Mtutuzeli Nyoka's first novel, 'I Speak To The Silent' is a deceptively simple work. An old Xhosa man, Walter Hambile Kondile, is in prison for the murder of a struggle hero, and after many years, he at last decides to explain his actions.

Nyoka's message is all the more extraordinary for the ordinariness of his story. His plot is by no means unusual, but even that is deliberate. South African society is still a deeply patriarchal one, and his praise of the women of the struggle is unusual; just as unusual, in fact, as his searing criticism of the so-called heroes who betrayed their own people.

Even now, South Africans still find it hard to believe allegations against our public idols, whether they are politicians, sportsmen, or high-placed officials. Domestic violence and sexual assault are accepted by many; and the public refuses allegations of wrongdoing to tarnish adored public figures.

Describing himself as "a simple man, a Xhosa and an African, whose life is of no significance to the world", Kondile tells of life in the Eastern Cape town of Alice under apartheid, and the events which led up to his beloved daughter's disappearance and death.

"To the white folk, we were like livestock," he remembers. "We quietly obliged, quietly lived, and quietly died."

But gradually the people of Alice become less quiet. Student activists organise marches and protests, and Kondile finds to his consternation that his daughter Sindiswa is one of their leaders.

One day the inevitable happens: Sindiswa disappears, and at last her parents learn that she has fled into exile. Years later, a letter arrives informing them of their daughter's death. Kondile, grief-stricken, vows to discover what happened to her, and eventually revenges himself upon the man who betrayed her trust, in the process condemning himself to a life in jail.

The author makes few concessions to political correctness — white people are referred to as Boers, and the black people call themselves "natives" — just as the rural Alice people would have done. Kondile, the protagonist, warns us that he still harbours bitterness towards many, but in fact his sharpest criticism is saved for his own people — those who remained silent in the face of evil.

"Our victims died in their millions over many generations. We, the silent, complied in one of the worst massacres in history."

Don't be misled by its simplicity — this is truly a remarkable, and courageous, book.

'I Speak To The Silent' is part of the Exclusive Books' Homebru Collection.

Title:I Speak To The Silent
Author:Mtutuzeli Nyoka
Publisher:University of KwaZulu-Natal Press
ISBN: 1 86914 038 9