Mzala

by Mbulelo Mzamane

Mzala - as the name implies - is everybody's cousin. He is the country boy who comes to town - to the bright lights of Jo'burg, and the dark, dangerous streets of the city's black townships. In an environment where only the strong survive, he adapts at a pace which first astounds and then alarms his relatives. Robust, strong and cunning, he is more than a match for his adversaries - and less than a blessing to his friends. Mzamane's evocation of township experience is richly comic, but shot through with an underlying seriousness that gives a penetrating insight into the life of South Africa's shadow cities.