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summary

The narrator starts by giving a brief history of the village. When first asked about resettlement he is positive about it. He considers that more people will benefit from than be hurt by the project. He says that the water project has promised 50 years of compensation, and says that if this is not correct he will complain to the government. However, he regrets leaving such good pastures for animals, and leaving behind ancestors’ graves.

The focus is on agricultural and grazing practices. These sections are rather factual. There is an explanation of cannabis production where he explains that he has been in jail and that people in the villages often smoke it.

detailed breakdown

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Section 1	Agriculture: types of crops.
Section 2	Three children. Originally from Mohale Hoek. Interesting history of settlement formation. The Chief Tsapane brought his women to grow wheat in this area and then they stayed.
Section Section 3-4	Use of manure, no need for artificial fertilisers. Snow and frost – disappear quickly. Growing cannabis.
Section Section 5-6	Smoking cannabis, but people “do not abuse it”. Trading cannabis crop: buyers come from many places (including Europeans from, for example, Durban).
Section 7	Has been arrested for selling cannabis in town: “I am already the father of jails.” Villages that depend on the food the valley produces. Building of the new road: “This road by its coming, it has caused lightness…. But now there it is useless because we are leaving now.”
Section 8-9	Relatively positive about water project; thinks moving will open up opportunities for many people. Concerned about the graves and what new pastures the animals might have. Believes compensation will be for 50 years. Advantages of highland life. Better grass and better-quality cattle: “Our cows grow old here and they have seven calves…. and its teeth would even get ground down in the mouth [from old age].”
Section 10	Explains how weeding and ploughing is done. Who should be held responsible for disruption and relocation: “…this fault we shall put it on the shoulders of the king together with the government”.
Section 11-12	If profits from water do not reach resettled populations, he will complain to the government. Grazing practices. Differences between agricultural practices in lowlands and highlands.