Sky-Birds & Ravishers

“Sky-birds and Ravishers is a matter-of-fact account of an earthly Hell, a South African jail. Kheswa’s eye is unflinching: the horrors—of institutionalised rape and degradation—are told in a brisk, almost casual way, which renders them all the more immediate. It’s a dark, visceral read, with just a glimmer of hope at the end. Compelling, raw and memorable.” – Simon Maginn, Author of ‘Sheep’.

21-year-old, Sosobala NoZulu, is part of a notorious gang, called CMB, Cash Money Brothers, based in Durban. He lives a fast and reckless life, often involved in car theft, and bank robberies. When his girlfriend, Sandy Gumede is brutally raped, he decides to take the law in his own hands and kills the rapist, Sifiso Mkhize in cold blood, at the Umlazi Executive Hotel. Sosobala is arrested and found guilty and sentenced to a maximum of ten years imprisonment for the first-degree murder of Sifiso. He arrives at the Westville Prison and is recruited by Chopper to join the 26’s gang. He tows the line until a young man arrives in their cell and his abuse in the dead of night galvanises Sosobala to intervene, which results in a string of unintended consequences.

Musa Kheswa is a reformed gangster, and he wrote this book as a warning for the youngsters in the townships who idolise gangsters without realizing how bad life in South African prisons are.