Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- INTRODUCTION
- Frontispiece
- Love, Grime And Johannesburg
- Scene 1 A Public Square
- Scene 2 The Prison Cell
- Scene 3 The Office of the Chief of Police
- Scene 4 The Prison Cell.
- Scene 5 A City Council Boardroom
- Scene 6 The Prison Cell
- Scene 7 Bokkie's Study
- Scene 8 The Prison Cell
- Scene 9 A Melville
- Scene 10 Office of the Chief of Police
- Scene 11 The Open Door
- Scene 12 The Prison Cell
- Scene 13 A Melville Cafe
- Scene 14 A Melville Cafe.
- Scene 15 The Prison Cell
- Scene 16 Office Corridors
- Scene 17 Bokkie's Study
- Scene 18 A Melville Cafe
- Scene 19 The Prison Cell
- Scene 20 The Doorway
- Scene 21 A Melville Cafe
- Scene 22 The Office of the Chief of Police
- Scene 23 A Cheap Bruma Lake Hotel Room
- Scene 24 The Public Square
Scene 24 - The Public Square
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 June 2019
- Frontmatter
- Miscellaneous Frontmatter
- INTRODUCTION
- Frontispiece
- Love, Grime And Johannesburg
- Scene 1 A Public Square
- Scene 2 The Prison Cell
- Scene 3 The Office of the Chief of Police
- Scene 4 The Prison Cell.
- Scene 5 A City Council Boardroom
- Scene 6 The Prison Cell
- Scene 7 Bokkie's Study
- Scene 8 The Prison Cell
- Scene 9 A Melville
- Scene 10 Office of the Chief of Police
- Scene 11 The Open Door
- Scene 12 The Prison Cell
- Scene 13 A Melville Cafe
- Scene 14 A Melville Cafe.
- Scene 15 The Prison Cell
- Scene 16 Office Corridors
- Scene 17 Bokkie's Study
- Scene 18 A Melville Cafe
- Scene 19 The Prison Cell
- Scene 20 The Doorway
- Scene 21 A Melville Cafe
- Scene 22 The Office of the Chief of Police
- Scene 23 A Cheap Bruma Lake Hotel Room
- Scene 24 The Public Square
Summary
The CHIEF OF POLICE ushers JIMMY ‘LONG LEGS’ MANGANE to centre stage. Once again, he is heavily chained in leg irons and handcuffs. In spite of this, he is still smiling charmingly.
QUEENIE: Jimmy ‘Long Legs’ Mangane, you have a life sentence! Before you are taken to maximum security to rot, sealed up in a cell until you die, do you have anything to say? This is your last chance!
JIMMY takes centre stage
JIMMY: Should I stand up here, begging for forgiveness?
Yes, I would, if I understood the crime.
I stare at the glazed looks on your faces
It's clear to me you don't give one damn
And so I have to say it once again
You think that crime will stop if you lock me in
But we live in hell, others continue to sin
Let us wash our sins away, we clearly need the rain
And so I stand here and I surprise myself
I ask forgiveness, in hope the good Lord hears
But all our thoughts and plans and clever deeds
Bite the dust, and leave us ash and tears
And so I face my fate!
QUEENIE: Take him to jail to rot! There is a triumphant musical call from THE COMPANY.
LEWIS enters carrying a long fax.
LEWIS: Wait! Wait! Wait! Silence! I bring news, important news, from the President's office. [He unrolls the document.﹜ Hear this, hear this, all South Africans! On the occasion of the inauguration of the third President of the Democratic Republic of South Africa - given that none of us knows what's right and wrong, given that we put our brutal past behind us, given that only a few pass through the narrow gates of heaven, and given that reconciliation has so perfectly been achieved - there will be, with immediate effect, for all gangsters, politicians, criminals and businessmen, a general amnesty!
THE COMPANY rises in a slow motion, silent, cheer
LEWIS: The new President of this great democracy declares a general amnesty for all! Jimmy ‘Long Legs’ Mangane - you are free! There is a second triumphant musical call from THE COMPANY.
JIMMY praises the gods.
THE COMPANY [turns to the audience and sings]:
RESTORE ALL TO ORDER (IN PERFECT HARMONY)
There is a reprieve, a general amnesty For who is to say who is right and who is wrong
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- Love, Crime and Johannesburg , pp. 53 - 56Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2000