Apartheid, Struggle, Cold War

Bahleli bonke etilongweni, (they are together/they are sitting together in prison)

Bahleli bonke kwa Nongqongqo (they are sitting together at Nongqongqo)

[repeat]

Hi, hi, hi, ( ‘hi’, which in English would be pronounced or sounds like hee, is just a sound to mimick the idea of crying or pain. It’s like onomatopeia)

halala (‘halala’ is an exclamation of, usually, joy. I think in this context it’s just to exclaim the cry)

Nanku X 2 (here he is)

Nanku uSobukhwe (here is Sobukwe)

Nanku, nanku etilongweni (here he is in prison)

[repeat]

hi bawo Luthuli (‘bawo’, in Xhosa, means father/sir, and the equivalent in Zulu is ‘baba’; Luthuli was the president of the African National Congress and the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize)

hayi uzotheni, uzotheni (‘hayi’ means no; ‘uzotheni’ is a word I’m not familiar with, but it sounds ambiguous and may mean ‘why do you deserve this?’ or ‘what have you done wrong?’/ ‘what is your sin?’)

[repeated]

Nanko X2 (there he is)

Nanko uMandela (there is Mandela)

nanko, nanko etilongweni (there he is, there he is in prison)

Nanko X2 (there he is)

Nanko uSisulu (there is Sisulu)

nanko, nanko etilongweni (there he is, there he is in prison)

yini wema-Afrika? (‘yini’ means what is it; ma-Afrika means people of Africa; “what is it Africans?” is used as a rhetorical question implying ‘what’s wrong with us Africans?’)

hayi uzotheni? uzotheni? (no, what have you done wrong, what have you done wrong?)

Bahleli bonke etilongweni, (they are together/they are sitting together in prison)

Bahleli bonke kwa Nongqongqo (they are sitting together at Nongqongqo)

from the website: http://victorjara42.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/miriam-makebapresente/

Changing meanings of citizenship in South Africa