A Knot

They call a knot i-fi-ndo in Zulu, one of the languages spoken in South Africa. You say the first part like e-mail, the second like Finland and the last like door.

Permanence. This is the main characteristic of a knot. It is tied in a way that makes it difficult to undo. It’s not like a man’s tie which can be undone or a scarf around a woman’s neck. Herd boys tie goats to poles with the intention of dismantling the rope when it’s time to move on.

Tying the knot, that is how the English language calls marriage but it isn’t, because there is the option of divorce or moving solo to another province or country. In South Africa, you hear stories where husbands disappear and show up after many years, because they are sick.

In Ireland, some men leave home to work in England. Death in Kilburn, a short story by Maeve Binchy, is about Patrick who has four kids with Stella his English wife and seven with Maureen the wife he left behind in an Irish town. He dies in England. His brothers come to take the body back to Ireland. They learn about Stella for the first time.

TAINTED MONEY KNOTS
Knots are tight, the rope or string is twisted in such a way that the only way to undo them is a pair of scissors or a knife. Knots that involve money are so knotty, they could result in death. Police in all corners of the world know it. That is why they cannot solve cases where certain billionaires or drug lords die mysteriously.

Investigating officers are caught in the crossfire. They want to do their job and also stay alive. Therefore, they investigate the case as an ordinary one, because delving too much in the knot might cost them their lives.

Reasons for the knot are often illegal. There’s no paper trail obviously. Trust is the operative word. Murder seems to be the only solution when trust has some scratches.

Money knots are not pretty like a spider’s web. They are uneven, like roots of an old tree. There are other players in the knot that is why one person is not allowed to leave. Everyone in the knot understands the penalty for deception, but getting away with millions of dollars makes it worth a try.

RELIGIOUS KNOTS
Religious knots are even more lethal because of language, or maybe we should say the fusion of language, culture and patriotism. This triangle makes it difficult for outsiders to identify solutions to problems caused by religious knots.

The difference between money and religious knots is that death for the religious knot is upfront. It is discussed. It is accepted. It is expected. It might even be desired. Death for the knot. That is martyrdom. With money knots, a body is found floating in the river or a so-called suicide at home.

I-FI-NDO
A knot, ifindo in Zulu permeates our lives in varying degrees. Some knots are obvious. Others are subtle. Knots are a given in tight-knit cultures. In freer societies, it is up to  individuals to detect possible knots and step back, if they don’t feel comfortable.
By:  Nonqaba waka Msimang.