Lazarus Sauti new kid on the block

Tanaka Chidora Literature Today

“Nhai mbuya, sei mvura inopisa ichidzima moto?” (Grandma, why does hot water put out a fire?). This is the first line in Gonzo H. Musengezi’s ‘Zvairwadza Vasara’.

If I were the grandmother of this little kid, I would have fumbled for an answer. Answers to such questions, when asked by kids, do not come easily. Life is like that. Life is a question and many of the answers we find are not final.

Many times the answers we find breed more questions. Yet, such questions usually help us find out who we are, what defines us and what makes the world around us move forward.

Enter Lazarus Sauti with “Nei?

The translated version would obviously be “Why?” (sometimes it can be translated to “With what?” but such a translation is out of question here).

“Nei?” is a collection of short stories and poems that seem to be probing for answers. This can only be achieved through more inquisitiveness, sometimes with the result that question and answer become intertwined.

Why do people cheat?

Why do people fake miracles?

Why do people lie?

Why are people corrupt?

Why are they not arrested?

Why? Why? All these are questions that Sauti addresses in “Nei?”

But the answers do not come easily.

They actually require more questions.

In fact, if looked at more closely, Sauti does not provide answers at all.

Many of his short stories, for example, catch characters at particular points in their lives.

He catches them in various forms of dilemmas: should I take this bribe or not?

Why didn’t I listen to the advice of the pastor concerning that woman/man I was dating?

All these things that are happening to me, could they be fruits of the evils I have committed in the past?

All these questions are what this collection is all about.

For instance, in the short story, “Zvanikowo”, the character muses, “Ndakauna sehuku iri kunaiwa kuri kunyara. Zambia nedhuku ndezvekuba. Apa mari yapera pasina zvaitwa. Asi ndomubairo wangu wekumhanyira kumedza? Asi ndomugove wangu wekurasa tsika dzandakadzidziswa nekutambidzwa nambuya vangu VaMarujata? Asi ndomubairo wangu wekuchiva? Asi ndomubairo wangu wekusaterera?”

It is no coincidence that the questions that the narrator asks come at the end of the short story. In fact, the short story ends with questions. The reason is that “Nei?” is a collection of questions. Life is a question. There are no conclusive answers to these questions. The flipside of it all is that the questions are the answers. The short stories in this collection are sketches.

The writer catches characters at a particular point in their lives, walks with them briefly and leaves them to continue with their lives. For instance, in the short story, “Misungo”, the writer gives us an insight into a few minutes of Cleopas’s life.

In those few minutes, we learn that Cleopas is a civil servant whose meagre salary cannot deal with the plethora of issues that a married man with a nagging landlord faces. Cleopas has an unemployed wife who tries to make ends meet by selling stuff on the streets of Harare, and two children who are at school.

In that snapshot, we also discover that Cleopas is still trying to find a place that he calls his own, and that he has never put his hands on the steering wheel of an ex-Jap, especially a Toyota Runx.

We also learn that the things that he tries to achieve in his life will probably remain unattainable dreams especially on his current salary, and his wife’s Sisyphean attempts to hustle on the streets that are populated by council police officers who are after vendors.

We also learn, in that snapshot, that Cleopas has a conscience that he tries so hard to keep alive by populating the walls of his office with catchy axioms against corruption, and also by listening to songs that speak against corruption.

He has even customised his ringtone to constantly remind him of the evils of corruption. But we also learn that regardless of these constant reminders, life gets the better of Cleopas’s principles.

And of course, there is a ready land baron to catalyse Cleopas’s transition to the other side. Life!

Speaking of corruption, the poem “Kakonye” is a polemic against the evils of the human heart.

What sort of heart allows one person to eat on behalf of the rest?

What sort of heart allows such demonic impulses to convert a human being into Satan’s big brother?

How can man sink to such deplorable levels of eating and eating and eating segonye?

So the poet calls us to look at ourselves and introspect: “Kuti ingava hurumende here?/ Iyo hurumende yacho ichitokatyawo?/Vakuru vezvikoro nezvitendero here?/Ndivana muzvinabhizinisi here?/Ndiwe here?/Ndini here?/Pafunge!”

What I like about this collection is how the poems and short stories therein speak to our lives as Zimbabweans – the things we go through, the hopes, fears, tears and laughter. It speaks of our search for miracles, our search for the elusive cash, our search for elusive answers and our search for meaning. Why did this happen to me? Why did this happen to us? There is a poem that is even relevant to our current yearning for rain!

I also like the way Sauti uses Shona. He reminds me of Tinashe Muchuri. Although he is yet to acquire Muchuri’s levels, I feel that he is moving in the right direction. ‘Nei?’ is a great read. It is Sauti’s debut project and my feeling is that he has started well.

My advice is that Sauti needs to take his poems and short stories to another level. The key word there is ‘understudy’. What is it that other short story writers and poets have done? What is it that I can bring? This calls for more experimentation and imagination. I am sure Sauti has the pedigree to become a great writer, to take the art of story narration and poetry to another level. He needs to expand his repertoire of skills and styles to include that which has not been tried before.

With “Nei?”, Sauti has shown us that the potential is there and I am placing my bet on him to contribute immensely to what we have come to regard as Zimbabwean literature.

(c) The Herald, 05 February 2017.