Mother to Mother: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Mandisa explains that there is some knowledge she’s had with her for her entire life. She was either born with it, or learned it very young. Her parents often complained about their white bosses, and often drove home the idea that “white people stole our land.”

Mandisa learned the history of this phrase when Tatomkhulu, her grandfather, came to visit. After hearing what she’d been learning at school, he decided to help reeducate her. First, he explains the origins of the names Cape of Storm and Cape of Good Hope, which are both names for the Cape Town. Europeans named it Cape of Storms because the rough sea destroyed ships, but when they decided to settle there, the land became a hopeful place, hence the Cape of Good Hope.

Another day, Tatomkhulu tells Mandisa the story of Nongqawuse. Mandisa learned in school that she was “a false prophet who told people to kill all their cattle” with the promise of new cattle; the people did as she said, “because they were superstitious and ignorant.” Upset, Tatomkhulu tells Mandisa the real story.

Tatomkhulu explains the people were not “superstitious and ignorant”; instead, they had a deep hatred for the white people who had invaded their homeland. “No sacrifice [was] too great, to wash away the curse” of the settlers, and since then people have only become more hateful.

Tatomkhulu continues, underscoring the love that the UmXhosa people had for their cattle, and how great their hatred would have to be to kill their livelihood. Cattle provide meat, milk, and fertilizer, and they also act as currency to be traded as dowries, or payments. However, resentment was so deep, in the 1850s people felt they had no other choice. People killed their cows and burned their fields, but three days later, when Nongqawuse promised a storm would come to replace their cattle and sweep the white settlers away, nothing happened. Instead, the UmXhosa people, now starving, were forced to work in white-owned mines and sell their lands to be able to eat.

Tatomkhulu explains that songs like “Hayi, ilishwa! Amabhulu, azizinja! One settler, one bullet! By the match stick, we shall free our nation!” came later, but for centuries prophets like Nongqawuse have been calling for violent or divine ways to save their nation from white settlers. Through these stories, Tatomkhulu explains how, “what had seemed stupid decisions, and acts that had seemed indefensible became not only understandable but highly honorable.”

Back in the present, Mandisa wakes up in the afternoon from a long nap. Siziwe is already awake, and tells Mandisa that Mxolisi still hasn’t returned. She reports that boys came by in a car to talk to Lunga. This disturbs Mandisa, as no one in her family knows anyone with a car, and no one in her neighborhood owns a car. Siziwe overheard some of Lunga’s conversation with the boys, and tells her mother she thinks Mxolisi had something to do with the Girl who was murdered.

Mandisa forces herself to eat with Siziwe, but is interrupted by the sound of a car outside—a surprising sound in Guguletu. A man exits and knocks on the door. Mandisa invites the man in, who introduces himself as Reverend Mananga. He tells her to pass on a message to Mxolisi, that he’s found a meeting place for him. However, as he speaks, he writes a note, which he hands to Mandisa as he leaves. It tells her to take a taxi to Khayelitsha, and get off at the last stop. Mandisa immediately prepares to go. She assumes the Reverend is leading her to her son.

Mandisa boards a taxi towards Khayelitsha. A woman sits next to her, and gives her a note, telling Mandisa to get off the taxi one stop after the woman. Mandisa follows this instruction. At the taxi stop, Reverend Mananga pulls up in his car, and tells her to wait for a woman driving a red car. This woman arrives, and invites Mandisa into her car. She drives Mandisa to a safe house, where a woman ushers her inside. Mandisa waits alone in a room for half an hour, until Mxolisi enters the room. They look at each other for a moment, and then begin to hug and cry.

Mxolisi tells Mandisa he’s being blamed for the murder of the Girl. He insists he was “just one of a hundred people who threw stones at the car.” Mandisa questions him, as she knows the Girl died from knife wounds. Mxolisi retorts, “many people stabbed her.” Mandisa wants to know if her son stabbed the Girl; he refuses to answer at first, and then insists he didn’t, sobbing. Mandisa holds her son in his arms as he cries, eventually asking him again, why people are blaming him if he is not guilty.

Mxolisi continues to insist he was not the only one present at the Girl’s murder. Mandisa becomes increasingly upset, asking him if he understands that the Girl is dead forever. Mandisa is terrified for her son and for herself. She understands Mxolisi will be arrested and charged with murder. She calls Mxolisi a fool, explaining that his “knife has her blood, it doesn’t matter if you stabbed her in the thumb.”

Mandisa wonders, “who was consoling whom?” Both she and Mxolisi cry and comfort one other. Eventually, they pull apart, and Mandisa can see “pain and terror” in her son’s eyes.