Umendo 1
I knelt down on the freezing cold dirty cell floor and l prayed silently tears flowing down my face profusely. How did l get here? Never in a million years did l imagine that I would find myself in a prison cell for any reason. But here l was on a cold winter night, arrested for God knows what. Was l cursed? If my gogo was around, she would have either said "kuyahlola, ngavela ngabona". Although a devoted Christian, she was superstitious like that. Something somewhere always meant something, if she saw a cat in our yard, she would say, "kukhona okuzayo,kuyahlola", even certain birds passing by meant something. I thought of her sitting on that hard floor,l thought of my parents, my siblings, my husband. What if l never saw them again? What if l got charged for whatever and got a long sentence. We always hear of scary prison stories about people getting shanked by other inmates using prison made knives. What if l got targeted by some gang members?, or what if some inmate forced me to be their prison wife? All these thoughts were running through my head.
So l did all l could at that moment, l knelt down and l prayed to God. All that was left was my faith in God, and hope that l will be out of this place before Monday, otherwise how would l even explain it at work? I had always heard stories about the Hilbrow Holding Cells (eNo_4), but l had never set foot. I had gotten close to it, just outside the Police Station to bail out my cousin Nokuthaba who had been arrested for papers. She had been arrested for being an illegal immigrant, so l had gone with her asylum papers, but on my way there she called and told me to bring R300 for ukudiza cos they had changed the charges to loitering.l had to meet with one of the officers outside the police station to pay him for the release of my cousin. Talk about corruption! Because she had told them that someone was bringing her papers, they decided to change the charges, that way they got the money. That's how they work. They will always find a way to make you part with your money,whatever it took. I had no faith in the justice system here, so l knew that anything could happen, things could change from bad to worse in a matter of minutes. How could I have faith in a system that would lock a person without charging them? Eish, how l wish l had joined one of those 'Don't talk to me, talk to my lawyer', that take up most of the TV advert slots. It was one those things that you tell yourself that you will join someday, because you don't think anything will happen to you that will need a lawyer, until it does!
There were three other women in the cell with me. Ashley, who had been arrested for card fraud. She seemed very relaxed, too relaxed in fact.She said that this was her 5th time here. The other woman was about 20 or 21 had been crying, no, wailing like someone who had lost their child or something. Nobody knew her name or why she had been arrested cos she wouldn't stop crying to talk. This one wouldn't last in a proper prison for a week l tell you. She would either commit suicide, or end up in the psychiatrist ward. Lerato had been arrested for drugs and prostitution. Ah, that one was a tycoon l tell you. She was busy on the phone when I arrived, talking and laughing like a maniac with different people asking them to come bail her out as if she was asking someone to come help her carry water from the bhawuza. She even knew the names of the officers on duty, she was shouting for them, saying why are they keeping her locked making her cancel her clients' appointments. I had been arrested on my way from work going home. There was a road block on Louis Botha as usual. They waved for me to pull over. My heartbeat went over the hook, not that l had anything to hide or anything. Ever since I started driving, l had been pulled over three times, and of those three times, they only asked for my license and let me go. But today it was a lady who was coming towards me, eish, you never know with these lady cops. I don't know what it is, but women usually have this attitude towards other women. Especially checkout women, cops and nurses. "Well, well, well, if it's not uMrs ngokwakhe. License sisi," she said. I took out my licence and gave it to her. "Awubulisi?". I looked at her and said, "Sabona sisi", l greeted her puzzled ukuthi what did she mean by "if it's not uMrs ngokwakhe". She told me to open the car boot and step outside the car. I did as l was told. I always carried a triangle, jump cables, a first aid kit, a throw/ small blanket, and a 5litres of water just in case. My mother had taught me to always carry emergency stuff because you never know. It had come in handy one day when l had just started driving, l got lost, went on the highway and my car broke down and my phone battery died before the car broke down. That's a story for another day. She closed the boot and walked towards one of her female colleagues, and l heard her saying "ngaze ngamthola namhlanje", she told her something else and they both laughed.
Now l was even more puzzled. Then they both came towards me. The cop, whom l later learnt that her name is Lumkile Mbatha, was just giving me the attitude. It was as if she had some sort of grudge against me. She asked me whose car it was, l told her it was mine. She asked me whom l had slept with to get it? I just looked at her with bewilderment, Kanti why do people always assume that if a young female drives a nice car, or has a good job, they had to sleep with someone to get it? Is it really hard to believe that young women can make a good honest living? She asked all sorts of questions, where did l work, live, where was my passport? I told her everything she wanted to know, then she said I was going to follow them to the Hilbrow Police Station to answer a few questions. I asked her what questions? She just looked at me with that talking eye and went to their squad car.
I had no choice but to follow them cos they had my licence. When we got there, she went to talk, or rather whisper to one of the male officers who was behind the desk. Then they called me over. Lumkile Mbatha said that they were going to hold me in their cells while they made some investigations about my car. I asked her why, why were they investigating my car? She told me that it was used in a bank robbery, so they were investigating me as well which is why l had to stay there cos for all they know, l could make a run for it. You should have seen the shock and horror in my eyes. Me? Bank robbery, was she being for real? Was I dreaming? I had to pinch my self. She asked me to hand over my car keys. Wait a minute, was that even legal. I didn't trust SA Police at all, now I was being asked to just hand over my car? What if they came back and told me it had been confisticated for this reason or that? "Weh sisi, asisebnzi wena,aksi kwaMgabe lana, iskhiye!". I gave her my car keys and tears just rolled down my cheeks. The other cop with the biggest mkhaba l had ever seen looked and me and shook his head, and said "heh, uyadlala sisi, usakhala he he he, were you crying when you were spending the money you got from the bank robbery. Ungazosbangela iscefe mani, hand over your belongings including your cellphone". Lumkile and her female collegue left and l handed over my handbag and phone. I had two phones, I had put one in my bra including the R450 cash that l had in my purse and 3 of my bank cards before we got to the police station. What was strange to me was that, I was then escorted straight to the holding cell, no paperwork was filed or finger prints taken. I had never been arrested before, but I knew that they had to do some paper work. Right?
