Polls in Politics

Quebec has done its ‘22 election. Other provinces in Canada will also do theirs. The U.S. is preparing for the Midterm election in November.

There will be all kinds of polls predicting the results in both countries. To predict is ‘bhula’ in Zulu. Political staff that babysit candidates also predict jaundiced outcomes, based on their own stats. Therefore, in a way, polls u-ku-bhula. 

Bhu-la comes from how amaZulu lived before Christianity, polls, newspapers, radio, television and the internet.  Traditional societies in Africa, Asia and Australia had soothsayers, people who ‘see’ into the future.  

Old movies had women who used crystal balls to ‘see’ the present and future. Nigerian movie directors love scenes where native doctors throw bones on a grass mat, to predict what will happen. 

Once upon a time, ama-Zulu had a powerful king, u-Shaka ka Senzangakhona.  When his brothers assassinated him to hijack the throne, he told them that they will never be kings because ocean birds were circling the land.  He predicted the coming of white men from England, France and the Netherlands, (wa-bhu-la). It came to pass in the form of colonization.

Bhu-la.  You say the first part like booze and the second like lass.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.