Intruders by Mohale Mashigo

Author:Mohale Mashigo [Mashigo, Mohale]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781770106338
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2018-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

On the Run

by Mokwadi Fela*

[Disclosure: Some names have been changed and locations have not been named.]

The people I interview are used to the attention that comes with their jobs. Rappers, movie stars, soapie actors, Top Billing presenters, rugby players, football stars and their model wives, etc. There is always a hint of arse kissing and the occasional side eye when I ask questions that could embarrass the star. There are also unfortunate incidents like when a certain journalist was left stranded at East London airport after a studio interview (with the Rapper Who Tried To Sue Her) turned into a plane ride to another province because ‘everybody wants a piece of me and the sky is the only place they can’t reach me’. I’m in the business of profiling and indulging famous people.

Nolwazi Botha didn’t ask for fame but she is certainly one of the most recognisable women in the world. You know you’re famous when your face is spray-painted all over downtown Johannesburg. The cool kids wear T-shirts with her face and nickname plastered across the front. Gqom and other hip-hop artists name-check her in their songs and she is fondly known as Sister Alterado by her fans and supporters. It’s difficult to believe that a woman who was accused of murder (she escaped before her trial began) and is now a fugitive has fans, but she does.

A year ago, many South Africans had never heard of The Alterado (Portuguese for ‘altered’). They are the group who turned Nolwazi Botha into the Most Wanted Woman in South Africa. On a cold winter’s morning, prisoners at Johannesburg Correctional Centre (also known as Sun City Prison) reported hearing a loud bang – it came from the women’s section of the prison. It would take the Department of Correctional Services two entire days to hold a press conference explaining that Nolwazi Botha had escaped from jail. Through investigative journalism that would make Debora Patta proud, details slowly emerged that an entire wall of the prison had been blown up and that it was the work of a Terrorist Group called The Alterado.

The Alterado sounds like the name of a band that would be on the Afropunk line-up. Interpol’s Counter Terrorism Programme doesn’t have much information on them (they should enlist the help of the people who were so keen to Find Kony – they had more information than Interpol). There are a few articles online where they are briefly mentioned as being responsible for the ‘kidnapping’ of prisoners in Rwanda, Uganda, Egypt and even Eritrea. Nolwazi Botha thrust them into international notoriety.

When I was a Baby Journalist, I dreamed of an assignment like this; the reality was frightening and unbelievable. Sean Penn had El Chapo; I have Nolwazi Botha aka Sister Alterado.

This all began, a few months ago, with a seemingly harmless message on WhatsApp – from an unknown number. It went unread for a few days (who answers messages from unknown numbers?). During a very trying interview with an actor (who

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