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Adam Schwartzman

Rivonia Road 2

Some challenging questions!

Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 4 March 2014
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At face value, the poem is a description of a thunderstorm raging far away over the Magaliesberg Mountains beyond Pretoria. The poet watches the lightning flash, hears the thunder rumble and tries to determine from the time that has elapsed just how far away the storm really is.

There is, however, a deeper meaning. The thunderstorm is a reference to the oncoming revolutionary storm that was heading South Africa's way, an onslaught of discontent caused by the racist attitudes of the people and the unjust laws of the country.

From the poet's point of view, this storm was still far away but he knew it was getting closer. He could only hope that everyone would be safe, huddled away within the seclusion of their homes.



THE POET AND HIS POEM

Adam Schwartzman, a Jewish South African, was born in Johannesburg in 1973. He had therefore not yet born when the Rivonia treason trial took place in 1963.

Schwartzman's poem is an almost apocalyptic examination of the political storm that awaited the country as a result of the trial. It views the crisis of the "liberation struggle" in the 1980s as if still something of the future.

The poet, an academic who worked for a time at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Cape Town, has been described as having "a strong sensual perception of South Africa, wrestling with the heritage of segregation and violence in this country".

There is a Rivonia Road in Sandton but it is hardly likely that the poet is referring to it. Instead, he is most probably looking at the metaphorical road which led from the Rivonia trial of 1963 and culminated in the armed struggle of the 1970s and 80s.

On trial were 19 African National Congress leaders who had been arrested at Liliesleaf Farm in July 1963. These included Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba.

Originally the death penalty had been requested but this was changed due to world-wide protests. Instead, eight defendants -- including Nelson Mandela -- were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The trial would be a pivotal point in the history of the liberation movement in South Africa. Indeed, the ANC evolved from an organisation that had been trying to achieve change through negotiation and then sabotage into one which sought the absolute overthrow of the racist regime through an armed struggle.

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:



"Crouching on the roof of your neighbour's garage that slopes
over the garden and your mother's rosery, we watch a squall
drub and clobber the Magaliesberg foothills from far away."
  • The poem would appear to be a description of a thunderstorm through the eyes of a couple of children. How do we know that they are probably children and not adults? (4)

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  • How do we know that there is more than one child involved? (2)

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  • Why does the poet use the word "rosery" instead of "rose garden"? (6)

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  • Comment on the use of the words "drub" and "clobber". (4)

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  • Why does the poet refer at this stage to a "squall" and not to a full on thunderstorm? (6)

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  • Where are the Magaliesberg mountains? (2)

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  • What significance is there in the words "from far away"? (4)

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