‘The only thing I had to do every day was to take care of my father’s twenty head of cattle, leave them to graze in some nearby pasture, stop over at the bottle store to play iSlug, and make sure that the cattle were in their kraal before sunset. No … that is not entirely true. The only thing I had to do every day was to herd my father’s twenty head of cattle and make sure they were in their kraal before sunset. After I discovered the game, I stopped herding the cattle and left them grazing in pastures unattended, hoping they would not stray onto other people’s farms or become integrated with another herd. I was always diligent about making sure that the cattle were in the kraal before sunset. For a long time, my luck was good. The cattle grazed in their designated pasture and did not stray.

‘On 11 November 1965, Armistice Day, my luck ran out. Festus Malunga challenged me to a game – and man, was he ever good. We played game after game after game after game, and he came very close to beating me. We played for so long that even I wanted him to beat me, just so that I would know that he could. Before I knew it, the usual crowd had become a throng chanting my name as I beat Festus one hard-won game after another.

‘The chants of “Lukha! Lukha! Lukha!” were deafening, but even so we all heard the screech of tyres and the thunder of the rolling car somewhere along the main road that leads to the City of Kings. As soon as I heard the sound, I just knew I was responsible. I just knew the cattle had strayed into the road. The night was pitch black. There were no stars to be seen. Where had the day gone? Where were the stars that night?

‘A man does not know he is a coward until he performs an act of cowardice. I did not know I was a coward until, instead of going home or to the scene of the accident that evening, as many at the bottle store did, I walked in the opposite direction, until I found my way to Zambia. And once there, I was co-opted by the boys fighting in the bush.

‘I was in the bush for nearly fifteen years, hiding more than fighting.’ Here Lukha stopped and looked at Dikeledi, who was no longer glaring at him. ‘Livingstone Stanley Tikiti taught me how to still the moving letters,’ he continued. ‘Once I could read, he made me a medic, which is what I did for the duration of the war. When the ceasefire was announced, I went to seek out Emil Coetzee so he could punish me … but Emil Coetzee is nowhere to be found.’