Zimbabwean writer Sukoluhle ‘Sue’ Nyathi is having a whirlwind of a year after the resounding success that is The Polygamist, the Netflix series that has taken the world by storm.
As the woman behind the novel the series is based on, Nyathi is doing the press rounds and she made a stop at Lungelo KM’s Engineer Your Life Podcast where she delved into her own story, as well as the thought process of bringing The Polygamist from her idea to paper.
“Let’s get into the polygamist, it’s classified as fiction,” Lungelo KM said.
“Fiction sometimes is called faction. People often say there’s more truth in fiction than nonfiction. Because you know we also derive fiction [from] things you observe, which are based on truth,” responded Nyathi.
Where is the story set?
“The country keeps on saying the story is based on Bulawayo, or because of Sue’s from there…,” Lungelo KM stated.
“… The original book is set in Harare in Zimbabwe. That book arose largely from my observations when I had just started my corporate career, I’d moved from Bulawayo, which is a very conservative city, to the big bustling capital city of Harare, explained Nyathi.
“I was raised in a conservative Catholic home… when I was in Harare, I started to see this phenomenon of men who were purportedly monogamous, but they are having other secret wives, and secret lives in parallel … there’s this deception around it. You have children who are being born in the setup, some don’t even know about what’s happening with the other siblings, and it was convoluted, and it was interesting for me. So, I thought, okay, I want to write a write a story about it, because it simmered my head for a long time.”
How the characters found their voices
When it came to choosing the point of view from which to tell the story, Nyathi chose to make the women the focus.
“I didn’t want to tell the story from the point of view of a man: I didn’t want to centre the man, simply because I think men will come up with 1001 reasons why, you know, they want to have multiple partners and be in polygamous relationships,” said Nyathi.
“I just wanted to, you know, centre the women, the voices of the women who find themselves in a situation like this, and why they would choose it, but without judgment.”
Nyathi explained how each character came to life in the writing process.
“When I write, I live in the character, I embody that character. So I become Matipa, I become Joyce, and that’s how I write those characters, and those characters are not based on any other woman I know. I kind of built them using stereotypes as well… There’s certain people that fit a certain [profile]… I think I did a great job, because people say: ‘I know a Joyce, I am a Joyce’.”
“I’m a Matipa, even though they’re scared to say that,” said Lungelo KM.
“But some are not, some are owning it. We live in that world now where kudala, you know, amakhwapeni were hidden, … but now you have your women posting on social media, you know, ‘I’m a side chick’, and they’re proud. You have to find different characters that embody, because the thing with stories, people want to be seen, representation matters, and I think this is why the series is making waves because people see themselves there, you know, they, they can relate to the character, and that’s what makes it, you know, if it’s not you, you know someone like that. And if something rings true, you know, then it will affect you,” explained Nyathi.
What the response has been like
“I like the response. I mean, I remember Amnesty International posted. They said: ‘If you’ve watched The Polygamist, if you are in a situation where you are married to Jonasi, this is the steps you can take.’ So, for me, seeing that kind of response also moves me, because it shows a care for, you know, people who are oppressed, people who are in pain, who don’t know where to go. … You see that, and you think, ‘okay, there’s a story out there, maybe I’m not alone, I’m not suffering alone, maybe the other people who are going through the same thing’, and it also empowers people to act.”