MAMBHELE: I wish that thing would go away. I’m losing money. My chickens will be bad. Since this mzabalazo has begun my business has gone from bad to worse. Trouble here, trouble at home.

Enter SDUDLA.

SDUDLA: You think the struggle started now? It started a long time ago. It started with our foreFATHERs, Hintsa, Ngqika, Mshweshwe and Dingane.

MAMPOMPO: Sdudla, what are you talking about? Are you telling me about men who are dead a long time ago? Is Dingane going to help me now to get to Crossroads?

SDUDLA: If you don't want to listen now it does not matter, but the day will come when you will listen.

MAMPOMPO: Mambhele, it's better for you because your house is not so far from here. How am I going to get to Crossroads? There is no transport. Nozulu won't listen to this story. I haven't even cooked for him.

MAMBHELE: My house is near, but when the trouble starts it is difficult to get there. I’m standing here thinking of my two sons. Did they come home safe from school?

SDUDLA: When there is a blockade here, Langa, Nyanga, Gugulethu, it is everywhere. No one can get in, and no one can get out.

MAMPOMPO: I’m waiting for Mrs Ntlebi to come and give me my money. She must give me R2. She will say something because I sold few chickens. There is no bonus today for me. The money that Nozulu and I earn is not enough for us to live on, never mind sending to my children in Transkei. I last sent money home three months ago and it wasn't enough. I wonder how they are managing.

MAMBHELE: I don't know who to contact first if I want money – the whole township is full of my debts; people are getting tired of lending me money. I was hoping to make a big profit so that I can buy my younger son a pair of shoes and pay back some of the people I owe money to. [She jokes.] Hayi mfazi, I’ve been thinking my children will be social workers, lawyers, doctors. He wethu, I can't even afford to buy a pair of shoes, ha!

MAMPOMPO: He mfazi zala uzoxoxa. I thought that my children would be teachers and nurses, but I don't have money to feed them.