Sophonia Machabe Mofokeng's Leetong: a metonymy for political repression in South Africa

Abstract

Mofokeng's volume of short stories, Leetong [On a Journey], is traditionally read as satire on repression in general and on South Africa in particular. The title, Leetong, has become a part of the conceptual political lexicon of the Sesotho language to refer to the corruption of apartheid ideology. This collection of short stories constitutes a body of protest fiction based on inferences from situations rather than actual incidents. Collectively the eight short stories combine to form one voice in contention with the political dispensation of oppressed South Africans during a particular historical era of political oppression, known as the apartheid era. The dehumanisation of black South Africans has not stopped since the apartheid era because the dominant image of black South Africans continues to be that of heathens. This article postulates the notion that the scheme of the short story volume Leetong [On a Journey] has created a powerful metonymy, to the extent that whenever one alludes to the title, one conjures up images associated with oppression.