JOHN THABO

John Thabo has been angry for as long as he could remember. He grew up with his poor mother and a father that was never seen or known.

As a child, he was always the butt of jokes of his peers. They would poke him hard in the ribs and laughed themselves silly as he tried in vain to chase after his tormentors.

John Thabo, had a bad leg, the left was about 9inches shorter than the right.

His mother told him, he got his legs from his father and everytime he looked down at his left leg, he murdered her many times in his heart for getting pregnant for a one-and-a half legged bastard.

Walking to and from school was a torturous task and he dreamed of the day he would be free from walking long distances...or working at all.

Adulthood came quickly and his anger increased.

He became a street boy. J. Thabo lost many fights, evidenced by his many scars. He blamed and cursed his bad leg everyday.

He needed to prove his toughness...his manhood, he decided that he must kill a man..just any man.

The screams from a large crowd outside J.Thabo's house roused him from his sleep. He rushed out to meet a man sprawled on the ground in a pool of his blood. Machete cuts had made his face unrecognisable.

The leader of the crowd which happened to be a xenophobic lynch mob was emptying a gallon of gasoline on the dying man.

J. Thabo's blood grew hot and he rushed into his room to get a matchbox.

His opportunity had come to spill some blood...to take life out of a man...to satiate the bloodlust of the old demon residing in his heart. Someone had to pay for God's sin of giving him a bad father, who gave him nothing but an inherited bad leg.

He pushed the mob leader aside and held the matchbox like a weapon. The mob cheered him on.

He struck a matchstick and threw it on the bloodied man. Flames immediately enveloped the victim.

As if this was a fresh suffering he needed to escape from, the burning man sprang to his feet and the mob scattered. In his final struggle with death, the burning man ran after J.Thabo, who threw away the match box and attempted an escape on his bad leg.

He tried, but as he looked back he saw the burning man coming after him. It became a fruitless irony as J.Thabo noticed the burning man had a bad leg too and ran just like him.

The dying man caught up with the fleeing murderer and hugged him from behind.

As both men went up in flames, J.Thabo remembered his mother's words, "John, someday you'll find happiness in your twin brother".

Africans, we are all family.

#stopxenophobia

KUNLE OMOPE.

Photo from jitisi.wordpress