Today, we are meeting with Moloko. 

We meet with him every month to take him through what we are doing, decisions that we are making in cultural court, what’s happening around the world that could affect the kingdom, etc. 

It is usually an eight hour meeting. He asks us questions, he also makes suggestions and we all prepare for the month ahead. 

He hasn’t started taking these meetings seriously as yet. I guess to him, he still has a few years before he takes up the royal throne. But he is picking up the language a lot more. He is caring a lot more about decisions made in different countries. He cares a lot more when people protest in the kingdom. That’s how we know that we are making progress. 

A kiss attacks me as I’m putting files around the table. 

Mme-mofomahadi Thabi joins us. Mme-Moholo Phuthi joins us. Moholo Khotso joins us. And other Mohale elders and advisors also join us. It gets intimidating at times because some people are here to attack every decision that we make, but we honestly try our best to keep doing our best.

“Hello, Mr Mohale”, I say as I kiss my man back.

“You good?” He asks me.

“I’m good. You?” 

He smiles at me. 

I pull the pregnancy test that I peed on this morning. I give it to him.

He looks at me hard before looking at the stick. 

“You need to stop knocking me up! Inama won’t even be 2 by the time this one arrives”, I say. 

He smiles. 

He hugs me. We have a moment. 

“I love you so much”, he says as we are in this hug. 

“I love you. And I know I’ve never said this to you before simply because I’ve never known how to say it, but I’m going to say it now”, I say. 

He comes out of the hug and looks at me. 

“Thank you for choosing me, Rea. I don’t know why you looked my way. I’ll probably never know what attracted you to me… but since I said yes to you, my life changed. And you have always been intentional about the way that you love me. For that, I thank you monna waka”, I say. 

He kisses me, rubbing himself against me. He’s getting hard.

“Not here, baby”, I whisper. 

“Then let’s go to our bedroom before the meeting starts. Kea o kopa hle”, he says. 

And I actually agree. 

–

We are now in the meeting and we are deep in discussion. Moloko is really engaged. He even targets the education point with, “what Tholoana Kingdom citizen are we trying to create with our education system?” 

He almost slaps the breath out of our breaths. 

“I mean… we’ve had our education system in place for years. And it’s not to say that it’s not working because we are producing attractive professionals for international platforms. What I’m trying to understand is why the poverty is so high. Why are people trying to turn us into South African citizens where we must give them grants for breathing instead of them going out there and doing some work so that they contribute to the economy, instead of expecting the government to give them money so that they contribute to the economy. Because what I don’t want, is to ever sit in this chair and ever be told that I must go find money to give to people just because they are poor and unemployed. I don’t ever want to be a South African government”, he says. 

“We have that town that the late Mme Oluremi created with Mme-Mofomahadi Thabi, the late Morena Ona and Moholo Khotso. Houses were built for people in this economy and they have to either farm on that land, work in the shops that are in that space, and just find a way to give back to the community. This way, their rent repayment is cut shorter. That project was quite a success. The people there are even building double stories from those houses there. They are building stalls that sell pretty much anything. Even rich people go there to buy cheaper stuff and do their hair for cheaper, which is honestly great.” Rea’s assistant says. 

“But those people are forever protesting as well. They keep saying their rates are too high. There’s so much activity there. I went there with my friends the other day just to check it out. It feels like a skwatta camp with an overflow of activities and they don’t even want to pay for it. Those mansions you are talking about are shacks. What we should have probably done is put rules regarding extending that place. But it’s as if we just left them to do what they want. We said ‘stay there, good luck. We just want you to pay us for whatever you are doing here.’ That’s not progressive at all.” Moloko says. 

“There are plans with ministers to build three more towns in the township of that nature. We’ve seen the success of that town, economically. From a socio-economic perspective, we do have work to do and I guess this pilot project is our learning. And what I’m hearing you say is that you want that place fixed before we start a new one. Happy to implement that”, Rea says.

Moloko is more respectful to Rea and I. 

“Thank you, Abuti”, Moloko says.

“Maybe you could also start joining some of the projects. You have a lot to contribute, and it would be nice for you to also start meeting your people”, I suggest.

“That’s a good idea. But only join at random times. Don’t have a predictable schedule. We still have to keep you protected as the next king”, Mme-mofomahadi Thabi says. 

“So, our ideal Tholoana Kingdom citizen please”, Moloko brings us back to his original question. 

We spend about six hours putting this citizen together. From kindergarten right up to university graduation… then the citizen in the workplace. We position the citizen in the workplace, in a business, and in the community. 

We take a break. Lord knows I need a nap. And I use our hour long break to sleep. 

I am woken up after my hour long break, and we spend the next few hours putting together a strategy of how we achieve this ideal Tholoana Citizen. This strategy will be implemented in schools, kindergartens and universities. It will be implemented in graduate programs and entry level jobs as well. 

By the time we finish, we agree that we will meet up the following week again to give the strategy a second pair of eyes before we go to our ministers. I don’t even have dinner with everyone at the table after this. I want to spend the last 30min of Inama’s day with her. I feel like I haven’t seen her today and all Inama does is grow. She just grows so much and I really don’t want to be missing out on her life. Her father and I are just so busy and it’s beginning to feel unfair. 

She’s also talking now. That part is bizarre for me. But I’m enjoying her a lot more now because she tells me about things that are somewhat interesting to her. The best part of these interesting things for her is that they bring me back to basics. They teach me to be a lot more mindful and appreciative of the simple things in life. 

Inama lives for our Saturday mornings because we bake something together. When her father is not busy, he joins us. We record these – obviously we don’t share them on any platform – but it is for us to put these memories together for her one day. Mohau is very much part of these baking sessions with us. The reason I’m not spending time with him today is because he is visiting his grandparents and sister in South Africa. We let him spend time with them over his school holidays and long weekends. I know that there are plans of the sister coming to join us at some point. I won’t lie, I’m dreading every minute of it. I’m even taking therapy sessions just to wrap my mind around it and prepare myself for that girl’s mouth and attitude. Lord, please be with me. 

It’s finally time for Inama to sleep. Her nanny had already bathed and fed her. So, I’m the one that puts her to sleep. 

And it’s honestly the highlight of my day. 

After she sleeps, I head downstairs to eat. I know everyone is probably done eating by now. 

I warm up my plate of food, then start eating. I’ll have my meal with water. I don’t feel like a drink with taste this evening. 

“Hey sis”, Moloko startles me.

I look at him.

“Hey. You good?” Me.

“Yeah. I just need your advice on something, please. This is something that I only trust you enough to talk about”, he says.

“Okay. But I must admit that you are scaring me”, I say.

“It’s not like that. I promise”, he says.

Okay then.

We settle around the kitchen island. I eat. He pours himself some juice and we start talking. 

“So, I like dating girls and I like dating boys. I find them both interesting for different reasons. I also know that I’m going to want to be with more than one woman once marriage starts being a thing in my life because I want people to come into my life as my wives and have a purpose to the country”, he says.

I mean… we’ve all always wondered why a girlfriend is not a thing for him. Even Moholo Khotso has asked me if I think Moloko is gay. 

“Okay. So you need me to?” I ask.

“Advise me, please. How do I make it work without creating chaos in our sacred and royal land?” He says.

“Well, you could build royal residences. There are some countries that do that… where kings will build their wives their own houses so that they don’t live in the main royal house. Then you go there when you want to see them. They’ll have all the benefits that they would have had here, but in their own houses. Then this house remains that house of the elders. And they can’t go to each other’s houses looking for you. It establishes clear boundaries. Then you can have your own house… yours where you can entertain your man”, I say. 

He actually thinks about it, as if considering it. 

“Remember that with polygamy in any case, your wives shouldn’t be living together in the first place. So you wouldn’t be doing anything different by implementing this”, I say.

He nods in agreement. 

“How much would it cost me to do that? And wouldn’t the people call me a trash leader for building massive houses for my wives while the country is struggling?” He asks me.

“Fair point. But then we call them the houses of the community. What that means is that when there are small community initiatives that don’t have to take place here at the main royal house, each royal residence hosts the people of that community by cooking for them, by providing whatever the community requires of them. Marrying you makes them “Mme wabona”. So the royal residence shouldn’t just be for the wives’ benefit, but it should also benefit the community as they are paying for it in some way or another”, I say.

“I really like this. I do. Do you mind if the two of us just work on how this would work from a budget perspective then we could take it to everyone else? I know that the church comes in for such things, but the reality is that’s not what we can talk about when we talk budget to the people”, I say.

I nod my head.

“Thanks sis”, he says.

“You are going to make a great king, Moloko. I already believe in your vision”, I say.

He hugs me then says, “you are the best decision that this council has made”. 

Ncaaaawwwww…

I’m waking up this morning feeling quite tired. And today, I’m checking on projects that my friends are spear-heading, ensuring that the support they are getting from the royal house matches the support they’ll be giving to the communities. 

As I stretch, my husband walks in with breakfast for me. Inama is right there with him. She is quite the early riser. 

“Good morning”, I greet them. 

Hubby kisses me first, then Inama kisses me too. 

We all get into the bed and have an entire discussion while eating. It’s nice. I actually live for these moments. 

We get out of bed and we prepare for the day ahead. 

I kiss my daughter goodbye as her nanny and driver come to collect her to take her to crèche. They don’t close. Thank goodness.

As Rea and I start preparing to leave to approach the day ahead, security informs me that a Tono is at the gate claiming to be my sister and she needs to see me. 

I ask them to let her in. 

But she’s going to have to do work with me today. I can’t just cancel my day.

“Will you be fine, baby?” Rea asks me.

“I’ll be good, love”, I say.

“I was hoping to find a gap in our calendars today and go see the doctor about your pregancy”, he says.

“That would really be great. It’s so hectic that I forgot that I need to do that”, I say.

“Please alert your PA to action this. Please, love”, he says.

I nod my head.

We kiss.

“Bra, your men-in-black are so hectic! You are my sister!” Tono says as the golf cart drops her off next to me.

“They are doing their jobs, Tono. Don’t make it difficult for them. I’m also working, so whatever you want to talk about, we will have to discuss in the car”, I say.

“What about my car? They wouldn’t even let me drive it in”, she says.

“You have a car? Congratulations!” I say.

“Yes. Mrembula asked me to marry him. I said yes. He bought me a BMW X5”, she says with the biggest smile ever. Even Rea laughs. We are happy for her. 

“I’ll ask security to park it in the yard”, Rea says.

“Thank you”, Tono says.

We get into our car, then our driver drives off.

She had come to tell me that she and Mrembula are getting married. Her kids have also moved in with her and Mrembula. She’s also learned that Mrembula has five kids roaming this earth. So nje, they have eight children collectively that they are now living with and raising. Mrembula told her that she doesn’t have to work. He will do everything for her. His only ask is that she looks after their home and their children. She’s happily agreed to that. I love this side of her. It’s beautiful. 

“Mama is not happy for me”, she says. 

“Did you ask her why?” I ask.

“No. I mean, she never said that she’s not happy for me. I just see it in how she is. She was excited for your wedding. She was happy for you. With me, she just doesn’t care.” She says.

“Do you want me to talk to her?” I offer. 

“Please. Look, I know I’ve messed up. I know I’ve hurt her along the way. But I need her to forgive me. I want to have a relationship with her. When I made those mistakes, I was also just trying to survive. I’m sorry that my decisions embarrassed her. But I’d like us to put it behind us and move on”, she says. 

“I’ll speak to her. Look, she is hurt, Tono. You really did hurt her all those times that you were out there. And I know that you were trying to fend for yourself, but you also need to acknowledge the wounds that you’ve left in her”, I say.

“What about the wounds that she left in me? She was not exactly the best mother neither. She was a drunken prostitute exposing us all to danger with the men she allowed to rape her in the house while we were sleeping on the floor of the TV room”, she says. 

“Tono, we have to let that stuff go. We just have to. We cannot keep holding onto that stuff. It was a very painful time in our lives. If it means that we must all go to therapy, then so be it. Nna, my wish is that we forgive each other and celebrate each other for how far we’ve come. We didn’t allow that situation to break us. Look at us. Surely, we deserve to love each other and celebrate with each other now that we are here”, I say.

She’s quiet, as if thinking. 

“Are you happy for me?” She asks me. 

“Of course I am. You deserve this happiness. And Mrembula clearly loves you. Don’t sabotage yourself”, I say.

“I’m trying watsiba. I’ve even started reading books about love. I want to learn how to love him the way that he needs to be loved. Because he also comes from a broken place. He was an orphan. He was raised by a woman who took abandoned children and turned them into criminals or slaves. So he’s always craved a home, warmth and love. I don’t want to trigger him. I want him to know that he is safe with me. And my mom or our grandmother didn’t reallly show us how we do that for the men that we love”, she says. 

“He really found his match in you. And I applaud you for trying”, I say.

“I have to try, hle. I really do. Now I do things like massage him, buy him random gifts to remind him that I love him. I always make him tea in the morning with baked scones. And I learned how to bake the scones myself. He appreciates it. And we sit and enjoy these together like an old couple before the kids wakes up and he has to start his day”, she says.

She’s so cute bathong! 

“He even does nice things for me too… things that not even mama did for me. You know, Mapho, for the first time in my life… I feel loved.” She says.

We hug. 

“I hope we will be done with whatever you are taking me to by 11. I have to go back home so that I can get the kids from school”, she says.

I’ll definitely not be done by then.

“I’ll ask the driver to bring you back so you can collect your car then leave. I’ll speak to Mamholo a bit later”, I say.

She smiles and agrees.

“I’m proud of us”, I say.

“I’m thinking… maybe we can get Lele to get a license. Then we can buy her a car so that she can help mamholo with getting around so mamholo doesn’t use a taxi all the time when she wants to get around”, I say. 

“That’s not a bad idea. And she actually speaks to me now. So I’ll chat to her and let you know what she says”, she says.

I smiles at her then say, “we are going to be okay”. 

“We are going to be great”, she reassures me. 

We hold hands and smile at each other.