Detective Kubu 01; A Carrion Death

by Michael Stanley

  “There is one more thing, Superintendent. Dianna talked about killing the leopard when she was about to leave with her mother. When she said it, it didn’t sound at all like her voice. It sounded more like a boy talking. Her mother went as white as a sheet. She said it was Daniel’s voice. Dianna just seemed confused, unaware of what she’d done. It worried me quite a bit, though. We agreed to meet again the following week, but she didn’t come back. I never saw either of them again.”

  Kubu walked to the parking lot and climbed into his car. He didn’t start the engine, but sat thinking of a boy and a girl alone on a koppie. Something had happened there that had destroyed them both, and then later swallowed Angus too. He shook his head. It was time to move on. In fact, checking his watch, he realised that he would be late for a meeting with Edison on their new case. He started the car and reversed into the street. He started to sing the bird-catcher aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute.

  ∨ A Carrion Death ∧

  Authors’ Note

  Botswana is a country of breathtaking variety, from the semi-desert of the Kalahari to the lush waterways of the Okavango and the riverine forests of the Linyanti. The peoples, too, are diverse. The Bushmen, or Barsawa or San, eke a living from the arid areas by skill and knowledge, and have been doing so for over twenty thousand years. The Batswana people constitute more than half the population and speak Setswana, regarded as the national language, although English is the official language.

  The country was granted independence from Britain in 1966, and has enjoyed a stable and peaceful democracy for forty years, despite unrest in all its neighbours. This is not to say that tensions are absent between race groups and cultures, nor that twenty-first-century technologies have overwhelmed ingrained superstitions, beliefs and prejudices. In which country is that not true?

  The people are friendly, and believe in courtesy and in dignified traditional ways. In the early 1960s, the country had a subsistence economy, but after independence the economy grew as a result of beef exports and mineral discoveries. The stability and natural wonders attracted tourists from abroad, and the economy began to improve. But it was the development of fabulously rich diamond mines in the 1970s and early 1980s that propelled the country on to a rapid growth path, sometimes in conflict with traditional values and beliefs. These mines are run by Debswana, a joint venture between the government and the international De Beers diamond giant. Diamond miners and traders have their own agendas throughout Africa, and Botswana is no exception.

  We invented a conglomerate—the Botswana Cattle and Mining Company—privately owned and ubiquitous in the south of the country, and used it as a pivot for the financial tensions of the story. Such companies and their impacts are common elsewhere in Africa, but, perhaps fortunately, not in Botswana.

  Botswana has a dedicated and efficient police force, and a judicial system that believes in punishment as well as rehabilitation. The Criminal Investigation Department is based in the capital, Gaborone, Its offices are in a newer area of the city to the west, between the reservoir and a small group of hills erupting from the plains. From one of these offices, Assistant Superintendent David ‘Kubu’ Bengu would look out at Kgale Hill.

  ∨ A Carrion Death ∧

  Glossary

  Afrikaans A language of southern Africa derived from Dutch.

  Afrikaner White inhabitant of southern Africa whose home language is Afrikaans.

  bakkie South African slang for a pickup truck.

  Batswana Plural adjective or noun: “The people of Botswana are known as Batswana.” See Motswana.

  BCMC Botswana Cattle and Mining Company—a fictitious company.

  Bechuanaland Name for Botswana when it was a British protectorate.

  Bushmen A race small in size and number, many of whom live in the Kalahari area. They refer to themselves as the San people (see Khoisan). In Botswana sometimes they are referred to as the Basarwa.

  dagga Cannabis or marijuana (Cannabis sativa).

  Debswana Diamond-mining joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government.

  dipheko Setswana for ‘medicine’—usually from a witch doctor.

  donga A dry river course, usually with steep sides.

  dumela Setswana for ‘hello’ or ‘good day’.

  eland World’s largest antelope (Taurotragus oryx).

  erica Plant genus with 605 species indigenous to South Africa.

  fynbos A distinctive community of plants occurring in south western South Africa. Ericas and proteas are part of this community, as are restios.

  Gabs Common shortening for Gaborone.

  gemsbok See oryx.

  genet Genetta genetta; small member of the Viverridae family, which includes mongoose and civet. Often mistakenly thought of as being part of the cat family.

  ja Afrikaans for ‘yes’

  Joburg Common shortening for Johannesburg. Kamissa Khoi word for ‘place of sweet water’. Kamissa was the name the San gave to the area that became Cape Town.

  kgosi yamanong Setswana for ‘lappet-faced vulture’. One of the largest of the vultures (Torgos tracheliotus).

  Khoi Hottentots (see Khoisan).

  Khoisan Khoisan is the name by which the lighter-skinned indigenous peoples of southern Africa, the Khoi (Hottentots) and the San (Bushmen), are known. These people dominated the subcontinent for millennia before the appearance of the Nguni and other black peoples.

  koppie Afrikaans for ‘small hill’.

  kubu Setswana for ‘hippopotamus’.

  kudu Large antelope (Tragelaphusstrepsiceros). kwanza Angolan currency. 100 centavos = 1 kwanza.

  Landy Term of affection for a Land Rover.

  mokoro Watercraft commonly made by hollowing out the trunk of a sausage tree (Kigeliapinnata). Also made from other trees. It is propelled by a long pole held by someone standing on the back.

  manong Setswana for Vultures’ (pl).

  mielie Corn.

  Mma Respectful term in Setswana used when addressing a woman. For example, ‘Dumela, Mma Bengu’ means “Hello, Mrs Bengu.”

  mokoe Setswana for the ‘grey go-away bird’, so named from its call (Corythaixoides concolor).

  mopane The tree Mopane colophospermum. These beautiful trees with their distinctive butterfly-shaped leaves can take the form of shrubs or trees growing up to thirty metres high.

  morokaapula Setswana for the ‘rainmaker’ bird, a type of cuckoo.

  morubisi Setswana for ‘owl’.

  Motswana Singular adjective or noun. “That man from Botswana is a Motswana.” See Batswana.

  mowa Setswana for ‘breath’.

  MPLA Portuguese: Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola). Ruling party in Angola from 1975.

  nee Afrikaans for ‘no’.

  ntshu Setswana for ‘eagle’.

  oke South African slang for ‘bloke’.

  oryx In southern Africa, the Cape oryx (Oryxgazella), a large antelope with long, straight horns.

  pan A basin or depression in the earth, often containing mud or water.

  pap Smooth maize-meal porridge, often eaten with the fingers and dipped into a meat or vegetable stew.

  pappa le nama Setswana for pap and meat’.

  protea Plant genus with 360 species indigenous to South Africa. Protea cynaroides, king protea, is the national flower of South Africa.

  pula Currency of Botswana. Pula means ‘rain’ in Setswana. 100 thebes = 1 pula.

  rand Currency of South Africa. 100 cents = 1 rand.

  riempie Leather strands that are interlaced to make chair seats.

  Rra Respectful term in Setswana used when addressing a man. For example, “Dumela, Rra Bengu’ means ‘Hello, Mr Bengu.”

  San Bushmen people. See Khoisan.

  segodi Setswana for ‘hawk’.

  serothe Setswana for the ‘fork-tailed drongo’ bird.

  sethunya Setswana for ‘flower’.

  Setswana Language of the
Tswana peoples.

  steelworks Drink made from cola tonic, ginger beer, soda water and bitters.

  strelitzia Bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae). Indigenous to South Africa.

  thebe Smallest denomination of Botswanan currency (see pula).

  veld Grassy undulating plateau of southern Africa.

  EOF