In 1997, South Africa’s most famous music star had a huge hit. Brenda Fassie’s Vulindlela became a national pop anthem, played especially at weddings and celebrations.
Vulindlela can be loosely translated from the Zulu language as an instruction to “make way” or, if you like, “clear the path”. The song is about making way for the groom (and bride) at their wedding. In 1997 South Africa was emerging from the racist apartheid system, and was celebrating its own “wedding” across the colour bar after democratic elections in 1994.
Apartheid and its policy of separate development for different ethnic groups made Black women like Fassie vulnerable and subject to rural existence or life in townships. These were residential areas on the outskirts of cities designated for Black people by the white minority rulers. Yet Fassie defied all norms.
