Unimportance, by Thando Mgqolozana

During a night that turns out to be the longest in Zizi's memory, instead of writing the manifesto speech, the reader follows the anxiety-stricken politician in his race against time and cover of the night, as he searches the campus for his missing girlfriend. While Zizi is haunted by the fear that Pamodi might expose him for what he really is, forever damaging his pristine image as the favourite presidential candidate, Pamodi evades detection, and is nowhere to be found.

In the morning, the speech he delivers is not anything anyone could have expected from an SRC star: it is a litany of confessions for his questionable integrity and violence. As Zizi's words fade, and a sense of shock lingers in the air, he is faced with the reality of his actions; as they realise that they may vote a highly flawed man into office, how will these students vote? What will it mean, either way?

About the author

Thando Mgqolozana is a graduate of the University of the Western Cape, a Mandela Rhodes Scholar, a recipient of the Golden Key International Honour for scholastic achievement, and one of theMail & Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans. He has previously worked as a researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council and is now based at the University of Cape Town.A Man Who is Not a Man(2009) enjoyed critical success and was long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.Hear Me Alone(Jacana Media, 2011) is a controversial allegory of the birth of the Messiah set in an Africanised Nazareth.

Author Thando Mgqolozana
ISBN 9781431409525
Format Paperback
Pages 146p.