These were names that were honored
these were men and women who were honored
Bram Fischer, Ruth First, Joe Slovo, O.R. Tambo, Govan Mbeki, Nelson Mandela
in the townships, informal settlements, ghettos, slums, shanties, shacks
that bear the names of honorable men and women
amid the wailing of hungry pot-bellied malnourished infants
and the tears of widows in RDP lean-tos
where raindrops drip constantly down
(not in opulent mansions of ANC fatcats
in Nelson Mandela Metropole and environs)
you will hear impassioned curses against
these “unutterable betrayals”
and menacing rumbles of anger
that presage coming violent revolts