DEPICTION OF POST-APARTHEID IDENTITY IN SOUTH AFRICAN LITERATURE: AN EXAMINATION OF MPE’S WELCOME TO OUR HILLBROW

Abstract

This paper aimed to depict the post-apartheid identity in the South African context from a literary perspective. In the grip of unforgiving pain, when democracy knocked on the doors of South Africa, confusion seems to have sprung into existence in the lives of South Africans who embarked on a quest to change their fate. Along their voyage, they stumbled upon a shocking discovery about the fatal past that has warmed its way back into their lives. This qualitative paper, which is guided by textual analysis has employed Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001) to explore the post-apartheid maladies in South Africa. The novel above presents an image of the post-apartheid South Africa in an intense chaotic turmoil and sinking further into the desert of despair as fragile hopes in the lives of characters are dashed. Moreover, the study finds that knots of people in South Africa came to terms with reality and accepted that they have another ace up their sleeves as the indomitable system of apartheid gave birth to identity-crisis in the post-apartheid era. The democratic South Africa is now confronted by a slate of seemingly insurmountable odds such as corruption, inequality, xenophobia, HIV/AIDS pandemic, discrimination, tribalism and racism that have garnered plenty of interest from a variety of researchers in the literature. These challenges stacked against the contemporary South Africa are mirrored and discussed in line with Mpe‘s Welcome to Our Hillbrow.