I’m a “Determined Woman”

By Duduzile Mabona

I’m a determined Woman, A mother, a sister, a Comrade.

A community activist.

I’m a determined Woman, Whose strength is elevated By Divine Powers.

I’m a determined Woman, Who stood the cruelty of Apartheid racial discrimination Perpetuated by colonial

Powers.

A Woman who walked the Dusty streets of Soweto, my Mother-land – South Africa.

A woman who sucked knowledge

From the discriminatory “Bantu Education,” Specially designed for Blacks only.

I’m a determined Woman, Who had a dream, who Had hoped

That one day, blacks in

South Africa

Would be free.

That one day all people in

South Africa

Would live in a pollution-free

Environment, and be

Equally treated with dignity.

I’m a determined Woman, Whose dream is to fight

For the voiceless, the betrayed, The disillusioned,

The divided,

And the discouraged.

I’m a determined Woman Who believes in raising, Empowering,

And inspiring

The ordinary.

The ordinary who are in the majority. The ordinary who have the power. But whose power is

Silenced by Imprisonment, teargases Brutal killing by guns.

Whose Power is silenced by Neoliberal economic policies Imposed by the Unholy Trio

The World Bank, IMF and WTO. Whose power is crippled by Privatisation.

I’m a determined Woman Whose courage and potential Shall not be silenced by Electricity and water cut-offs, Evictions, unemployment,

Retrenchments, dumping sites in our communities, And pollution-trading.

I’m a determined Woman, Whose courage will not be

Destroyed by structural adjustment programmes. I’m a determined Woman,

Whose strength is renewed

By Divine Powers.

Whose strength is renewed By challenges, to stand by The ordinary.

To organise, mobilise and Arm them with knowledge. To challenge the unjust, Inhuman policies

And to hope that

Another world is possible. I’m a determined Woman