Nothings Changed

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Nothings Changed

• Tatamkhulu Afrika

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Tatamkhulu Afrika December 7, 1920 - December
23, 2002 (Page 1) The writer and poet -- now
known as the Grandfather of Afrika -- was truly
African and symbolised the pan-African ideal of a
free Africa from top (Cairo) to bottom (Cape) he
was born in Egypt and died in South Africa. His
story itself is an indictment of racism and
exploitation and also a story of one man's quest
for his and our humanity. The names he took at
different times tell his story Mogamed Fu'ad
Nasif (born of Arab and Turkish parentage)
adopted as John Charlton by English Methodist
family Jozua Joubert (adopted by Afrikaans
family in Namibia) Ismail Joubert (reversion to
Islam) and Tatamkulu Afrika (freedom fighter and
writer). Tatamkhulu Afrika -- a name given to
him by ANC underground cadres -- was born in 1920
in Egypt to an Arab father and a Turkish mother.
His parents died shortly after coming to South
Africa in 1923 and he was raised by an English
Methodist family under a new name John Charlton.
(He did not know his family background) At 17,
while still in matric, he wrote his first novel,
Broken Earth, published by Hutchinsons in London.
In his life, our poet of the month had to face
many obstacles that forced him to make a stand,
resulting in him changing his "race" and even his
religion. After working in Namibia for at least
20 years doing different jobs, and living with
Afrikaner foster parents where he got the name
Jozua Joubert, he settled in District Six in Cape
Town where he reverted to Islam and had himself
classified as "coloured" as he did not want to be
white, and wanted to continue living in his
township. His changed his name to Ismail Joubert.
In District Six he founded Al-Jihaad to oppose
the apartheid removals and worked closely with MK
who gave him the praise name Tatamkhulu Afrika
--Grandfather Africa -- the name he took with him
to the grave.
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Tatamkhulu Afrika's comments on the poem
"Nothing's Changed is entirely autobiographical.
I can't quite remember when I wrote this but I
think it must have been about 1990. District Six
was a complete waste by then, and I hadn't been
passing through it for a long time. But nothing
has changed. Not only District Six ... I mean we
may have a new constitution, we may have on the
face of it a beautiful democracy, but the racism
in this country is absolutely redolent. We try to
pretend to the world that it does not exist, but
it most certainly does, all day long, every day,
shocking and saddening and terrible. "Look, I
don't want to sound like a prophet of doom,
because I don't feel like that at all. I am full
of hope. But I won't see it in my lifetime. It's
going to take a long time. I mean in America it's
taken all this time and it's still not gone ...
So it will change. But not quickly, not quickly
at all."
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Background

• In 1948 the election to power of the nationalist
  party saw, for the first time in South Africa,
  the formal introduction of a system called
  apartheid or separate development. It was voted
  in by the whites who made up perhaps 15 of the
  country's population. Amongst its most savage and
  far-reaching actions was to pass, in 1950, the
  Group Areas Act. This defined where people of
  each "race" could live. Those Africans with
  rights to live in urban areas were mostly male,
  as they were needed to work in the urban centres.
  To move into or within a city required a pass
  book, to be carried with them at all times.
• Those without passes were sent to the
  "homelands", areas comprising 13 of the land
  area but to accommodate 75 of the population.
  Not only was the land area insufficient but also
  it was of the poorest quality, with unproductive
  soil and no infrastructure. People were displaced
  by force and their land taken. Houses were razed
  to the ground and possessions seized. The
  populations of the homelands grew rapidly, and
  although these areas were officially rural it is
  claimed that their population densities were
  closer to those of urban areas. Over 450,000
  Africans from the white areas were resettled in
  the homelands up to the end of 1968.

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Learning Intentions

• Key Teaching Points
• To read the poem
• To examine the way the poem handles themes of
  injustice and anger.

• Key Terms
• Tone
• Attitude
• Repetition
• Alliteration

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Now read the poem

• We need to work through the poem now answering
  the following questions
• What happens? What is it that the narrative tells
  us?
• What are his feelings?
• Now write the story of the poem using one
  sentence per stanza. Be prepared to read these
  aloud!

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District Six
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Language in Nothings Changed

• On the next page there is a chart of quotations.
• You must work in pairs.
• Discuss each quote with your partner and identify
  what the significant aspects of language are.
• How do these relate to the cultural/ social
  situation in South Africa?

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Important points to note add what you missed!

• Tactile imagery
• Repetition
• Harsh sounds
• Alliteration
• Sharp images
• Contrasts

• Small hard round stones
• and lines 12 to 15
• Brash/ glass
• Flaring flag expresses contempt
• the single rose
• Whites only inn/ Working mans café

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Conclusion Homework

• Tatamkhulu Afrika said that he liked this poem
  best out of all the poems he wrote about his old
  home in District Six.
• Without knowing these other poems, why do you
  think he might have liked this one particularly?
  Write a paragraph explaining why.

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