Kaffir Boy

At age 7, the author learns he is to go to school, which he regards as a waste of time because there are many kids who do not go and who seem to live the life that the author wants—of caddying in the white world and sleeping in abandoned cars. His mother tells him he does not know what he is talking about, and she forces him to take a thorough bath—one of the first he has ever taken. He is sore after she scrubs him thoroughly. Granny gives him some clothes to wear and tells him he is going to start school. He tries to run away, but his mother and grandmother bind his hands and feet.

As they head to school, they are stopped by a woman carrying a scuttle of coal on her cloth-covered head. She begins to cry and says: “I wish I had done that to my older son” (126). It turns out that her son has become a tsotsi instead of going to school. The author’s mother asked if he heard the woman’s sad tale.

They make their way to the principal’s office, who tells them to untie the author. Once Mathabane sees the canes behind the principal’s desk, he gives up the idea of escaping.