Zambezia (1995), XXII (ii).URBAN CHARACTERS: CHARACTER DEPICTION ANDPERCEPTION BY SOME VHAVENDA AUTHORSM. J. MAFELADepartment of African Languages, University of South AfricaAbstractUrban and rural characters are perceived differently by some Vhavendaauthors. This article examines the perception of urban characters expressedin three novels by three different authors, I. P. Demana, E. S. Madima andE.T. Maumela. These authors present common stereotypes of urban charactersas untrustworthy, scheming and dishonest, and contemptuous of those withrural backgrounds. Rural characters are presented as naive and foolish intheir dealings with urban characters. People who move from the rural areasto urban settings as migrants are depicted as dropping the moral values oftheir rural settings.THE PURPOSE OF this article is to show how some Vhavenda authors perceiveurban characters. There are very few narratives in Tshivenda which portrayurban characters in their development of themes. This is due to the factthat almost all authors writing in Tshivenda so far have been living in ruralareas and lack experience of urban life. A brief overview of the depiction ofcharacters by I. P. Demana, E. S. Madima and E. T. Maumela is providedand thereafter an evaluation of how these authors perceive urbancharacters is presented.In this article, 'characters' imply imaginary persons who perform theactions that constitute plot in a literary work. They act as a vehiclethrough which the message is passed over to the receiver. Characters aretherefore essential in the development of plot and theme.One of the issues raised in this article is the uncritical acceptance ofrural stereotypes of urban characters. Authors cannot totally avoid usingpopular stereotypes because this is influenced by the period in which theliterary work is written. On incorporating a popular stereotype, a creativeauthor should challenge it and try to recreate it into a convincing individual.Characters' actions are influenced by setting. The same character willact differently in different settings. Characters in urban areas would actdifferently from those found in rural areas, because in urban areas largenumbers of people are concentrated in relatively small areas, which arecharacterised by the modern life, whereas in the rural areas, there is a lowratio of inhabitants to open land; rural people adhere to farming as a wayof life and are still guided by tradition.165166 URBAN CHARACTERSBy 'urban characters' in this article is meant those characters whoreside in urban areas. Urban settings can be divided into two types in thisregard. One type is the urban setting which has recently developed inrural areas as a result of the establishment of homelands for differentethnic groups. These urban settings are greatly influenced by rural life.Characters in these settings fall outside the scope of this article becausethey are still influenced by the traditional life. The second type is theurban setting which has long been established and is little influenced byrural settings. Here we can refer to urban settings such as Pretoria,Johannesburg and Vereeniging. These settings, and characters influencedby them, will form the focus of this article.It is possible further to sub-divide the characters found in urbansettings into those who are permanent residents of these areas and are inno way influenced by rural life, and those who, because of apartheidpolicies or for economic reasons, were not permanent in these areas. Thelatter group, being mainly migrant workers, are often housed in hostels.Their permanent residence is in the rural areas and they only come to theurban areas to work. As a result, these characters feel the influence ofrural traditions. Both types of characters will be considered in this articlebecause they are residents of this type of urban setting.Modern literature in Tshivenda began in the mid-1950s with thepublication of Elelwani (1954) and A Si Ene (1956). The first authors ofmodern literature among Vhavenda wrote on different themes whichreflected the people with whom they stayed, almost always in rural areas.Only Madima, in his A Si Ene and Masekela, in his Nungo Dzi Mulomoni,mixed the rural setting and the urban setting at the time. This is the casebecause in these two narratives events take place both in urban and ruralareas. A few more recent narratives that portray urban characters inTshivenda are Thonga A I Pfi Ndo Tou Doba (1980) by I. P. Demana,Philiphise A Si Tshilonda (1983) by E. T. Maumela, Zwi Do Fhela Ngani(1983) by N. G. Magwabeni, Gundo (1988) by N. G. Magwabeni, Mitsheto YaWa (1984) by A. W. Magau, and some short stories in volumes such asZwiitavhathu (1965) by T. N. Maumela, and A Zwi Faneli (1971) by T. N.Makuya. In this article, only A Si Ene, Thonga AI Pfi Ndo Tou Doba, andPhiliphise A Si Tshilonda will be analysed.Some authors, like Maumela, in his Zwa Mulovha Zwi A Fhela, tried tobring out their themes by using both the rural and the urban settings, butwere not successful in this regard because they failed to show urbancharacters in action. Malilele, one of the main characters in this narrative,is depicted as a migrant worker. He spends most of his time in urban areasand only comes to Venda when he is on leave or during the holidays.While reading this narrative, one would like to see him in action,communicating with other characters in Johannesburg. However, theM. J. MAFELA 167author indicates only that he has left for Johannesburg or is back fromJohannesburg. Another character in this narrative whose contact withurban life has helped to develop the theme is Malilele's second wife,Mukumela. Before Mukumela goes to Johannesburg with Malilele, she isportrayed as a Muvenda woman who respects Tshivenda custom. Sheused to respect Malilele's first wife who was also responsible for hermarriage to Malilele. She stayed for more than two years in Johannesburg.On coming back from urban areas, she did not want to share her husbandwith the first wife. This change in attitude demonstrates the influence ofurban life on her. Readers assume that she had been influenced by othercharacters in urban areas, but the author does not depict her associationwith other characters in urban areas at all. Readers can only make thisdeduction from her actions back in the rural areas. Thus, although theauthor refers to the urban setting in passing, he has not truly depictedcharacters in their urban setting.CHARACTER DEPICTION IN THE SELECTED NARRATIVESBoth Madima and Demana, in their narratives, A Si Ene and Thonga A IPfiNdo Ton Doba, mixed the urban and rural settings to develop a plot, actionand themes. However, in Philiphise A Si Tshilonda, most actions take placein a rural setting, but with urban characters involved. There is very littlereference to the urban setting in this narrative.A Si Ene, in contrast, is the first novel of its kind to include both therural and urban settings to develop theme in Tshivenda literature. Inorder to show how the author achieves this, a brief discussion of thestoryline of the narrative will follow.The storyline in A Si Ene is based on Adziambei, Maluta, andMuhanelwa. The story commences in the rural areas when Maluta is aboutto marry Muhanelwa. Muhanelwa, who is reluctant to marry, employssome delaying tactics. As a result, Adziambei elopes with Maluta toHammanskraal where Maluta stays as a migrant worker. After a short stayin Hammanskraal, Adziambei is taken by Fanyana to stay in Benoni. Malutaasks his wife Muhanelwa to pay him a visit in Germiston. However, Malutais re-united with Adziambei before Muhanelwa arrives in Germiston. WhenMuhanelwa arrives, Maluta hires thugs to kill her. Instead of killing her,the thugs give her money to go back to Venda. Maluta goes insane andAdziambei sends him back home. Maluta dies of shock at a bus stop afterseeing his wife, Muhanelwa.Adziambei and Maluta are rural characters in nature but happen to bein an urban area because Maluta is a migrant worker. Madima presentsurban characters as untrustworthy. This is achieved through Fanyana'sactions, who is Maluta's friend. Maluta and Fanyana work for the same168 URBAN CHARACTERScompany in Germiston. After finding out that Maluta has a beautiful woman,Fanyana comes up with a plan to win her. Adziambei, Maluta's girlfriend,stays at Hammanskraal while Maluta works in Germiston. Maluta visits hisgirlfriend on weekends and during holidays. One day during the week,Fanyana goes to Hammanskraal and tells Adziambei that he has been sentby Maluta to fetch her so that he (Maluta) can buy her some new clothes.Adziambei goes off to Benoni with Fanyana and is not heard of by Malutafor a long time.The urban atmosphere changes Maluta's view of life. He is not afraidof killing a person for convenience. This is not according to Tshivendacustom and tradition in which Maluta was born and brought up. Vhavendapeople have a high respect for human life. In urban areas, Maluta actscontrary to his custom and tradition. On re-uniting with Adziambei, hedecides to kill his legitimate wife, Muhanelwa, whom he had asked to visithim, because she disturbs their love affair. Fortunately, the thugs he hiredgive her money to take the train home. According to the African traditionalvalues, Maluta should have stayed with both Adziambei and Muhanelwa,or else he should have sent Muhanelwa back home.Like Maluta, a reader can assume that Adziambei changes her view oflife because of the influence of the urban setting. She does not respectTshivenda traditional values when she is in urban areas. She hires aperson to kill Fanyana. In sending Maluta home by train while he is very ill,she does not act like a Muvenda rural woman. She should have accompaniedhim home if she really loved him. Mathivha (1972,195) says of Adziambei'scharacterThis aspect of her character shows that she has really changed from the conductthat she had in Vendaland and has really become an urban girl who is as cruel as asnake that does nothing but kill although it will not eat the animal.As in A Si Ene, Thonga AlPfi Ndo Tou Doba uses both the rural and theurban settings to develop its theme. In this narrative, Magelegele is marriedto Laedzani and they stay in the rural areas of Venda together with theirson, Thambatshira. Magelegele works in Johannesburg as a migrant worker.Like other migrant workers, he stays in a hostel. He becomes infatuatedwith Grace, a Tswana woman who is a widow and who owns a house inMeadowlands Township. She asks Magelegele to move in with her.Magelegele does so, forgets his family in Venda and helps bring up Grace'schildren. He accuses his wife in Venda of witchcraft. When Magelegele isretired, Grace and her children send him back to Venda. In Venda, he askshis son, Tshambatshira, who is a school principal, to forgive him andaccept him back. Unfortunately, Magelegele dies in hospital before he cango and stay with his own child.M. J. MAFELA 169Grace is a permanent resident of Meadowlands Township becauseshe owns a house. She is portrayed as a crook, an exploiter and anunfaithful woman. She seduces Magelegele who works in the same factoryas herself because she wants him to help her bring up her children. Herconversation with Phineas, her lover, illustrates this point very clearly.Munna hoyu ndo vha tshi shuma nae u swika nwedzi wo fhelaho ndi tshi Ittshamushumo. Nge nda vhona vhusiwana hovhu ho nndungamaho ndo do ita uri ndidzule nae a nnyalusele vhana na u vha dzhenisa tshikolo u nga ni tshi khou zwivhona uri zwo vha zwi tshi do nkondela (Demana, 1980, 20).I was working with this man until last month when 1 left work. After realising mypoverty, I decided to stay with him so that he would help me bring up thesechildren as you can also see that it would be difficult for me to bring them up.Grace cares for Magelegele tenderly, which his legitimate wife hadnever done. She cooks him nice food and buys him beer. Rural Vhavendaare used to eating maize-porridge with vegetables or some kind of meat.When they come across delicious food, they are impressed. This wascertainly true in Magelegele's case. In return for this, Magelegele buys hereverything she wants and pays for her children's school fees. He despiseshis own child when Thambatshira pays him a visit in Johannesburg. Hedoes not acknowledge him as his own son. However, when Magelegele ispensioned, Grace evicts him and buys him a train ticket to Venda. Thisreveals the exploitation she has practised on him throughout. This type oflife as Vorster et al. put it, reveals the confrontation of the rural tradition-oriented indigenous inhabitants with Western technology and theconcomitant process of urbanisation (p. 189).Grace is in love with another man while staying with Magelegele ashusband and wife. She does not even see Magelegele as a problem in herlove affair with Phineas. When Phineas pays them a visit, she tellsMagelegele that Phineas is her brother. Initially, Phineas is told thatMagelegele is a Muvenda man who is a lodger in the house. This suggeststhat Grace looks down upon Magelegele in particular, and rural people ingeneral, because she does not admit that she and Magelegele are stayingtogether as husband and wife.Grace and Phineas rob Magelegele of his money. Phineas, pretendingto be Grace's brother, demands bride-price from Magelegele. Magelegelepays part of the money and promises to pay the balance at a later stage.Magelegele opens a bank account in Grace's name. When Grace evicts himafter he has retired, she gives him no money to take home, except for thetrain fare. Kgopelo, like his mother, Grace, changes his attitude towards170 URBAN CHARACTERSMagelegele when he is a grown up man. He no longer shows respect forMagelegele, the person who tried to please him while he was still atschool. He orders his mother to evict Magelegele. He even organises hisfriends to murder Magelegele, but fortunately the plot falls through. Athome, Kgopelo slaps Magelegele for arguing with Grace, Kgopelo'smother.Magelegele on the other hand, is not a permanent resident ofJohannesburg. He would like to be a permanent resident of Johannesburg,but the Act passed by the government of the day stipulated that Africanrural people should be in urban areas for work purposes only. Theirfamilies should remain in the rural areas. When their contracts expire,they were bound to go back to the rural areas to renew them. Moreover,they were not allowed to move about in the White suburbs. If they werefound moving in prohibited areas, they were arrested and escorted backto the rural areas. Magelegele is used to staying in a hostel where othermigrant workers stay. He is not used to urban life. When he gets to Grace'shouse, he is surprised to see a Black woman owning such a beautiful, four-roomed house, with beautiful sofas, chairs and pictures on the wall. As arural man, he belongs to a peasant class, whose homes are withoutsophisticated household goods. This suggests to us that prior to meetingGrace, Magelegele had little experience of urban life outside the hostels.While Magelegele is in an urban area, he does not behave as a Muvendaman. A Muvenda man, as head of the family, is not supposed to be dictatedto by the wife. According to Tshivenda traditional custom, a man does notelope with a woman to her residence, but the woman should stay at theman's homestead. Had these events occurred in the rural areas of Venda,Magelegele would have taken Grace with all her children to his homesteadas his second wife. However, in the urban areas, he acts contrary to this,perhaps forced by economic and social conditions. His perception ofurban life has changed his view on the position of a man. Furthermore, inorder to be accepted by Grace, he changes his language of communication.He speaks Tswana, Grace's mother tongue. According to traditionalTshivenda values, if a woman of another language marries a man, thewoman must learn the language of the man. In reality, if rural people,especially Vhavenda and Vatsonga, happen to be in an urban area, theyfeel inferior speaking their own languages. On the other hand, urbanpeople suffer from superiority complex in this regard. They will neverlearn a language such as Tshivenda which they consider inferior.Magelegele is portrayed as a fool. He pays bride-price to Phineaswithout first verifying whether Phineas is Grace's brother. Even if Phineashad been her real brother, Magelegele could not pay bride-price on meetinghim for the first time. Had he followed the Tshivenda custom, Grace's andMagelegele's families should have made all the necessary arrangements inM. J. MAFELA 171this regard. There should have been a messenger to conduct all theformalities.Unlike the two novels discussed above, the setting in Philiphise A SiTshilonda is in a rural area, with urban characters involved in thedevelopment of theme. Urban characters in consideration are Zodwa andThemba.The line of action in Philiphise A Si Tshilonda commences withMukandangalwo proposing love to Tibani. Tibani accepts the proposaland falls pregnant before she gets married to Mukandangalwo. All formalarrangements to marry Tibani are made by Mukandangalwo's parentsafter the birth of the child. Tibani becomes ill and Mukandangalwo takesher to Rishile Hospital. She is admitted and stays at the hospital for anumber of days. Mukandangalwo falls in love with Zodwa, a nurse at thehospital, who befriends Tibani, a patient. Zodwa's home is in Vereeniging.Mukandangalwo leaves Tibani for Zodwa. He pays a bride-price for Zodwaand marries her. Themba, who claims to be Zodwa's brother, paysMukandangalwo's family a visit. He stays at Mukandangalwo's place for anumber of days. Before he goes back to Vereeniging, he arranges withZodwa to come back to rob Mukandangalwo. On the day of the robbery,his plan is foiled by the police, who kill him before he takesMukandangalwo's property.Zodwa is not a faithful woman because she pretends to be in love withMukandangalwo, whereas all she wants is his money. Zodwa and Thembaorganise to rob Mukandangalwo of the wealth which he inherited from hislate father. At first, Mukandangalwo is made to pay bride-price to Themba.Mukandangalwo, accompanied by his friend, Mukhwandala, goes toVereeniging to pay Rl 200 in bride-price for Zodwa who is on leave at thetime. He does not use mediators to arrange his marriage to Zodwa asexpected by the Tshivenda culture. Zodwa is released by Themba to gowith Mukandangalwo to Venda. However, this is a joint strategy devisedby the two to rob Mukandangalwo of his property. Mukandangalwo ownsa big 12-roomed house, a retail store and a milling plant. Zodwa's stay withMukandangalwo is to oversee his movements. When Themba pays them avisit, Zodwa shows that she does not love Mukandangalwo when she says:Lushaka holwu ndi Iwa madanana fhedzi 'darling'. Ndi nnyi ane a nga malwa ngamadithu a no la vhathu? Na uri 'love' ndi mini ha vhuyi a zwi divha. Tshao ndi uviana a tshilana. Tsheledeyone anayo. Zwinoariui vhulunga rine vhotalingwanera da ra dzhia ngauri ri na mushumo nayo. Ri a ftmela khole zwenezwo. Hafhu ropulana (Maumela, 1983, 36-37).This nation is characterised by fools, darling. Who can marry monsters who eatpeople? They do not even know what love is. Theirs is ritual murder and eatingeach other. However, they have plenty of money. When they save it, we clever172 URBAN CHARACTERSpeople come and take it because we have use for it. We pretend to love them as aresult. Indeed, we have planned.From this passage, one assumes that Zodwa and Themba are lovers.Rural characters in the passage are not shown as people, but animals. Nonormal person can eat another person. It is only animals which can eatother animals. Zodwa and Themba are at Mukandangalwo's place to robhim. After a short stay at Mukandangalwo's house, Themba goes back toVereeniging. He organises a truck to come and fetch Mukandangalwo'sproperty. On the day of the robbery, Maradzhe, Mukandangalwo's halfbrother, foils it by informing the police. However, Mukandangalwo isbeaten by Themba and his friend before Themba is killed by the police.Zodwa kicks Mukandangalwo and says:Vhavenda ni tou vha madonngi ni a divha. Ni humbula uri muthu a no nga sa nne anga malwa nga madithu a no la vhathu? Wanga munna we ra saina rothe arali u samu divhi ndi onoyu ane iwe wa ri ndi sivhara tshau. Phuphula iyi! A u koni udielekanyela. Rine ri khou toda masheleni hayo e wa dadza sefo na thundu ra bva rafhela (Maumela, 1983, 44).Vhavenda people are donkeys, you know. Do you think a person like me can marrymonsters who eat people? My own husband whom I sworn with, if you do not knowhim, is this very one you say is your brother-in-law. You stupid! You cannot thinkfor yourself. As for us, we want your money of which there is plenty in the safe andfurniture, and go away.Zodwa is a cheat. She is not a nurse by profession. She took her latetwin sister's nursing certificate and used it to get employment at thehospital.EVALUATIONThe authors of these three narratives see urban characters, both womenand men, as unfaithful. Urban female characters such as Grace in ThongaAIPfi Ndo Tou Doba and Zodwa in Philiphise A Si Tshilonda, are not faithfulto their 'husbands'. They marry rural men to get money from them.Fanyana in A Si Ene is unfaithful to his friend Maluta because he stealsMaluta's girlfriend and is never seen again. Whereas Demana and Maumelaportray only permanent urban characters as unfaithful, in Madima's view,it does not matter whether the character is a permanent resident of urbanareas or a migrant worker. Maluta, who is a migrant worker, is not faithfulto his legitimate wife, Muhanelwa.Urban characters are considered to be exploiters by Demana andMaumela. They go to the extent of using a person to achieve their owngoals. This is attested by the actions of Grace and Zodwa who robM. J. MAFELA 173Magelegele and Mukandangalwo respectively of their monies on thepretence that they love them. All authors portray urban characters ascheats, who can easily extort money from a person by telling lies. BothGrace and Zodwa made Magelegele and Mukandangalwo pay bride-priceto Phineas and Themba respectively, on the pretence that they were theirbrothers. While Demana and Maumela portray rural characters in urbanareas as fools who cannot think for themselves, Madima does not see anydifference between permanent urban residence and migrant workers inurban areas.Urban characters are presented as despising ethnic groups such asVhavenda and Vatsonga. Magelegele learns to speak Setswana so as to beaccepted by Grace and her children. Grace never learns to speak Tshivendawhile staying with Magelegele as his wife. Zodwa, on the other hand,considers Vhavenda as people who are unable to think for themselves,and associates them with animals.All three authors associate people, both male and female, with murder.Themba and Zodwa want to kill Mukandangalwo in Philiphise A Si Tshilonda,Kgopelo wants to kill Magelegele in Thonga A I Pfi Ndo Tou Doba, Malutawants to kill Muhanelwa and Adziambei hires a person to kill Fanyana in ASi Ene. Murder and thuggery are perceived as part of urban life.In A Si Ene, urban characters of all ethnic groups, Vhavenda included,are perceived negatively. However, in Thonga A I Pfi Ndo Tou Doba andPhiliphise A Si Tshilonda, only ethnic groups which are not Vhavenda areperceived negatively. Demana perceives Basotho urban charactersnegatively, especially female characters when it comes to the treatment ofrural men, while Maumela perceives the Nguni urban characters negatively,that is, both male and female.A more important point is that the authors depict urban Blacksaccording to a naive stereotype, which suggests that the authors havelittle personal contact with these urban people. The assumption of thenarratives appears to be that life lived according to traditional ideals isgood and any variation from it leads to a breakdown of morals. Because ofthe influence of their rural setting, the authors do not show any sign ofidentifying themselves with urban people. The authors further show noawareness of serious attempts to adapt to new economic and socialconditions that towns demand.Urban characters have been depicted negatively to protect andenhance African traditional values, suggesting the authors' love fortraditional culture. Characters in cities are presented as having lost touchwith tradition. Authors ignore the realities about the economic and socialconditions that towns demand. Nevertheless, the authors have a morallesson to their readers. Urban people are told to treat rural people withrespect. On the other hand, rural people are taught to change their attitude174 URBAN CHARACTERStowards urban life. They should be liberated from the hold of ruraltraditional life and refrain from being dominated by urban people. The badeconomic conditions had a hand in the depiction of both the towns-folkand country-folk in urban areas. Characters acted cruelly or foolishly inattempting to adapt to new economic and residential conditions thattowns demand. Life in town is expensive when compared to rural life.When urban characters try to adapt their living conditions accordingly,they are accused of violating moral values.Finally, the authors did not make use of urban Whites in thedevelopment of plots and themes in their narratives. The absence of thesecharacters reveal the time in which the narratives were written whenurban Whites did not stay in the same residential areas as urban Blacks.One would expect to see urban Blacks intermingling with urban Whites inthe work place, shopping centres and other environments in theprogression of plot of the narratives. Although Demana and Madima wroteextensively on characters in urban settings, they never touched thispopulation group. Malilele and Grace in Thonga AlPfi Ndo Tou Doba workwith Whites, as do Maluta and Fanyana in A Si Ene. Maumela wrote verylittle on an urban setting and never touched the White population group inthe development of his theme. It could be assumed that these authors didnot have enough experience of urban life and settings.CONCLUSIONBy protecting and enhancing African traditional values, authors simplysatisfied popular stereotypes by presenting foolish country-folk and wickedtowns-folk, diminishing the interest and literary value of the narrative.Since Tshivenda literature is still young, one can hope that these storiesare just a beginning from which more sophisticated art will develop.RefereacesDAVIS, J. K., BROUGHTON, P. R., AND WOOD, M. (1977) Literature (Glenview,Scott, Foresman and Co.).DEMANA, I. P. (1980) Thonga A I Pfi Ndo Tou Doba (Pretoria, J. L. vanSchaik).MADIMA, E. S. (1984) A Si Ene (King William's Town, Educum Publishers).MAKGAMATHA, P. M. (1990) 'The Nature of Prose Narrative in NorthernSotho: From Orality to Literacy' (Pretoria, Unisa, D. Litt.).MASEKELA, P. S. M. (1984) Nungo dzi Mulomoni (Johannesburg, Educum,2nd edition).MATHIVHA, M. E. R. (1972) 'A Survey of the Literary Achievements in Venda'(Turfloop, University of the North, D. Litt.).MAUMELA, E. T. (1983) Philiphise A Si Tshilonda (Pretoria, J. L. van Schaik).M. J. MAFELA 175Š (1973) Zwa Mulovha Zwi A Fhela (Pretoria, J. L. van Schaik).Š (1976) Elelwani (Pretoria, J. L. van Schaik, 2nd edition).SCHOLES, R. (1966) Approaches to the Novel (San Francisco, ChandlerPublishing Co.).VORSTER, D. J. M., STEYN, D. W., AND HALL, S. K. P. (nd) Study of CertainPsychological Characteristics of a Sample of Adult Venda Males in CulturalTransition (Johannesburg, National Institute of Personnel Research,Council for Scientific and Industrial Research).