I Write What I Like in Xhosa – Biko’s message for a new generation

Nkosinathi Biko, the son of the Black Consciousness Movement leader and founder of the Steve Biko Foundation, says he hopes that the isiXhosa version of I Write What I Like will revive the urgent message of the book and become a part of mass political education. He was speaking at the Ibuyambo Book Festival held in Langa on Saturday.

“My wish is that the book will revive, and remind us of, its contents and that we use it as part of political education and that young people use it to shape the future of this country. The issues that he wrote about a long time ago are still relevant today. There are so many things to fix in this country. 54% of South Africans, who are mostly black, live under the poverty breadline; they don’t know where their next meal is going to come from,” Nkosinathi said.

I Write What I Like was first published in London in 1978 and was first published in South Africa only in 1996 by Ravan Press and by Picador Africa in 2004. The isiXhosa translation was published by Pan Macmillan last year and has been available from bookstores since December. The book is, according to Biko, already available in Portuguese, French and Italian translations and he hopes that it will be translated into other South African languages and Kiswahili.

The making of Ndibhala Intando Yam

• The title was one of the three options that were recommended.
• The book is already available in European languages and the plan is to translate it into isiZulu and Kiswahili
• One of the challenges was to maintain a balance between standardised and spoken isiXhosa.

The book was translated from English to isiXhosa by the late literature giant, Peter Tshobiso Mtuze. Mtuze was the first black professor at Rhodes University and some of his books were part of the isiXhosa syllabus for high schools in the 1990s. Mtuze also translated Mandela’s biography into isiXhosa.

During a panel discussion at the Ibuyambo Book Festival, which was held at Langa Civic Hall , Nkosinathi Biko, Professor Simphiwe Sesanti from the University of the Western Cape’s Faculty of Education and the moderator, Fikile Majola, discussed the translation of the book’s title. “We had three title versions that we debated and we were opposing each other. We had ‘Ndibhala Endikuthandayo’, ‘Ndibhala Intando Yam’ and ‘Ndibhala Okusenyongweni’. I can’t tell you the amount of time it took to settle on the final version,” Nkosinathi said.

Simphiwe Sesanti, according to Nkosinathi, had to ensure that the political language of Black Consciousness did not get lost in the process of attaining linguistic accuracy. The other editor of the book, Dr Athambile Masola, had to ensure that the translation would also appeal to, and be easy to read, for young people.

Masola is a writer, poet and a lecturer in the Historical Studies Department at the University of Cape Town. She used a similar language register that Biko used when he was writing in English. “I had to imagine how he spoke isiXhosa from watching an interview he did, which is on YouTube. His English rhythm gave me clues on how he sounded like when he was speaking isiXhosa,” wrote Masola as part of the foreword.

“The book was delayed by the fact that I am a firm believer that if you do something that involves Xhamela [Biko’s clan name], you must do it right or not do it at all,” Nkosinathi said.

IsiXhosa and the political language of BC

Responding to a question about whether isiXhosa has the tools to explain the political language of Black Consciousness, Sesanti said that Biko made it clear. “Biko said that when you speak English or any other white language you do feel that it does not represent you or your views. That tells us that Biko thought and dreamt in isiXhosa and that, by extension, meant that he thought about Black Consciousness in isiXhosa,” he said.

When Biko said that the best gift that black people can give to the world and South Africa is a human face, he was invoking African philosophy and humanity, according to Sesanti. “The oppressors knew the importance of culture and knowing one’s roots, and that is why Cabral said that when Goebbels, the brain behind Nazi propaganda, heard culture being discussed, he brought out his revolver,” he argued.

His views on the importance of culture were echoed by Nkosinathi who referred as evidence to the Israeli army’s destruction in Palestine of museums and schools.

Biko on fear and death

Following the panel discussion, a member of the audience spoke about fear, especially the fear of repercussions for taking a stand against injustices. In response, Nkosinathi said that his father lived what he believed. “I recently got a call from an American professor who said that in a conversation in his political group, the majority agreed that Biko did not write the last chapter because of how accurately it foretold his death. He said some people were saying that no way he could have a perspective on death and then die exactly the way he predicted. I said he wrote it based on what was happening to him,” he said.

Nkosinathi shared a story of how his father once knocked out a big Afrikaner cop from King William’s Town police who assaulted him during an interrogation. The police officer slapped his father first and his father had to retaliate to stop the assault. “It was the last time they assaulted him. He was feared by cops in King William’s Town. The Port Elizabeth cops who caught him knew that he was feared by cops in King Williams Town,” said Nkosinathi.

During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, former security policemen detailed how they beat Biko after a scuffle broke out. According to Gideon Nieuwoudt, Biko sustained head injuries, was chained to a gate for nearly a day, and later transported naked in the back of a Land Rover to Pretoria, where he died.

Steve Biko would have turned 80 years old this year.