Beasts of Nalunga IV Poem by Jack Mapanje

Ask whoever cares to know
ask whoever wants to remember
ask Chilobwe, Mchesi, other
township or country chiefs,
they'll show you the blood
their despotic regime once
swapped for apartheid gold -
wherever Young Pioneers
with their ‘spearhead' this
and ‘spearhead' that stood
sentry. As for today's born-
again Young Democrats ask
Chiwere, cheSomba or other
chiefs, they'll testify to blood-
letting rituals that have come
with the new liberties which
other beasts summon in order
to wheedle western food-aid
and beat the eternal famines,
malarias, AIDs, plagues that
our western pharmaceuticals
patented by their beasts of
the IMF, World Bank, forever
profit from whichever way
our politicians may dispute
the origins of our burdens.