Leaving The Shadows Behind: Uncensored Truth- Marriage, Life and Death

By Indlovukazi Mapule

Our shadows say so much about who we are, literally and figuratively. Yet, if you walk into the light, your shadow remains, but it will fall behind if you allow it to. Indlovukazi Mapule's life finds relief when she aligns herself with the light from the sun and realises she can leave her shadows whenever she wants to. She bears testimony that when you live your life filled with positive energy, in tune with thoughts and actions from your Higher Power, these shadows can fall away. Reading through these pages, we find that no matter the challenges we are faced with, we have this choice daily to move into the sun or continue to chase our shadows. It is her wish that the readers of this book always remember to face the sun and leave their shadows behind. Indlovukazi Mapule shares the power of walking towards the sun and readily embracing the light despite being bruised by life's challenges through humiliation, disappointment, family disputes, all types of abuse and being widowed at a young age.

Her private life has been subjected to public scrutiny, so she decided to share with the world and clear some distorted information about who she is, giving insight into her life with the legendary radio presenter, Bongani Cyril "Kansas City" Mchunu and her journey of stepping away from the shadows of his fame.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Indlovukazi Mapule
• Release date: Jun 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9780620880664

Book preview

LEAVING THE SHADOWS BEHIND

Uncensored Truth-Marriage, Life and Death

By Indlovukazi Mapule

Ebook published by: Stoneface Communications

Copyright 2019 by Indlovukazi Mapule

Smashwords Edition

Edited by Inspired Scribe Set in Sabon LT 12/16

eBook ISBN 978-0-620-88066-4

Cover design by Alex Maphosa Photography by Siya Meyiwa

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

To my late mother uMntwana Nkosinathi, my late sister, Her Royal Highness Nokuthula Bompie & Daughter ZamaShuku Shangase.

To all the young women broken but not bruised, be encouraged, you are a spiritual being before any written book, you have authority and power within you. You are a conqueror.

CONTENTS

Foreword

This is my voice

Chapter 1 - It’s a hard knock life

Chapter 2- Leaving the shadow behind

Chapter 3 - Out running the shadow

Chapter 4 - Surrender to love

Chapter 5 - Call me Indlovukazi

Chapter 6 - I’m a self-starter

Chapter 7 - The airwave chose me

Chapter 8 - A drama queen of note

Chapter 9 - The pinnacle of grace

Chapter 10 - Breaking the backlash

The reason

Acknowledgements

FOREWORD

When Indlovukazi Mapule told me that she was going to write a book about her life as a cultural and traditional sacrificial lamb, young widow, a newly married woman, it was all I could do to keep from smirking at the thought. Sure, Q, I said – Q is how I call her since her early radio days when she was dubbed the Queen of the airways by her listeners. I tried to encourage her as she started the project, but inwardly, I was very sceptical. A book on your personal life falls beyond the grasp of mere mortals. But your whole life? That is a mammoth task I thought to myself.

I encountered a jaw-dropping moment when I first heard Mapule sharing her story of abuse with viewers of the community television broadcaster 1KZNTV. As Women in Media Network members, we were guests on the show that addressed different types of abuse. I heard the story for the first time, and in her I saw a brave woman, ready for transformation, and to leave her past where it belonged in the past.

Indlovukazi Mapule is a revered giant in the field of gifted teaching, enlightening us over the years regarding moral sensitivity, creativity, leadership ability, and unearthing and developing the spiritually gifted – all this while she herself continues along her spiritual journey. Her debut book, Leaving the Shadows Behind is a treasure for gifted young people, troubled souls, teachers, counsellors, parents, mentors and friends. This book integrates insights regarding the social and emotional characteristics of the individual. Everyone will discover themselves in these pages.

The content of this book confirms the complexities and challenges posed by the past. I underestimated Indlovukazi Mapule’s obstinance and tenacity. What struck me even more than Mapule’s fertile life experiences was her utter lack of pretence. The let-it-all-hang-out honesty made her writing not only accessible, but relatable, where all the monsters and Samaritans who crossed her path were recognizable human characters that evoked raw emotions. Perhaps the most daunting challenge which faced Mapule on this project was to consider the feelings of the families of her abusers; innocent family members that were not aware of what their elders did to her when they were young. In conversation with her, she stated that she sometimes comes across these individuals and feels pity for them. As much as she has long awaited the moment to get all her negative life experiences off her chest, she chose to not reveal their identities.

What comes through again and again in Mapule’s writing is her ability to cope with, interpret, and navigate the real world in which we all live; making it a mind-blowing read. It’s all here. Honest expression, serious purpose, perverse utterances. And even fearlessness, when Mapule boldly - and bravely - seeks, vis-a-vis her campaign to peel off labels, to obliterate the term isitabane from those who wield the word to indict the immorality of others and confirm their sanctitude. She advocates for the restoration of the dignity of the LGBTIQ+ community members to be treated and seen as ‘normal’ human beings. Leaving the Shadows Behind, packed as it was with bleak truths, difficult topics and ironically a lesson not to judge a person unless you have walked a mile in their shoes, was not all that I was expecting. I couldn't help but brace myself for self-pitying anecdotes as a result of harrowing life altering moments – but I found none of that. What I got was an utter shock and a sincere and concise road map of one brave lady's fight against her odds. Indlovukazi Mapule is so straightforward in addressing her despair that I couldn't help but extend more sympathy than I thought I could muster to her understated suffering. If nothing else, this book taught me that my own bouts of the blues are simply me being human and could be so much more debilitating. For that clarity of self-awareness alone, I am grateful.

Reading this book offered necessary perspective that helped me get a better idea of what it must have been like inside such a dishevelled life. I finished this autobiography a few days after its final draft with a keener understanding of what Mapule endured which is more than I'm comfortable with. There is no doubt that for Indlovukazi Mapule, writing this book was a labour of justice and love.

Finally, Indlovukazi Mapule has put together all those life encounters which bring back personal memories of long- lost insufficiency and humiliation. The book will surely serve as a manual for those who are experiencing the same and those who are about to put themselves in awkward situations in the name of love or in a fight to validate themselves through other people.

This is a remarkable book, an almanac rolled into one. It is a single, bright sword that cuts through heart strings as one delves further through the murky pages of Mapule’s lifecycle and a beacon of hope that girds weak knees to rise up and fight another day.

Thank You, Indlovukazi Mapule for this honest account.

Gugu ‘Donsy Kunene’ Madonsela

June 2019

THIS IS MY VOICE

This book is long overdue. I have at many stations of my life thought of penning a book but never got around to doing it. This is a brief biographic account of my life with all its ups and downs in the hopes that through this book, you may glean a pearl of wisdom that can enhance or transform your life in the same way that all my life experiences have shaped mine. My life is not like most people’s. I may have encountered some events in my life that are similar to another’s, but they can never be identical as we are all different and experience life’s challenges and triumphs in dissimilar ways.

Like most people, I have found myself being misunderstood. The difference in my experience is that I decided to lay all negativity aside and live my life as an individual, perfecting everything I touch with my hands and words regardless of people who challenge me with opposing views. I no longer fear opposition but use the fear of it to catapult me to new heights.

If you perceive this book as just another hard luck story you won’t reap its full benefits. This is not me having a pity party and inviting you to join me. This is me giving you the proverbial body shake to say, despite anything you go through in life, you can get up, dust yourself off and start afresh. That is why it’s called a new day. It’s for new beginnings.

My speaking skills have drawn me close to people of various ages, most of whom have expressed curiosity about this Queen and how she got to own her throne. This book is for you. Everyone has had a say about my life –the liars, the rumour mongers, the bad press, even close members of my family circle and friends. This is my voice. Hear it.

CHAPTER 1

IT’S A HARD KNOCK LIFE

It’s the 12th and final round. You can hear a pin drop in the arena, such is the silent intrigue. The bell rings and the Opponent comes in blazing with a swinging right and gets nothing, but she lands a juicy one in the centre of the ring. Mapule drops to the canvas and curls up like a ball to take it and absorb any follow up punches - none arrive as the referee begins to count.

Mapule! Mapule! the crowd now chanting. They want a bit more from their contender. She’s taken so many hard knocks in the previous rounds and it looks like her fighting spirit is reaching its limit. But she has done well; nobody thought she would make it past the third round. My word this is tense. Mapule gets up, touches her opponent’s glove then shuffles and leans back into the ropes out of range to catch her breath. The clock is ticking. The Opponent comes at her with a series of jabs; she pushes out and counters with a straight right. A very good shot. She follows it with a left hook that shakes her opponent. Mapule lands another quick straight right to the face of the Opponent, a shot of encouragement and the underdog follows it up with a strong hook further shaking the Opponent who fails to return the punches. Mapule’s confidence is oozing now as she releases thunderous jabs to the upper body and a series of upper cuts. She’s giving it everything she’s got; she knows she is closing in on greatness. She gets in close, upper-cut lands, the Opponent is down! You could hear that one. The crowd roars as the referee counts. This is it! The final second’s countdown.

The Opponent is not getting up. Yes! Mapule has done it. She is the new heavyweight champion! She came in as the underdog but tonight she walks away with her first ever win and the first contender to ever knock out the Opponent. Mapule has made history!

I’m a regular boxing fan, and the above commentary evokes a power in me that I believe we all possess within us. That power, no matter what you choose to call it, I believe is what has kept me throughout the many years of struggles that I have endured during my younger years to becoming the woman I am today.

The illustration speaks to the resilience of the human spirit to endure the hard knocks of life and to get up and face the next