An examination of how we understand power

The call went out earlier this year from Short.Sharp.Stories to write a story on the topic of power. This regular anthology series publishes regular themed collections. These have in recent years focused on themes such as YOLO (you only live once), another on incredible journeys and Instant Exposure, stories inspired by photographs.

Power, in the SA context, is often tied to Eskom and our sometimes faltering electric system. But many writers also ran with the idea, producing stories that speak to other definitions of power, and the result is that Power offers a smorgasbord of stories that range in tone and interpretations. Who knew there could be so many interpretations of power?

In addition, this series offers a first prize to the “Best Story”, with Athol Williams taking home the trophy in this collection. His excellent “The Ring around Saturn” forms a story within a story. A young boy living with his family in the Fisherman’s Flats in Kalk Bay listens as his father, Derra, a fisherman, tells him and his brother a fantastical story of a time set in an arena in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. A young boy, possibly a slave boy, must face off against an enormous fighter bull. The story is exciting, told over nightly instalments to the listening children. The story is set against the everyday realities of life under apartheid, with coloured and white fishermen locked in a simmering tension. When matters come to a head, the outcome is shattering. This is an astonishing look at the power imbalances in these men’s lives.

Meanwhile, Tanya Farber’s “Standing Still” offers a different take on the theme. Two lesbian women are transporting two horses when their car comes to a halt on the side of the M3 not far from Muizenberg. Phumla and Christellie wait, night is coming, and “the fading sky brings a fear that nothing can erase”. Christellie was pulled from their home by “haters” the previous month and raped. It’s something that she has been unable to face, speak about, or report to the police. Yet, as they wait in the car, something loosens between them, and we are shown how Christellie will take back her power, grabbed so violently from her. It’s a brilliant response to the theme, and is a quietly moving story.

Load-shedding, synonymous with power, or the lack of it, brings Cynthia Kistasamy’s “Kameel and the Firecracker Dog” to a resounding finale. This humorous story is about the travails of Kameel Naidoo and his family, who have moved from Lenasia to Randburg. Their neighbour, Ferdy Smith, has lodged a complaint (his sixth) against the Naidoos for letting off firecrackers on Diwali. Kameel in turn has lodged a range of complaints against Ferdy for installing a water fountain next to Kameel and his wife’s bedroom. And so, it has gone on. They are now in a hot airless room with Const Biyela taking down their statements. While the story turns on humour, and is suitably funny, there’s more at play here. We’re talking neighbours fighting neighbours, with Ferdy having told Kameel to go back to India at some point, and then there’s a twist when another neighbour, a Mr Sang, turns witness. But running beneath the humour is a wry and sometimes dark look at the thin veneer that covers an unacknowledged prejudice in all of us.

“The Denizens” by Mthobisi Myeni presents a portrait of Pholani, an informal squatter camp in eThekwini. The story is centred on Mtawunge, a meat vendor. But the power’s been off for nine days, and his meat is beginning to go bad. The only solution is to cook it all up, and offer it to the residents for free. Myeni’s descriptions bring the scenes alive in visceral detail: “A group of squatter camp residents are huddled around the campfire, like flies on a purulent sore…. Stray dogs with worn coats hover in the shadows, careful not to incite hateful assaults from the equally underfed dwellers.” Through Mtawunge’s eyes we witness the conversations about the threat to disconnect illegal electricity connections: campaigning promises have not been kept. Then Gogo Mandende starts sleepwalking, “exhibiting all the characteristics of a seasoned witch”. A panorama of a squatter camp in the grip of hunger, anger, and lack of power, in all senses, is brought to life in this astonishing story.

There is a menacing tone, and a thread of passion, in the subtle story “Ndiyindoda” by Peter-Adrian Altini. We’re in the suburbs of Johannesburg as “David watches the garden boy from his bedroom window”. Vuyo is the new gardener in a crew led by Mr Mannie. Though he’s been told not to stay inside when they are doing the garden, David strikes up a series of conversations with Vuyo. At first, he is condescending, telling Vuyo not to mutilate a bougainvillaea bush, wielding all the power and privilege he holds. But when a few weeks later a noticeably thinner Vuyo returns, having been made a man, and the balance of power has shifted, David tries desperately to take it back.

In contrast to the quiet of the above story is Kamva Majo’s “We Cannot Afford to be Silent”. This story revolves around Lethu, an introverted university student who becomes a leader of student protests with all the noise and energy that accompanies such action: “When the students finally made it to parliament, they were still formidable and fierce. The sweat from the last squeeze of the February sun on their faces and bodies was not to be mistaken for tiredness.” The story turns on an irony, while illuminating the plight of “missing” middle-class students, too “rich” to be helped by government student schemes, yet not “rich” enough to be able to afford those university tuition fees.

The plight of women who have to go to court to get maintenance for their children is richly explored in Nadia Cassim’s “The Stairs she Climbed”. Amaani’s fight to get maintenance is shared by other women at the Roodepoort magistrate’s court, and the story threads between time at the court and her memories of Ahmed, the man she married, now running rings around her and the court. It’s an excellent exploration of an all too familiar problem.

The power of art lies at the centre of “Canvas” by Tiisetso Lekopa. Kayone Vabaza makes art, lives in a village, and finds himself invited to exhibit in Johannesburg. He experiences the city as being “alive in a way that feels unnatural. The buildings scrape the sky and the glass reflects the afternoon sun so harshly it blinds him.” Thrust into the art world, he finds himself grappling with questions of whether his works depict a world where democracy has failed him and the village and what his drawings mean within this context. The story ends on a pleasing, hopeful note.

Lynn Joffe’s delightfully sassy story, “Homecoming”, focuses on Sophie Braun, singer and busker at Crackers in Yeoville. She’s come home after two years of singing for her supper and “began to pursue the true passion which had eluded her for so long: The Music”. She finds her way to Dorkay House and matron Grace Ngubane who sets her to work while Sophie’s trying to learn Afro-jazz. The story’s musical dénouement on a highveld dusk during a power failure is pure gold.

There are 22 stories in Power, each offering a different take on the theme. Some are rooted in science fiction and fantasy, or in a dystopian future world, which serve up eclectic versions of what power may mean in those times. Highlights include Anna Stroud’s gripping “The Power Station” set on a desolate power station, while Kate Thompson Davy’s eerie story evokes a time when we cannot look at the sun and Shanice Ndlovu’s “When I think of My Death” is a fascinating layered fable.