Ahmed Essop
The silk scarf
The chauffeur-driven Mercedes Benz, followed by another Mercedes Benz in which there
were two escorts, entered the gates of the Oriental Plaza in Frodsburg and came to a stop in the
car park. The chauffeur opened the rear doors of the car and two women dressed in designer
clothing and expensive jewellery emerged. One of them was the wife of an important official of
the African Front, her husband Clibe Bebo had already been designated (named or chosen as) as
the Foreign Affairs Minister in the new governmnet to be established after the passing of the
apartheid era. She was of medium height, with heavy loins (hips and buttocks), her smoothskinned complexion having been pampered (treated to kindly and luxuriously) by beauticians in
Sandton salons. Her companion was her friend Margaret: she was slight (small or slim in build)
with a lovely smile and teeth. The two laides were on a shopping expedition and entered the
portals (grand entrance gates) of the Plaza. Within was a maze (a confusion of small passages
and shops) of modern shops: jewellers, haberdashers (shops selling dressmaking items),
outfitters; shops selling curtains, textiles (materials, cloth), oriental garments, there were banks,
restaurants, and hawkers (informal street traders) who displayed the wares in open spaces –
merchandise of the best quality for those who had the money such as Mrs Nebo, and of poor
quality for others. Happy people strolled from shop to shop. Mrs Nebo and Margaret bought
some shoes, then some jewellery, then swimming costumes (Mrs Nebo lived in the white
suburb of Houghton where a large swimming pool gleamed at the back of her mansion). The
two escorts, dressed in navy blue suits and flamboyant (showy in colour and design) ties,
followed the ladies, eating potato crisps from packets which they had bought at a food stall.
Mrs Nebo saw a lovely Indian dress on a dummy in a shop window and decided to buy it. She
went into the shop and after paying for a similar garment, asked the assistant:
‘Have you a silk scarf that will match this dress?’
The dress was of soft floral material with pink and magenta (purplish-red colour) floweres
blooming in a jade (milky green in colour) meadow. The assistand showed her several scarves,
but Mrs Nebo, very particular about wearing clothes whose colours blended hormoniously,
found nothing to her taste. She went from shop to shop until she came to ‘Moghul Boutique’
and there Mrs Nebo was shown a silk scarf by a short gaunt-looking (thin, as if ill) man who still
wore the antique braces (pair of elastic cloth shoulder bands to hold up his trousers) he used to
wear in the demolished Fourteenth Street mart (market or shopping centre) of Pageview (an
area broken down by the apartheid government).
‘O, this is beautiful!’ Mrs Nebo cried. ‘This is what I have been hunting for! Look,’ she said
to Margaret, ‘this will match the dress perfectly.’
Margaret agreed as she always agreed with whatever Mrs Nebo said, ‘A pure silk scarf and
very beautiful.’
‘I will take it,’ Mrs Nebo said. ‘How much?’
‘A hundred and ten rands, lady, and I will leave out the tax.’
Mrs Nebo looked into her handbag, took out the money and after counting it found that
she was fifteen rands short. She looked at the shopkeeper and said:
‘I haven’t enough cash. I will give you a cheque.’
‘No, madam, I deal strictly in cash. You can see the sign.’ He pointed to a strip of cardboard
which signalled in scarlet: ‘No Credit. No Cheques. Cash Only.’
Mrs Nebo looked at the words and feld offended immediately. Her integrity (honesty,
trustworthiness) was being challenged by the fire in the letters. ‘My cheques have never
bounced,’ she said.
‘I am not saying they have bounced,’ the shopkeeper, Mr Sakur, said, holding a plastic bag
with the silk scarf in it.
‘Mrs Nebo shops in Santon and Rosebank and she always pays by cheque.’ Margaret came
to her friend’s defence. ‘Do you know who she is?’
The two escorts entered the shop. They had been standing outside and when they heard
what sounded like a dispute (argument), came in. They continued eating potato crisps.
‘I don’t want to know who the lady is. There is the sign.’
‘What!’ Mrs Nebo said, beginning to lose her composure (calmness). ‘Are you suggesting
that I have no money in the bank?’
‘No, madam. I don’t accept cheques from anyone.’
‘Why?’
‘I have my reasons.’
‘What are your reasons?’
Mr Sakur looked at her without answering. He ran his business according to his rules and
he did not see why a customer should question him. He had refused to accept cheques from
many other customers and they had not been offended. He was not going to make an exception
in the lady’s case.
‘Many shops have accepted my cheques in the Oriental Plaza,’ Mrs Nebo said. ‘You can go
and ask Oriental Fashions.’
‘I don’t ask anyone,’ Mr Sakur said, taking the scarf out of the plastic bag and replacing it
on a hanger behind him.
Mrs Nebo felt humiliated (made to feel small, embarressed) by his action, her intergrity
tarnished (spoiled). The scarf was hers, she had the money, her bank account was spiralling
(going up rapidly all the time) as funds from foreign governments poured into the coffers (bank
accounts: term is used figuratively) of her husband’s political party, and here was a little man,
unknown outside the Plaza, trying to deprive her of an item of feminine beauty that she could
pay for ten times over.
‘You don’t know who Mrs Nebo is’, Margaret intervened. ‘She is the wife of the man who is
going to be the Foreign Minister in the new government.’
‘There is the sign,’ Mr Sakur said, pointing to it.
The two escorts moved closer, still chewing potato crisps. They had bought five packets
each and were now emtpying the fourth packet. They stared at the shopkeeper while eating as
though they were prepared to eat him if given the word, but the man did not look at them to
feel intimidated (frightened, threatened).
‘Do you know that Mrs Nebo lives in Houghton?’ Margaret asked.
‘I don’t know and I don’t want to know,’ Mr Sakur replied curtly (shortly-kortaf).
‘She has come in a Mercedes Benz. Have you got one?’
Mr Sakur looked at her indifferently (without feeling anything, as if it did not matter).
Several shopkeepers opposite ‘Moghul Boutique’ heard the dispute, entering, wanted to
know what was happening.
‘This man is insulting me,’ Mrs Nebo said. ‘He thinks I want to defraud (cheat) him. I want
to give hiim a cheque for what I have bought and he does not want to accept it.’
‘I am not saying anything about fraud,’ Mr Sakur protested. ‘Look, I have a law in this shop.
It is stated there. It applies to all.’
‘Yes, you make laws like the white government in this country without consulting the
oppressed,’ Mrs Nebo commented.
‘What is the problem?’ one of the escorts asked, but no one looked at him.
The shopkeepers, all friends of Mr Sakur, remained silent.
‘This man does not know who Mrs Nebo is,’ Margaret said to the shopkeepers. ‘She is the
wife of the future Foreign Minister of this country and she lives in Houghton.’
The shopkeepers looked at each other. One of them, Mr Sader, whispered to the others to
come with him outside. He told them if the lady’s husband was going to be an important figure
in the next government, insulting her was fraught with (full off) danger. They should remember
what the white government did to their houses and shops in Pageview. Government officials
were powerful and could become dictatorial (acting with complete and uncontrolled power,
without consultation). Something must be done. He would plead with Mr Sakur to accept the
lady’s cheque. They entered the shop again.
Mr Sader spoke to Mr Sakur in Gujurati (Indian language) and told him of the danger of
offending the wife of an important politician. Mr Sakur remained adamant ( determined). There
was a law in his shop and he could not change it. ‘If I accept one cheque then I must accept
everyone’s and that won’t work.’
There was a stalemate (a position where no one can win). Mrs Nebo was intent on having
the silk scarf: ‘I am not leaving this shop without the scarf.’
Her friend supported her with a raised voice: ‘Who does this man think he is. He does not
live in Hougton, he does not have a Mercedes Benz and his wife does not wear the expensive
clothes we wear. And let me say this to him. You are behaving like the white government whose
time is up.’
‘Yeah! Yeah!’ the escorts chorused (said together), finishing the crisps and crushing the
packets in their hands as though to intimate (to indicate, inform) to Mr Sakur that he could
expect the same from them.
Mrs Nebo turned to her escorts: ‘Go outside until I need you.’ The two men went out and
positioned themselves on each side of the door.
‘Now, Mr Shopkeeper,’ Mrs Nebo said authoritatively (demanding respect), ‘give me the
scarf and take my cheque.’
‘I cannot.’
‘Look,’ Margaret threatened, ‘outside are Mrs Nebo’s personal bodyguards. Do you think if
she didn’t have money in the bank she could hire them? They, too, drive a Mercedes Benz.’
Mr Sakur gave her a stony look.
‘You must be drunk.’
‘I don’t drink, madam,’ the shopkeeper said firmly. ‘I am a Muslim and never drink.’
‘So you are a fundamentalist (one who follows religious rules very exactly and may break
the law to follow their rules)’, Mrs Nebo said. ‘We won’t have people like you when the new
government takes over,’ She turned to the group of shopkeepers.
‘People like him should not be permitted to have a shop here. He doesn’t know anything
about business. You must do something about him.’
The Plaza shopkeepers looked at each other. Mr Sakur was being unnecessarily difficult. Mr
Sader told them to come with him outside again and they went into a huddle (formed a little
group).
‘Look,’ Mr Sader said, ‘this situation is fraught with danger. If something happens here –
seet hose bodyguards, they must have guns – and it gest into the papers we are doomed. We
pulled ourselves up after our shops were smashed in Pageview – you all remember the police,
the Alsatians (police dogs), the bulldozers. It can all gappen again and this time we will be given
nothing. I suggest we buy the scarf and present it to the lady as a gift.’
One of the men suggested that they should summon the ganster Akbar to deal with Mr
Sakur, but the proposal was rejected as it would complicate matters. They entered the shop.
Mr Sader spoke to Mr Sakur, gave him the money for the scarf and then addressed Mrs
Nebo: ‘ Lady, please accept this silk scarf from the traders in the Oriental Plaza as a gift. We are
here to make our customers happy. That has been our traditional business philosphy when we
lived in Pageview. You will remember how the white government tore down the suburb and
took it away from us. We don’t have to tell you of our suffering as you also suffered in Soweto,
without food, withou water. Thanks for visiting the Plaza and may you and your husband always
be blessed with plenty.’
Mrs Nebo smiled happily after receiving the gift and thanked the traders. Before leaving
the shop she turned to Mr Sakur.
‘As for people like you there will be no place for them in the new democratic South Africa.’
Questions:
1. a The kind of writing found in this story is called … (choose only ONE of the following, and
write down just the letter A,B or C):
A:
propaganda
B:
jargon
C:
satire
2. Explain your choice.
3. Who is behaving in a principled manner? It is… (Choose only ONE of the following, write
down just the letter A, B, or C):
A:
Mr Sakur
B:
Mr Sader
C:
Mrs Nebo
4. Explain what ‘a principled manner’ is.
5. Are the following figures of speech metaphors or similes? (Write down just M for metaphor
or S for simile beside the letter A, B or C):
A:
My cheques have never bounced.
B:
Funds from foreign governments poured into the coffers.
C:
Mr Sakur gave her a stony look.
6. Is Mr Sader’s resolution to the problem a good one? Why or why not?
7. Is the ending of the story strong or weak? Explain your answer.
Answers;
1. C
2. Satire makes fun of stupid or evil people. It exaggerates some aspect of their personality or
physical feature so that they become ridiculous. It is a way of criticising social ills or silliness.
3. A
4. This is when you have a set of values or principles, and you actually live by them rathen than
just proclaim them.
5. A: M
B: M
C: M
6. Yes, good. It is good in that it leaves the customer happy, the Oriental Plaza with its
reputation in tact, and Mr Sakur R105 richer without having to compromise his principles
OR
Not, not good: The others have not acted in solidarity with Mr Sakur; demanding rich people
should not get special treatment; Mr Sakur would feel humiliated.
7. Strong. The satisfactory resolution rounds things off; the reader feels satisfied that the
dispute has been resolved.
OR
Weak: Such an elaborate confrontation needs a more conclusive resolution; too much seems
to be left up in the air.
Analysis
Characters:
Mr Sakur: owns a boutique where he sells his merchandice cash. No cheques allowed.
Mrs Nebo: Wife of Clive Nebo, an important official of the African Front. Clive Nebo could
become the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Margaret: Mrs Nebo’s friend
Two Escourts: Protecting Mrs Nebo.
Mr Sader: A friend of Sakur and fellow shopkeeper in the plaza.
Possible Symbolism
The African Front symbolises a black political party.
Mrs Nebo, Margaret, Clive Nebo and the escourts are the type of leaders produced by this party.
They are rich because of money donated to the party by foreign countries.
The Shopkeepers of the oriental plaza symbolises ordinary citizens.
Mr Sakur symbolises a minority group.
Mr Sakur’s shop becomes a symbol for laws and principles.
The story suggests that the new government will not have respect for minority groups and that
their laws and principles will not be respected. The Elite will expect to be treated differently
than the common people. A different set of rules will apply to them and the social class that
you live in will determine which rules apply to you. If you are rich and have government
connections you can do what you want to but if you are poor with no connections you must
follow all the rules.
The story suggests that the Elite will always get what they want. They will not have to pay for it,
sometimes the people will give them these advantages because they are afraid of what may
happen to them e.g. The shopkeepers give Mrs Nebo the scarf as a present just so that she
won’t be angry and harm them later with strange legislation.
The warning Mrs Nebo gives at the end states that althought the country would be a new
Democracy, not everybody would be part of that Democracy. This statement is ironic
because if a country is democratic you expect everybody to be free and have rights but Mrs
Nebo suggests that people like Mr Sakur would not be part of the democracy.
It seems the new government will treat some people exactly like the white apartheid
government treated people.