Review: Vivien Horler

The Lions’ Den, by Iris Mwanza (Canongate/DoubleDay)

It isn’t a good thing to be “deviant” in Zambia. To this day, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people face 15 years’ imprisonment – or possibly life.

Wikipedia says: “LGBTQ persons are subjected to human rights violations by police and authorities. Subject to arbitrary arrest and detentions, they suffer violence and abuse in custody.”

In South Africa we have our problems, but also some constitutional rights to be proud of. It’s hard to believe a fellow SADC country can still enshrine such mediaeval laws, which date back to the legal system of Britain, its colonial occupier until 1964.

But Britain, along with us and most of the Western world, has moved on.

All of which is a rather clunky introduction to a review of an extremely readable novel. The Lions’ Den, which begins in 1990, is about a nervous yet brave young Zambian barrister, Grace Zulu, who is thrilled to get her first case but discovers she got it only because no one else will touch it.

Willbess “Bessy” Mulenga is just 17 and comes from a loving family. But he’s “different” and makes a living as a drag artist at a men-only club in Lusaka, with some man-on-man sex on the side.

One night there’s a fight at the club, and the next morning Willbess is arrested at his parents’ home. The charge is “offences against nature”.

Grace is determined to do right by Willbess, but when she gets to see him at the Central Police Station, he is trembling, bruised, and has clearly been beaten up.

She asks the police orderly what happened to him, and he tells her Willbess was injured resisting arrest. Grace knows – and points out – this must be a lie since his bruises are fresh, and it is five weeks since he was arrested.

Outraged at the way this young woman speaks to him, the orderly shouts that the interview is over. He grabs Willbess by the neck, and Grace instinctively tries to help her client. The policeman shoves her violently away, and she falls, knocking her head on the concrete floor and passing out.

Back at the office, Grace tells her boss what happened. He says she has no corroborating evidence that the orderly was violent, and that the Police Complaints Commissioner would certainly take the orderly’s side.

Grace protests, but her boss tells her to put her energy into getting Willbess out of custody “before making angry noises to the commissioner”. A bail application would be the way to go.

In an effort to get information about Willbess, Grace goes to interview his family, who have been visiting the police station every day since their son’s arrest without being allowed to see him at all.

When she explains what the charge is, Willbess’s mother is outraged and orders Grace out of the house.

This is clearly going to be a tough case, but Grace has some people in her life who help her including, grudgingly, her boss, her landlady who is a former freedom fighter and is well-connected, and a trade unionist on the run from Kenneth Kaunda’s police.

By this time we know that while Grace may be nervous and unsure of herself, when she really wants something, she forges ahead.

She grew up in a rural village with a father who encouraged her dreams of becoming a lawyer, but when he dies her mother tells her she has arranged for her to become the Chief’s latest wife.

Grace has nothing but her resolve, and the support of a former friend of her father’s, Mr Patel, who runs the village shop. Carrying only a tiny bundle of possessions, Grace slips out of her home while her mother is at church, and Mr Patel steps up handsomely.

Considering what she’s been through to be admitted to the bar, Grace is not going to let Willbess’s case go unfought.

But there are many things – and people – who are against her.

I enjoyed The Lions’ Den very much, and found the glimpse of the workings of a neighbouring country fascinating – both alienating and familiar. They even apparently say “voetsek!” there.