Sipho Sithole
Kwa Mai Mai is the embodiment of everything Johannesburg is
meant to be – the City of Gold, a place where dreams deferred
come true. It is a constellation of people’s cultures, imbued with
beautiful memories of life in villages left behind but cherished by
those who refuse to forget.
This book tells the story of how cultural memory, sacredly preserved
and transported to new geographies, can be used both as a
cultural weapon to resist subjugation and as an economic weapon
to turn those priceless traditions into tradeable commodities. The
book explores how the keepers of cultural memory can use it
not only to survive but to invoke the entrepreneurial and creative
spirit buried deep within their souls. Moreover, it builds on the
assumption that if cultural memory can be stored and retrieved
through artefacts, sites, ceremonies, myths and rituals, then Kwa
Mai Mai is the place where these elements converge in inspiring
displays of craftsmanship, worship and healing.
Yet, Kwa Mai Mai has a darker side. It is a place of painful memories
and ignored pleas – where its members are in a constant battle to
be acknowledged by the city that created it.
This book reveals how the subversive, socio-economic order that
epitomised Kwa Mai Mai turned class theory upside down. In an
interesting reversal of roles, the Kwa Mai Mai community, who
used to be a migrant working class, wrested the power and control
over the means of production from the dominant class. Through
their heightened cultural consciousness, this marginalised migrant
community has reimagined new economic realities and possibilities,
forever distancing themselves from the painful, repressive past.
