These were South African novelist, essayist and painter, Zakes Mda’s closing remarks to an auditorium full of adoring fans at the Northern Cape leg of the author’s nationwide launch of his latest historical novel, The Zulu’s of New York on Thursday,March 28. Literature enthusiasts and students at the Sol Plaatje University got to sit and listen in on a conversation between Mda and Kimberley-born playwright and actor, Moagi Modise,on the newly-published book and the inspiration behind it. The Zulus of New York is about the group of Zulus who were sent to London, England and later New York, in the 1880s by William Leonard Hunt, also known as The Great Farini, to perform as ‘human curiosities’ or ‘freak shows’in his popular circus. Much like Mda’s previous offerings, it is anchored by real-life events in history, but focuses on the fictionalised life of one of these Zulu performers tracing his journey from Ondini in Kwazulu- Natal to New York, where he falls in love. 

Mda told the audience that the novel was his attempt at repatriating the memory of this unknown group of performers, who unlike Sarah “Saartjie”  Baartman, were never brought back to South Africa. “We don’t know where their remains are, we don’t even know their true names”,laments the author, “but through my reconstruction of their lives, we can  repatriate their memory. For indeed we ought to celebrate both the tangible and the intangible heritages of all South Africans” says Mda. The writer says he was inspired to write the novel after coming across an academic piece by Professor of African Studies at Howard University, Robert Edgar, which theorises some of America’s attitudes towards Zulus. The piece references the Zulu performers who were in New York during the 1800s. In his witty response to a sarcastic question on the “intended message” behind the novel, Mda says he can make use of various social media platforms to send a message, “I write novels to tell a story, not to send messages” he closed off.  

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