Desperate times call for desperate means, so goes one of the English language’s arguably most overused idiomatic expression.
Joshua (not his real name) is your average Bela-Bela township dweller.
During service delivery protest action in recent weeks, Joshua was in the thick of it all, daring that the city fathers allegedly over-billed the poorest of the poor.
As the protest adrenalin wore off, and with many township women going back to the washing line, Joshua joined some of his male companions for a “dop (dram)” of sorghum beer.
You would see him lifting the calabash frothing with rich foam at the edges, narrowing his eyes and take a hearty swig of the home brew called “skokiaan”, dating back to the mining compounds of Gauteng’s erstwhile Reef.
In recent weeks — like his neighbours — Joshua has been complaining about economic hard times such as the increase in the price of tobacco and chicken entrails, the staple food of township households nationwide.
Now in the townships and villages, when the going gets tough, neighbours advise each other as to what needs to be done practically, but above all, spiritually.
The advice has since led Joshua to take up membership of the all-powerful Zion Christian Church (ZCC), proudly pounding the sidewalk with his Star of David lapel badge tucked to his shirt.
If things go according to the rituals of the ZCC — they call it “taelo (calling)” — chances are that one of these days we should see a new-look Joshua in the full khaki uniform of the church.
The Good Lord willing, Joshua may even be ordained into the highest order of the ZCC, to join the priests who wear the green paramilitary fatigues with the gold trimming.
At this level, Joshua would be able to receive and pray to cleanse those haunted by evil spirits and other creepy-crawlies, such as the much-feared gentleman going by the name of “tokoloshe”.
So when next Easter Weekend you happen to see the ZCC faithful headed for the Holy City of Moria, chances are that Joshua may be among them, singing his heart out and somersaulting into the air to land into the dust on his heels.
And oh, Joshua is but one of the steadily-growing number of poor Afrikaners who have relocated into the townships in Bela-Bela, Modimolle and indeed the flotsam and jetsam that is Alexandra in Gauteng.
