A Gaze at the Place of the Female Figure in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Case of Zukiswa Wanner’s the Madams

Abstract

The black race was severely disadvantaged in apartheid South Africa. Specifically, black women were doubly disadvantaged; first by the color of their skin, and secondly, by lack of tangible income. History has shown that many black women in South Africa ended up working as maids in the white suburbs. This paper examines how Zukiswa Wanner, in The Madams, imagines new life for the female figure in post-apartheid South Africa, regardless of their race. The main argument in the paper is that, literature is used as a revolutionary tool in The Madams to imagine new South Africa and to propose ways of revising social injustices of the past. I examine the kind of characters that Wanner creates, the conditions under which these characters work, and the way she fashions a new conducive environment for survival in post-apartheid South Africa. Wanner demonstrates that the color divide has crossed a new bridge; resulting to new opportunities, new relations and new outlooks for the female figure. This therefore provides new insights in understanding the place of the female figure in the 21 st century South Africa, and in African literature in general.