‘Golide Gumede lures Emil Coetzee into the bush.’ Not only did the sentence have a nice ring to it – the kind of catchy sentence that could become a newspaper headline – but it encompassed so much. It was also, and this was the best part, incredibly credible. Of course Golide Gumede would want to take revenge on the man who had ordered that he be hunted and slaughtered like an animal. It made perfect sense that Golide Gumede would lure Emil Coetzee into the bush. It also made perfect sense that Emil Coetzee would go into the bush to meet with Golide Gumede, because Emil Coetzee had notoriously always courted danger – and because he must have felt some humiliation at not being able to capture the man who had become his nemesis. The more Rutherford thought of the story, the more it acquired the ring of truth.

‘Golide Gumede lures Emil Coetzee into the bush.’ That was just the sort of headline that would stop white people in their tracks. A lot of whites, not wanting to witness the advent of majority rule and the independence of the country, were emigrating; Rutherford believed that a headline such as this would make them see what he saw – that there was still so much to stay and fight for.

Looking straight at the winding road ahead, still tapping ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’, and as though having read his thoughts, Joseth informed Rutherford, ‘Some people would like to see Golide Gumede as the Prime Minister of the new independent country.’

Rutherford looked at Joseth incredulously and almost laughed. The very idea was ludicrous, but there was absolutely no mirth on Joseth’s face; that was when Joseth told him of another Golide Gumede – the Golide Gumede whose great escapes had become legendary and turned him into a mythical hero for many villagers in the country. This Golide Gumede could shape-shift, disappear into nothingness, hide in plain sight. This Golide Gumede was a story that they told around the fire at night. This Golide Gumede was a dream in their hearts and minds. This Golide Gumede was the promise of the much-awaited and anticipated future.

Rutherford sobered up as he realised that if one man’s hero could be another man’s villain, then the converse was also true: one man’s villain could be another man’s hero.

Rutherford found himself wondering who Joseth’s heroes were. Did they share the same heroes? Were their reasons for setting up Golide Gumede the same? Did it matter?

The Villagers

THE VILLAGERS