NIGHTFALL IN SOWETO- OSWALD MTSHALI

This poem creates a picture of Nightfall in South Africa during colonialsm. Night became a period characterized by insecurity, fear and violence. It is ironical that night which is supposed to bring peace is feared by people in Soweto. The natural role of night to bring rest to man after daily activities, is rather replaced as the poet compares nightfall to a dreaded disease.
This disease, the poet says seep through the pores of an healthy body and ravages it beyond repair. This is to say, the peaceful setting is forcefully invaded by Nightfall as its effects is dreadful.
Nightfall is here personified, giving to it the role of human capable of destroying and ravaging the town. Nightfall becomes a mask for criminals, when different inhumane crimes are committed.
The image of a murderer with a dagger on his hands is created on Stanza 2. This murderer strikes down an helpless victim, a victim who is unable to fight back in the face of a dagger.
The poet personae says he is the victim of this barbaric act. When night comes, the fear of his helplessness make him hide.
He asserts that man has ceased to be man, a man is a beast and another, the prey. Disunity now reigns among humans, the unity which had existed has ceased as a man now kill a fellow man.
The poet personae is a representation of all South Africans, who are the preys, while the white colonialists are the beasts. The use of beast to qualify the whites is to parallel their attitude to that of a beast.
The poet personae has no place of refuge nor a place to lay his head. After the heavy works during the day, the blacks see night as a period they can be relieved of their burdens. It is this night that provides them cover to move about as they can't move freely during the day without a pass. This often cause people to move illegally at night, so the law agencies also parade.
The actions of these law agencies is what the poet personae fears. His little home where he barricades himself is not even  enough to keep him from the horrors of the night, as their peace is invaded by the heavy knocks of these law agencies.They bark like a dog thirsty for the poet personae's blood.
In the last stanza, he directly addresses night, calling it his mortal enemy. The creation of night is being questioned, as the poet personae wishes life can forever be in daytime.

All in all, the poem addresses the violence experienced at night in South Africa. Just as the colour of the night, black, is associated with evil, evil things are done at night in this place.
At the end of Apartheid, South Africa was rated having the highest violent crimes in the whole world. It was a society characterized by inhumanity to man, just as exemplified by the beast's attack of the prey. This is a metaphor that expresses the inhumane nature  of man.
Images of violence, destruction, fear, insecurity are all created with a metaphoric framework