The earliest available and documented sefela written in a book form by Khathatso Ratau was entitled Khirimpana, and was published in 1955 by Morija Sesuto Book Depot. Written in poetic style, this sefela relates the story of the Lesotho man, Khirimpana, leaving home in search of employment as a mine worker, his experiences at the mines, and his marriage. The events are divided into chapters which constitute broad segments of their own. Ratau has done that to facilitate understanding on the part of the reader. However in order to highlight the finer details of the events, the subject-matter in the 72 (9-81) page book will be divided into further segments as follows:
Khirimpana
Khirimpana’s physical appearance when leaving home
Outward appearance of Khirimpana as he leaves for Gauteng is related in pages 9- 11. He is an energetic young man, walking fast. On page 9 it is said,
O akofile, ke tšoanelo; E sa le lekeja-kejana, O sa tletse sekaja;
He is in a hurry, as it should be, He is still an energetic young man, He is full of energy;
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He is wearing a blanket which reaches down to the knees. Another blanket is folded in such a way that it is supported on his back by a long stick balancing on one of his shoulders. On his head is the Basotho grass hat. In his hand he is holding his lesiba, a musical instrument of the Basotho. Very early in the morning he embarked on his journey to Gauteng. Says the sefela on page 11,
A itekantša mesikaro ka lialla,
A tloha motseng a patile mohoasa, He packed his luggage very early, And quietly left the village,
Singing of songs
Lines 12-23 constitute the difela he is singing whilst walking alone and thinking about the unknown place he is going to. His difela are the reflections of his experiences from his boyhood to manhood. On page 14, Khirimpana reflects on his boyhood helplessness and dependence on his mother. He says,
Ke hopola khale-khale,
Ke sa le oa se-hlokomeloa-ke-‘m’aso I remember the very old days,
When I was the one-looked-after-by-mum.
In his songs, Khirimpana reflects on days when he ate watermelon and pumpkins (page 16), when his father milked the cows (page 17), when he first looked after the calves (page 19), when he for the first time felt he was a man and when he sat among the men at the khotla ‘court’, when he and the men ploughed the fields (page 20), when he first witnessed a horse race, when he first built a kraal for the cattle (page 22). The ending part of his songs is a reflection on his girl-friend he is about to marry. On page 23 he says,
174 ea meno a masoeu-soeu;
ke luma ea mahlo a maphatšoana, ea lintši li telele,
ke luma ea rama le borethe; ntsoe u ka re la thomō!
I crave for the light brown one, With the beautiful white teeth;
I crave for the one with black and white eyes, One with long eyelashes;
I crave for the one with smooth cheeks; Whose voice is like a harmonium!
Khirimpana at the Native Recruiting Corporation and the doctor
Khirimpana’s reporting at the Native Recruiting Corporation and his examination by the doctor, are related on pages 25-30. After submitting the permission letter from his local chief to the tout, he mentions Mountain Deep as the name of the compound he intends going to. He is then referred to the doctor for examination, after which he is declared medically fit to go to the mine. Says the doctor (page 28),
Ua phela, u ka ea merafong.
You are fit, you may go to the mines.
Before the journey the following day, he and other young men recruited to work in the mines are given supper consisting of porridge and tea.
Journey by bus and train
Khirimpana is part of a group of young men travelling in a red bus from the NRC offices to Fouriesburg in the Free State, where he boards a train to the mines in Gauteng (pages 31-32).
Khirimpana on the train and arrival at the Mountain Deep mine
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disappearing from sight. Arriving at the destination station in Gauteng, he alights from the train which on page 35 he calls koloi ya mollo ‘the fire vehicle’. Surprised at seeing the tall buildings and many cars for the first time, Khirimpana walks behind the mine policeman. He is further surprised to see the ‘mirror’ (the traffic light) which when red, people stop walking, and when green, they are allowed to walk. Eventually he hears the mine policeman (page 35) say, Re fihlile Mountain Deep! ‘We have arrived at Mountain Deep!’
At Mountain Deep mine
Khirimpana’s experiences at the mine are related on pages 37 to 43. His documents are put in order, and he is again examined by a doctor. He is given the necessary mining clothes he is going to use; shoes, jacket, helmet and knee caps. He is taught Fanakalo, a lingua franca spoken at the mines, how to apply First Aid, how to put on his helmet light, and how to work underground. He is fascinated by the lights and the small trains underground. He works so energetically that the chief-boy promotes him to a position of boss-boy. On leisure days he plays dikarete ‘cards’ and morabaraba, the game called ‘the mill’. He joins a group of dihobedi ‘miners who sing war dances’. At the end of his nine month contract, he goes back home.
Arrival at home and visit to Seilatsatsi
Khirimpana’s arrival at home and his visit to Seilatsatsi, his girl-friend, are related on pages 47 – 57. He is warmly welcomed by his family and promised that the cows (the money) he has been sending home from Gauteng will be used as dowry for his wife. During his visit at Seilatsatsi’s home, he gives her earrings as a token of love, and Seilatsatsi gives him a red handkerchief in return.
At Kimberly diamond mine
Khirimpana’s four months’ experiences at the Kimberley mine are related on pages 59-65. Even at this mine he works so impressively that he is immediately promoted to a position of a boss-boy. He discovers a stone which is later found to be a diamond. He receives an amount of £45 for his discovery, and at the end of his contract, he leaves for home.
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Visit to Seilatsatsi and dowry payment
Khirimpana’s visit to Seilatsatsi and the paying of lobola cattle are related on pages 67-75. Khirimpana pays Seilatsatsi a visit during which an exchange of presents takes place. As a token of love Khirimpana’s presents to Seilatsatsi are lesapo la gauda ‘a golden bracelet’ and sekhama sa daemane ‘a diamond necklace’. Seilatsatsi gives him mofolara o motle o mofubedu ‘a beautiful red scarf’. The dowry consisting of 16 head of cattle, £20, ten sheep and a horse, is taken to the family of Seilatsatsi. After a few days, a group of women accompany Seilatsatsi to her in-laws.
Parting of the families
The parting events are related on pages 77-81. The parting of the women who have brought Seilatsatsi to her in-laws culminates with the slaughtering of a wether which on page 79 is called nku ya tja-bohobe ‘food given to people who have brought a bride to her new home’(Mabille, 1979: 457).
Recorded or documented difela composed around 1955 are not available, and therefore it is not easy to make a general statement on the nature of the subject- matter and the themes of the difela composed before or around the year 1955. Nevertheless, the assumption can be made that, like the sefela in Khirimpana, their subject-matter may have been confined to the singers’ experiences at home in Lesotho, their journeys to and from Lesotho, their experiences at the mining compounds and reference to their loved ones at home.
Much can be learned from the whole narrative about the experiences of Khirimpana, as divided into various chapters. The narrative indicates the poor economic state of the country, Lesotho, which could not afford to create jobs for its people. It indicates also the general poverty of its inhabitants the result of which forced Khirimpana to join the mining industry as a migrant worker at Johannesburg and later at Kimberley in order to eek out a living, so that he could have cattle with which to marry a wife. The narrative further reveals Khirimpana as one of the singers who are on the margin of society. They are like people in exile because he has to be away from home most of the time in order that his family may survive, and because he is looked down upon as kwata ‘a rough person’ because of bad language which usually characterise the mine labourers’ patois.
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