In commemoration of World Poetry Day and Human Rights Day in South Africa on March 21, poets from the Paper Trail Literary Journal group have written poems on the significance of human rights.
Women’s Rights – by Hannette Olivier:
Women’s rights should entitle me to walk through this life unafraid and free.
Unhindered by minds trapped in toxic masculinity.
Girls ought not be afraid of rape and murder,
Of being sold and enslaved.
Mothers’ rights must include seeing our children safely reaching adulthood,
To see them grow and flourish raising children of their own.
Our country, flush with human rights and democracy,
Is still failing women like you and me.
We bear our children in filth and dirt,
Nobody cares, our pleas ignored, never heard.
One more of our gender is missing, feared dead,
While cabinet ministers sleep soundly in bed.
Mothers, sisters, daughters all,
We must unite, or else we’ll fall.
Bury our differences of class and race,
Or femicide we will face.
Our Land – by Busisiwe Ngwenya:
What is to be free when taxes strangle you,
When the right to whistle-blow is assassinated,
When kids still read and learn under trees,
When kids suffocate and lose life in pit latrines?
Are we free when bullets are replaced by dodging potholes rivalling the big hole,
When illegal spaza shops selling counterfeit goods are legitimised,
Making a mockery of fallen kids poisoned by unknown substances?
Are we equal when those who were in the trenches with us now roll by in flashy cars,
Telling us that they didn’t struggle to suffer,
Giving a birth right to corruption,
Making a mockery of sacrifices made,
Making us a laughing stock of the world?
How long shall we be silent?
How long shall we suffer whilst the future drowns in debt, trafficking and drugs?
May we sharpen our pens,
Tell our stories,
End the mental and physical anguish.
Let’s rally others,
To rise and let our voices be heard,
As we shout fervently that sizwile,
Kwanele, it’s enough,
Beating our chests emphatically.
Patriotism must be revived,
As we shout that this is not how we envisaged freedom,
As we scream that never again shall we stand idly by.
We are reclaiming what is ours,
And stand in solidarity,
Crying, mayibuye,
This is our land.
We will make it great again,
Us, the people, and not those who have lost touch with humanity.
This is our South Africa.
We shall make it great again.
HAVE YOUR SAY
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