DIARY
SOUSA JAMBA The first thing I did last year when I got the largest amount of money I had ever had was to buy a car. I wanted some concrete evidence of my wealth; and — let the truth be told — to show my contempor- aries that I had moved up in the world. I bought the Honda sports car for £750 from a second-hand car dealer in Brixton. I was very proud of the car. At times I was slightly frightened of my affection for it: I felt it was not normal. I would wash it every Saturday morning, fill the radiator with water, check the oil; and just gaze at the engine, marvelling at the fact that it was completely mine. As I did not have a driving licence, I had 15 lessons with the British School of Motoring. The most difficult manoeuvre for me, was reversing round a corner. One day, I was over- whelmed by the desire to drive and took off without a licensed driver by my side. The police caught me in Brixton. I was referred to the Dulwich police station. Sounding very grand, I asked the police- man on duty whether the offence was so serious as to spoil my chances of ever being elected to Parliament or becoming Prime Minister. I wanted to know what his response to that would be. The police man blushed, looked straight at me and said: Not at all, sir, I myself have about seven points on my driving licence for speeding.'
The car was fine for a while, then the starter motor began to falter. I was advised to buy an alternator (second-hand, too) but things did not improve. One night, after being treated to a sumptuous dinner by a Cape Verdean woman at the Tulse Hill Estate, I was forced to leave the car, because it broke down, and to take a night bus to Selhurst, where I live. For the next two weeks, I did not have enough money to hire a mechanic. When I went there, the car looked as though locusts had been at Work: everything, except the tyres, which were old, was gone. Fighting the tears back was a bit hard; but I finally managed to do so when I thought of how expensive it had been to maintain the car on the road. Now I have a second-hand bicycle; it cost me £26. Already I have problems with the gears; I have to walk when I come to hills.
Iwas delighted when I heard that the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Ethiopia, Colonel Mengistu, had been overthrown. Alas, the coup failed. Ethiopians are such nice people that I cannot help sympathising with them for having such a humourless dictator. Taking a leaf from Mao Tse-tung, he ordered, for instance, that all high-ranking party lead- ers should wear dark blue suits. When Sergeant Doe (he is now a Doctor and a General) came to power in Liberia, mem- bers of the ruling elite could be singled out by their walkie-talkies. If a man who had had a walkie-talkie was seen walking with- out one, then it was clear that he had been demoted.
0 n Sunday afternoon, a black Brazi- lian girl who was giving me accounts of the resurgence of black power in Bahia, drag- ged me to Hyde Park. In the free speech area, Jews and Arabs were practically at each other's throats. It was fascinating to see a black, Ethiopian, Falasha Jew argue the case of Israel. At another point, dozens of black men had surrounded a short, lean speaker in a dark blue suit. The men were listening to him attentively. The speaker, a Nigerian called Jimmy, was giving a talk on the sexual prowess of males around the world. No prize for guessing which males figured high on the list.
Ihave just completed my first novel, Patriots, which is going to be published by Viking. It is a dream come true. Ever since
'Urrhh . . . mine . . . umm . . . mine neuf . . . umm . . neuf cent . . . quartre err . . . quatre vingt . . . douze.'
I had a short story published in the Zambia Daily Mail in 1979 when I was 13, my ardent wish had been to have a novel published. I wrote my first novel — well, long short story, if you want — when I was 17. Since I gave it to my friend Elizabeth Endycott to read, I have been too ashamed to look at the script, which I believed at the time of writing was going to put Africa on the map of the world. Now I am awaiting the verdict of the critics; and, of course, the public.
Except for the anti-smoking campaign, I have never felt a strong inclination to join any of the many causes around. Now, I have no option but to do whatever I can to help save the elephants in Africa. Jamba in my mother-tongue, Umbundu, actually means elephant. My late father's middle name was Hungulu, which means ivory. For those of you who are going to read my novel, I should mention — just to whet your appetite — that the main character is called Hosi, which means lion. Hear a good word for the Unita leader in Angola, Jonas Savimbi. Although he has been ruthless with witches, ordering their burn- ing, he has ensured that the elephants in the area controlled by his movement are properly protected.
ao Tse-tung came to Zambia in M 1976. The nation was almost brought to a stand-still. There was nothing else on the radios and newspapers. I was then ten and learning English, having just fled from Portuguese-speaking Angola with my sis- ter, Noemia. I asked the elders to tell me what was being said about China. I recall it clearly. They told me that China was a country where nobody starved; where chil- dren went to special schools to become engineers and doctors; where nobody had more than the other. In short, it was a paradise. Later, I was to hear the same things said about the Soviet Union. Of course Africans had to parrot these slogans because they had just received large pack- ages of aid from either the Chinese or Soviets. In the true spirit of the brother- hood of the international proletariat, the Soviets had even donated snowploughs and porcelain toilet seats to the People's Re- public of Guinea. Now the two communist giants are telling their Third World hangers-on that the days of manna from Moscow or Peking are over. It was not surprising therefore to hear the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Repub- lic of Ethiopia say on The World This Week that international logic — whatever that means — had demonstrated that to have a thriving economy, the market had to pre- vail.
Previous page
