Now is the Time for Running

Philani explains to Deo why the men from Khomele hate him and Innocent. He tells them that before people from Zimbabwe started coming across the river, the men from Khomele worked at the Flying Tomato Farm and made 400 rand a month. However, now that the farm uses cheap refugee labor, the men from the village have lost their source of income. He explains that the word they called Deo and Innocent means “foreigner. Outsider. One who does not belong” (93). Deo also starts to understand why the other men who work on the farm are angry; they understand that they are being vastly underpaid compared to the wages that the men from Khomele used to make. However, they have no choice but to accept the work, or the foreman will call the police and send them back to Zimbabwe.

Philani tells Deo that “life in Jozi [Johannesburg] is better” and that he has a friend who makes 1,000 rand per month (94). Deo and Innocent are stunned by the prospect of so much money. Philani says that if Deo and Innocent can pay for the taxi to take all three of them to Johannesburg, he will help them to find good jobs and give them a place to stay once they arrive. The taxi will cost them 300 rand in total. Deo and Innocent agree to Philani’s plan.

Deo, Innocent, and Philani take a taxi to Johannesburg. Along the way, they buy new clothes and lottery tickets; Philani tells them that they could all become millionaires. Deo also buys them all fast food, and it is “the best meal [he] has ever had” (98). Philani is unable to pay for anything himself; he claims to have no money because his uncle keeps his farm wages. When they get to Johannesburg, Philani starts acting strange. They must take another taxi to a place called Alexandra, and this necessity forces Deo to spend more of their money. 

They get to Alexandra, which they discover is a township. The streets are dark, and there are many shacks and huts packed close together. Philani takes them to a shack, where they meet a man who seems very unhappy to see them. He tells them that they can sleep there for one night but that in the morning they must leave because the residents “don’t want any refugees here” (101). Deo is angry and confused but does not get a chance to confront Philani. He and Innocent get locked into a shed for the night. At first, Deo takes his frustration out on Innocent, but then Innocent helps Deo memorize their father’s work phone number so they can try to find him.

A week passes. Having nowhere else to go, Deo and Innocent are now living on the streets of Alexandra. They have run out of money and have not seen Philani again. Life is very dangerous for them; they have to run from the police and the security guards. They must also avoid the residents of Alexandra, who are very poor and do not want refugees staying in their township. One day, while the brothers huddle around a fire during a storm, Deo hears some other refugees talking about how they have been forced to close their shops.

Deo realizes that Innocent has disappeared. He starts to panic and goes looking for him. Eventually, he meets a man who tells him that he knows where Innocent is. He takes Deo through a hole in the roof of a bridge. There is a makeshift shelter inside, and several people live there. Deo sees Innocent playing cards with two children. The man introduces himself as Gawalia and tells Deo that he is also from Zimbabwe. Deo also meets Angel, a sex worker; Catarina Manungo and Rais Sewika, a restaurant worker and a musician who want to get married; and Tsepo and Rasta, Gawalia’s children. All are refugees. Gawalia tells Deo that he and Innocent can have a place to sleep with them under the bridge if they agree to look after Tsepo and Rasta while the adults are at work. Deo agrees.

Five months pass, and Deo and Innocent have made a comfortable home for themselves under the bridge. Angel lets Deo use her cell phone to call his father’s workplace. When Deo is too nervous to make the call, Angel calls for him. She learns that Deo and Innocent’s father was laid off from his job five years ago and left no forwarding address. Deo is disappointed. Gawalia arrives and tells them that there is trouble in Alexandra and that he needs help “at Ahmed’s spaza” where he works (114). A spaza is a small shop, and Ahmed is a refugee from Somalia. Deo follows Gawalia to the spaza. There is smoke rising above Alexandra, and Deo can hear the sound of sirens. When they arrive at Ahmed’s spaza, Gawalia and Ahmed tell Deo that they need to load as much food into their wheelbarrow as possible and that “they will be here any minute” (114). Someone outside the shop throws a rock at Ahmed, and it shatters a window. 

The sounds of singing, shouting, and police sirens grow louder. Gawalia, Ahmed, and Deo barricade themselves in the shop, but voices order Ahmed to come out. The voices tell all foreigners to go back to their own countries, and they use the same derogatory word that Deo heard the men from Khomele use. Ahmed decides to go speak to the men outside, but before he can reason with them, they grab him and begin beating him. Deo sees blood. Gawalia drags Deo away, and they run from the mob. The streets are in chaos; people are running, flames are spreading, and a group of men wielding sticks and axes threatens to kill any foreigners who do not leave. The men are heading toward the bridge.

Deo and Gawalia run back to the bridge. Deo is terrified for Innocent, Tsepo, and Rasta. When they arrive at the bridge, they realize that they are too late. All their belongings have been destroyed and lie scattered on the ground, and everyone is gone. Gawalia decides that they should look for Innocent and the children at the police station. On their way, they see “a river of people crossing the highway and running away from Alexandra” (119). They have no luck finding Innocent, Angel, Tsepo, or Rasta at the crowded police station, but they hear that many people have gone to a nearby Methodist church. At the church, there are even more people. Gawalia and Deo split up to look for the missing people from their group, but without success. Deo hopes that Innocent is with the others. 

In the morning, they go back to the police station and fill out missing persons reports. They hear bad news from Alexandra and learn that the police were fighting with the mob all night. Finally, they see Rais and Catarina come running down the street with Tsepo and Rasta. Deo asks where Innocent is, and Rais explains that he was with them, but he “went mad when [they] told him he had to stay [with them]” and wanted to go back to the bridge to get his Bix-box (122). Deo is angry that Rais let Innocent leave. He decides to go back to the bridge to look for Innocent.

At the bridge, Deo finds Angel, who has been beaten and is covered in blood. She tells him that her attackers “were tired of paying a k*********. They wanted it for free” (125). (In her explanation, she uses the xenophobic word that Deo has heard several times now.) She also says that Innocent tried to help her, but the men took Innocent outside. Deo goes to look for his brother. He sees two policemen and runs toward them to ask for help. Next to the policemen is a pile of burnt garbage, and Deo can see Innocent’s Bix-box in the pile. The policemen tell Deo to leave, but, in the midst of the garbage, Deo sees “the shape of a human head, lying on its side. The shape of an arm and a hand, stretched out toward the Bix-box” (126). In this moment, he realizes that Innocent has been murdered.