had slipped. She lied because she was scared of Zimele and afraid that he would kick her out of the house and then she would not know where to go. She does not have family in South Africa because she is a foreigner.
In the morning Azania was planning to go to the hospital to give Nqobile her clothes but she could not see her due to Covid-19. She boiled water on the stove to bath. Zimele then woke up and asked her why she woke up so early, as if she is going to go to work. Azania then told Zimele that if she was going to work, what will he do about that? She told him that she is going to the hospital to give Nqobile clothes because the hospital had called her. Then Zimele asked how can she go to the hospital without giving her husband anything to eat. Azania explained that she has not time and has to rush to the hospital.
He started shouting about how hungry he is, and that he does not care about her stupid, precious Nqobile. Then Zimele raised his hand towards Azania, and she took boiling water and poured it on Zimele, but he ducked, and the water fell only on his legs.
Azania ran out of the house in shock, but when she reached the gate, she remembered that she left the gate remote inside the house, and she does not have a spare remote with her. She was scared to go into the house so she tried to climb over the gate. She forgot that it was an electrified gate, so she got shocked and fell to the ground. She lost all strength, became dizzy and her legs locked so that she could not stand up. After a few minutes, she became unconscious and because no one was on the street, no one saw her. In the meantime, Zimele put his legs into cold water and bandaged them. Luckily for him, they were not burnt very much. It was hard for him to walk but he went to the gate and picked Azania up and brought her to the bed.She went to her mum’s closest friend and told her all the things that had been happening to her and her mother. Naledi, Azania’s friend, called the police and told them about the crisis. The police fetched them from Naledi’s house and went to Azania’s house. They entered without being noticed with Nqobile’s gate remote, and found Zimele holding a knife and
He poured freezing cold water on her and she woke up not knowing what had happened. She asked Zimele, ‘What happened? My head hurts so much. Why are you pouring cold water on me?’ Zimele answered, ‘You tried running away from me because I don’t have money anymore, and you should be glad that I did not pour boiling water on you as you did to me. Do you remember?’ Azania just looked at him and said nothing. Zimele demanded that Azania cook food for him but when Azania tried to explain that there is no food that she can cook, and that she is also in pain, Zimele said, ‘You are just making excuses. You are my wife, do you think that I will eat when you are sleeping here and telling me that there is no food? Can’t you go and look for food? Didn’t you promise me that you will take care of me? And then you tell me you are in pain! Am I the one who told you to climb up the gate? Don’t piss me off! Wake up and make a plan!’
Azania’s phone rang, and when she tried to answer it, Zimele snatched it from Azania and answered it. It was the hospital telling him that Nqobile is being discharged and could her parents come to fetch her. He said that he would, but he did not go to fetch her. Azania was glad that she had heard the conversation, and she used her second phone to call Nqobile and told her that she must come home on her own. She also spoke to the doctor to discharge Nqobile.
Nqobile went home, and when she got there, she found her father was out of the house, and her mother was alone on the bed, unable to get up. Azania told Nqobile to run away before her father comes back, but when she was about to get out through the door, she saw her father coming into the house, drunk. He tried to force himself on Nqobile, but she saw a scissor and stabbed Zimele on his arm, and was able to run away.
She went to her mum’s closest friend and told her all the things that had been happening to her and her mother. Naledi, Azania’s friend, called the police and told them about the crisis. The police fetched them from Naledi’s house and went to Azania’s house. They entered without being noticed with Nqobile’s gate remote, and found Zimele holding a knife and wanting to stab Azania. They got him in time and stopped him. He was rushed to hospital for the stabbing injury and also Azania was rushed to hospital.
When Zimele was well, he was arrested for abuse and trying to kill Azania. He was sentenced to 10 years. Azania and Nqobile lived happily again.