Johnny Clegg’s Final Journey
I think we are moving into a kind of massive, global meltdown of national identities into sub-identities. The fracturing of societies on race, class, gender, and politicians making hay while the sun shines. And the global elites not really worried about anything, because they are not aligned to anyone or anything except their bank accounts. So it’s a very, very wobbly time globally, and South Africa is part of all this. You are seeing that global perspective, but refracted through the South African interpretation.
… For me, it wasn’t a political act. I was in love with the music and the culture and the robust resilience of the Zulu migrant labourers who were treated so badly, and with such disdain by the authorities, putting them into market labour hostels in Johannesburg, which were like military barracks—20 beds in the room, open-plan showers. If you came from the rural areas, you had to get a bed number. If you got a bed, you could get a job. It was like this Catch-22. You couldn’t get a bed if you didn’t have a job offer. If you got a job offer, and you couldn’t get a bed, you couldn’t keep the job. Because you had to find a place to stay that was legal, otherwise you’d be arrested for being illegally in Johannesburg.
It was a tough existence. And these Zulu warriors, they fought their way through this and I admired their pique. And then of course when I discovered the Zulu war dancing, that was my conversion. It w
