Zakes Mda, a prominent South African novelist, has backed Kenyan author Mukoma wa Ngugi, who accused his father, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, of abusing his mother.
On Tuesday, Mukoma, an associate professor of literature at Cornell University in the United States, claimed that his father, a well-known Kenyan author, used to “beat up” his late mother.
Mukoma, 53, also stated that his mother would seek sanctuary at his grandmother’s house to avoid the alleged violence.
Mukoma’s X post sparked a wave of conflicting emotions on X. While some users criticized the author, others praised him for bringing the issue to light.
Mda, a 76-year-old writer who joined the fray through X, claimed that while growing up, he saw Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, slap his wife.
He stated that, while he had never witnessed his father beating his mother, “his words were abusive to her most of the time.”
He stated that he believed “real men” should discipline “their” ladies.
Mda praised Mukoma for stepping up, saying that “many of us need such a reckoning with the truth of our past”.
I am greatly moved by your tweet, son (I can call you that; you’re two years younger than my oldest son). This is the bravest thing any son of an icon can do. Ignore those who are denouncing you. What is more important is your truth and your healing. Many of us need such… https://t.co/sXTgpxFUNJ
— Zakes Mda (@ZakesMda) March 13, 2024
“This is the bravest thing any son of an icon can do. Ignore those who are denouncing you. What is more important is your truth and your healing,” he wrote.
“Many of us need such reckoning with the truth of our past. My father never physically beat up my mother – to my knowledge. But his words were abusive to her most times. I never said or did anything about it.
“I thought it was normal, it was how real men talked to women. It was the same when I saw Nelson Mandela slap his wife Evelyn in the kitchen in the presence of us kids.
“Here too I thought it was a normal thing that men should do occasionally – discipline “their” women. It was only on looking back as a young adult that I realized that what I saw growing up had left me traumatized.”