The Conspiracy

DUTY AND DESIRE.
STORY BY BELLA ROYALTY.
P2/13.

[NKOSINATHI ZUNGU, MR PRESIDENT]
Aphiwe spent the night, there's no way in hell I was going to let my baby go after she dropped that bomb on me, I needed to comfort her, she needed to know that the fact she can't carry my children herself, doesn't make me love her any less, I'm not completely a fossil, neither am I a traditional man that believes that if a woman can't bear me children she's not worthy to be referred to as a woman.

I love Aphiwe and I am going to make her my wife and we will have our own little family even if it means we get a stranger to carry our children, then so be it.

I know not everyone will be kind to her after they find out about this, but I am prepared to protect her, especially from my mother. My mother is a traditional Xitsonga woman, I know she will definitely have something to say about this.

She stirred a little and got closer to my chest, snuggling closer and I smiled, I deserve an award for 'self control' it wasn't easy I'll tell you that but I made it through the night, I mean I did wake up with a throbbing boner but it's all good, the day I get her she won't be able to walk for two days.

Me(smiles): Dr. Aphiwe.
Aphiwe: Mr President.
Me: Good morning.
Aphiwe(groans): Already? I just thought you're an early bird, please don't tell me it's the morning already, kanti when did we sleep?

I chuckled.
Me: Just say you enjoy being in my arms, no one is going to beat you.
Aphiwe(giggles): So this is what I've been missing out on? Intimacy without the actual act? Just being held by strong arms? Ha.a I love it here.
Me: And I love you.

I understood what she meant, since she's been back and we've gotten back together we haven't done anything intimate, we talked about it last night, 10 years ago our relationship was purely sexual, we couldn't keep our hands off each other, now we are taking things slow, we aren't rushing to be sexual, we are getting to know each other.

Aphiwe: And I love you too Nkosinathi.

I looked at her stunned, she's never said it before.
Me: Uhm…
Aphiwe: Why are you surprised? I've said it before you just never heard it, the day we parted.
Me(smiles): Please say it again?
Aphiwe: Ngiyakuthanda Manzini.
Me: And I love you more, so can I kiss you now?
Aphiwe: After we've taken a bath.

I laughed.
Me: Well then, I suggest we get up now, my house lady can be very annoying, like I said, you need to come and stay here so that these people will stop abusing me.

We laughed as we got out of bed and went to take an innocent intimate shower and then got dressed. Aphiwe hadn't packed an overnight bag so she was wearing my track suits and socks with some slides. She looked so cute.

Sis Karabo had already set out breakfast for two for us, we had it over a light chat.
Aphiwe: Well I'll be damned!
Me: What's up?
Aphiwe: The intern, he just released a public apology, Sfiso must have gotten to him, that serves him right, he wanted to be relevant using my name.
Me: I heard you handled him well though as well.
Aphiwe: I tried and then soon after, he went on and bashed me on social media.

Me: Baby, you're famous now, most probably the most famous woman in the country right now, there are people who will love you and there are people who won't, you won't even have to do anything to them in order for them to hate you, they'll just hate you for being with me, you have to prepare yourself for that.

She exhaled.
Aphiwe: You know, before all of this, I didn't even care about social media.
Me: I know, you post every once in a while which is weird, aren't you young people on social media these days?

We laughed.
Aphiwe: I suppose, I've just been busy baby, but now I reckon I have to be present, I've got a man to show off, wait! Am I even allowed to share pictures of you online?
Me(laughs): To you I'm your man, to them I'm the president.
Aphiwe: So I can post you?
Me: Yes you can, be respectful though.
Aphiwe: Got it.
Me: Woza lana ke.

She got up and came to sit on my lap.
Me: Cela uKiss.

She giggled and kissed my lips, I've missed these lips so bad and maybe, it wasn't a good idea, it just lit my whole body up.
Aphiwe(breathless): That wasn't a good idea was it?
Me(shaking my head): No it wasn't, I want you.
Aphiwe: I want you more.
Me: But at the same time I'm trying to not rush to that part but it's kind of hard when you're this hot baby.
Aphiwe(laughs): I'm literally in baggy tracksuits.

I also laughed as she caressed my cheek.
Aphiwe: You're such a fine shyt you do know that right?
Me(smiles): Aphiwe a man is not a fine shyt, what about my street cred?
Aphiwe(smiles): What street cred do you want to keep when you have a baddie on your lap?

We laughed.
Aphiwe: You're taken nje or are you not?
Me: I'm taken sthandwa sami, ngingowakho nje, all of me is yours.
Aphiwe: May you never forget that.
Me: I won't.

We shared a kiss.
Melusi: Sorry to disturb you love birds.
Me: Melusi!
Melusi: I apologise sir, Doctor.
Aphiwe: Melusi, uhm babe I'll be in the bedroom.
Me: Okay.

She kissed my cheek and left, Melusi sat down.
Me: I thought I sent everyone a message that I'd be a little late this morning, I didn't want disturbances unless the Unity House was on fire, is the Unity House on fire Melusi?

He swallowed and handed me his tablet.
Me: Why do you have your 'I just plucked out someone's teeth.' Face on?
Melusi: Mr. President… There's breaking news. Several foreign media outlets are running a story accusing South Africa of executing hundreds of undocumented migrants who were meant to be deported.

I blinked at him, certain I'd misheard, his team also walked in.
Me: Executed?
Zinhle: They're saying that the convoys never made it to the border. That the people we handed over to repatriation services were… disposed of, set alight inside those buses. They're showing satellite images.
Me: That's impossible Melusi. I personally signed off on that operation. They were loaded into trucks, buses and safely escorted.
Mark: That's what we thought, but the president of Zimbabwe just held a press conference. He's demanding answers, he says not a single one of his citizens ever made it home.

The weight of those words sunk in. If this was true, if even the shadow of this was believed, it would make me a murderer in the eyes of the whole continent and the world.
Me: How bad is it?
Melusi: Sir… they're calling it a massacre.
Me: Find out what happened to those trucks and buses, if they made it to the border or not and if not, I want answers, those people better be alive because if they aren't, we might go to war with Zimbabwe and we don't want that, I want answers in the next hour!!

I played a clip from the president of Zimbabwe.

"We cannot remain silent in the face of such atrocities. Last week, in the border village of Chiredzi, dozens of our people, unarmed civilians, mothers, and children were burnt beyond recognition in the buses that were meant to bring them home.
Our intelligence confirms that these killings were carried out by foreign operatives acting under the direct orders of the South African government.

This was not an accident. It was not a misunderstanding. It was a deliberate execution, meant to send a message, they have been attacking and killing our people in their land, they never planned to bring back our people alive, they burnt them all!

President Nkosinathi Zungu, you can deny it before your parliament, you can polish it for your press, I nodded slowly. My mind wasn't just on the hostages, or the militants, or the accusations. It was on the continent, on the history books, on the moment every leader hopes never comes, the moment you have to decide who bleeds to keep your country alive.
but the blood is there, in the soil, in the river, and on your hands.

Zimbabwe will pursue every diplomatic and legal channel to hold those responsible accountable. And if the world chooses to look away, we will not.

We will remember our dead. And we will answer for them."

I couldn't believe this at all.
Me: Wait, wait… does he think that we lied about sending back all the people who were here in this country without papers? I planned on executing them? That this was a xenophobic attack?

Melusi: In a nutshell sir, that's exactly what he's saying and this is gaining momentum, it's all over the news, it's picking up.
Me: Melusi, find out what happened!
Melusi: Yes sir.

He walked out, this wasn't happening at all, what the hell happened? I know damn well I never issued an order to have those people killed, I proposed that they be deported back to their countries because I wanted to save their lives, they were here illegally, they had no form of identification, why would I announce to the world that I'm sending them back only to execute them?

It's either I was being set up together with the government or someone was pitting Zimbabwe against South Africa on purpose, whatever the reason, it wasn't good.

My good reign as President was about to be tainted by this. The whole continent was going to know me as a murderer, the president that killed about 200 fellow Africans!

This was the moment every leader hopes never comes.

My phone rang disturbing me in my thoughts, it was my mother.
Me: Mom, now is not a good time.
Mom: It's will never be a good time for you as the president
Me: I have a country to run, you know that.
Mom: I'll get to that, is it true? What they are saying in the papers?
Me: Of course it's not true mom, I would never execute or kill my fellow African brothers.
Mom: What the hell happened then Mavona?

Mavona is my Xitsonga name, it means Visionary and she's the only one who uses it.
Me: It's kind of public knowledge, we organized for the immigrants that were in this country illegally with no form of identification to be deported back to their countries, there were about 20 buses going to different countries, so far we had received confirmation that 45 buses had arrived back to the countries, we were waiting on Zimbabwe and now we've just received these news.

She exhaled.
Mom: Do you think it's true? That the buses never made it to the border? Or is this an act of war from the Zimbabwean government against us? For all we know the buses could have made it back and they just want to invade us and create a war, have they even shown you pictures of the alleged burnt buses? I don't know Mavona something is not adding up here.

Me: That's what my team is trying to figure out mom, but I swear I didn't order anyone to be killed, those are our African people, that's why I sent them back to their home countries to get their papers and come back here legally, I would never have them killed.

Mom: Ndza n'wi tiva n'wana wa mina, kambe u fanele ku lulamisa leswi( I know my son but you have to fix this)
Me: Ndzi ta manana, ndzi tshembisa( I know mom, I promise)
Mom: Get to it then and tell Aphiwe I want to have lunch with her.
Me: Too soon, you'll scare her.
Mom: Nevermind I will ask her myself.

I dropped the call and exhaled, I was stressed out now, I went to the bedroom, Aphiwe was reading something on her phone, probably the trending news.

Me: It's not true baby I swear.
Aphiwe: I know Nathi, there's a third hand at play here, why just Zimbabwe? All the other counties have confirmed that their people were delivered safely back to their countries, why would you kill only the Zimbabweans?
Me: And we've never had problems with their government.
Aphiwe: What's your team saying?
Me: They are investigating baby, we need to know what the hell happened and how those people ended up being set alight in the buses if it's really them, I don't trust anything these days, we have AI, those pictures could be fake.
Aphiwe: Come here.

I went to her and gave me a tight hug.
Aphiwe: You'll sort this out, I know, try by all means to not engage in a war you are not about to turn into that kind of politician.

I nodded.
Aphiwe: I'm serious Nathi, don't let them change you or ruin the legacy you've built for yourself.

[DR. APHIWE BHENGU]
I hated leaving Nathi while he was that stressed but he needed to be with his team, his people so that they could try and get to the bottom of this.

It wasn't looking good at all, social media was on fire, some countries really believed our president could order the hit on 200 Zimbabweans all because he didn't want them in the county, Nigeria, our nemesis was having a field day, bringing up xenophobic attacks from years ago.

Getting to the hospital on its own was a mission, press was everywhere, looking for a comment about this, I managed to get inside unharmed.

Mom: Aphiwe, we've been trying to call you!
Me: You have? My phone must be on silent!
Dad: Is it true what they are saying?
Me; Of course not baba, Nathi is not a murderer, he wouldn't do that, not to so many people, there's gotta be some explanation to all of this.

Leo disturbed us.
Leo: Family, we have a situation, some reporters have managed to sneak in, we have to escort you out of the hospital now.
Andile: Let's go!

They led us out where we were ambushed with so many questions, this was a total nightmare.

"What do you make of the Zimbabwean president's statement that South African forces executed villagers across the border?"

"Doctor, as a South African humanitarian, do you think your president has blood on his hands?"

"So you won't condemn the alleged killings?"

"Are you protecting him?"

"Did he kill 200 Zimbabweans? What is his next step? Will he respond to the President Of Zimbabwe?"

"Are we going to go to war with the Zimbabweans?"