Rotten in Zulu

Rot is bola in Zulu.

Bo-la. You say it like the ebola virus, that was first reported in 2013.
I-bo-li-le. (it is rotten). You say the first part like email, the second like ebola, the third like lick, the last part like lamb.

We don’t like rotten things. We don’t take out the garbage because we are busy on our phones checking our idols with 4 million followers, but follow only 10, until someone at home screams about foul smell.

Garbage collectors have a product. They take out rotten things. They wore face masks long before COVID-19. We don’t know their names. Our Instagram photo albums and the naked pics we plant online voluntarily, are not for their harvest.

That is why Breaking All My Rules, a novel by Trice Hickman, is one of the books that linger in my mind. Erica, a college graduate with her own successful business, falls for Jerome, a garbageman employed by the municipality. No, they did not meet outside her house when he came for the rotten product. They met in court, while on jury duty. That is what I call good fiction, something that will never happen in real life. O.K. O.K. Never say never!

COVID-19 caused a lot of produce to rot. Food has a chain, normally from the soil to the table. As my friend Lindiwe would say, the food chain is not closed so we still go out to buy fruits and veggies. However,restaurants were most hit and threw them out because they were rotten (bo-li-le). 

Kids are adorable aren’t they? So loving and trusting then they grow up, make parents proud or make their life a living hell when they are hooked on drugs and other bad company.

Family and neighbors whisper: Akazalanga, wabola amathumbu translated into she didn’t give birth, her insides were rotten. I suppose her womb was rotten, that is why she gave birth to a child that makes her suffer. That’s very harsh because we’re talking about a human being, but then, proverbs/idioms tell it like it is, no sugar coating.

ZULU	ENGLISH
Ku-nuka into e-bolile.	Something smells rotten.
I-nuka kabi inyama e-bolile.	Rotten meat smells bad.
I-nuka kabi inhlanzi e-bolile.	Rotten fish smells bad.
Lu-ya-bola ubisi ngaphandle kwe-fridge.	Milk goes bad outside the fridge.
Faka inyama e-frijni i-ngaboli.	Put meat in the fridge so that it doesn’t go bad.
Ku-yashesha uku-bola u-kudla ehlobo.	Food goes bad quickly during the summer.
Ku-yashisa i-thanga lizo-bola.	It’s hot, the pumpkin will go bad.
Ba-bo-lile bonke.	They are all rotten (corrupt), usually governments.
Wa-bola wonke u-banana.	All bananas were rotten.
Wa-bola wonke u-guava.	All guava was rotten.
A-bola wonke ama-pentshisi.	All the peaches were rotten.
Umhlaba wonke u-bolile.	The whole world is rotten/corrupt.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.