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Mr Samuel Tshabangu (with some of his grandsons) is seen here standing next to the pathway.

Drunkards urinate on my vegetable garden

 

A 76-year-old pensioner, Mr Samuel Tshabangu, sighed with relief after the local traditional leader solved his problem on Sunday.

Tshabangu had a serious problem with drunks who urinated on his garden, spoiling his precious butternuts, mealies, pumpkins, watermelons and some indigenous vegetables that he had planted in his yard. A thin pathway  runs between his home and his external orchard, and villagers use this path regularly.

“I am disturbed by fully grown men and women who do not hesitate to pee on my veggies,” he said. “Some of them are just drunks from a local tavern who happen to use this shortcut.”

He said that he got so angry the other day when a man unzipped his fly, took out his manhood and urinated on Tshbangu's watermelons in full view of his elderly wife, grandsons and granddaughters.

“Just imagine young children seeing a man’s manhood,” he said. “Our Xitsonga culture forbids this! Men must have morals. Many times we find used sanitary towels and condoms amid our vegetables. This is really not good; it’s a disgrace!”

Tshabangu was granted the space to plough his vegetables and other edible plants by the traditional authority, who realised that he was ready and prepared to turn the wild bushes into a lush garden.

“I worked hard to clear the wild bushes on that piece of land,” he said. “It was a complete wildernis and I made it what it is today. I plough veggies for myself, my wife, and grandchildren.”

Tshabangu’s wife, Mrs Celestia Tshabangu, said she felt very insulted by the actions of the men: “Why should men – and not children, for that matter – subject us to seeing their manhood while they urinate on our orchard? Is this kind of behaviour not immoral and disrespectful?”

When contacted for comment, Chief Khazamula Thomas Kubayi said that he had received a complaint from Tshabangu. “We are disturbed to learn that there are people who disturb the old man’s peace,” Chief Kubayi said. “In our community, we don't need people who lack morals, most particularly when it comes to defiling the minds of little ones. Every African grown-up knows that it is culturally indecent to relieve oneself in front of children. And, in this case, people are spoiling Tshabangu’s garden.”

He added that he had given Tshabangu permission to close the shortcut. “Shortcuts are common in our hilly villages, because they bridge the gap where one has to use a roundabout, distant street,” he said. “But, in this case, it is in the best interest of the very shortcut users, the children and Tshabangu to close that shortcut.”

Tshabangu said that he was happy with the chief's decision and that he would be closing the shortcut. Kubayi warned that anyone who reopened the shortcut would face the full might of the traditional court on charges of contempt of traditional orders or laws, and trespassing.

Mr Samuel Tshabangu is angry with drunks and villagers who urinate on his vegetables. 

 

Date:19 February 2018

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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