Induce birth pangs in your people,

as in Ngubengcuka's time;

speak as of old in Hintsa's voice.

(The names of kings confuse me.)

Halahoyi! Africans, something stinks

like the river snake, fouling the air.

Compatriots, we must be sown

so a nation's reaped when we sprout.

You see, my people, we're old,

truth threw us long ago;

our land has clods that gash our soles,

I swear by my shades, and my father who sired me.

Let's build for each other! Nitpicking poets

ignore the grain that pecks the chicken.

What's this nation we lose our sleep over?

The whole nation rots in hovels.

Let's build for each other! We've been barking for ages,

confronting those who pick us clean.

What nation is this whose milk

lacks strength to reach the milksack?

Peace, Africa, strife-torn land!

There's little indeed we can take for the truth.

This “Let's build for each other” on earth

is a clarion call to the people.

Africa, you even judge your friends,

Nursemaid slain by your sucklings.

And so, nitpicking poets

ignore the grain that pecks the chicken.

Peace, Africa, Army whose warriors stab one another!

They rip each other but reassemble.

How much longer? Countrymen, build for each other!!

Do the whites on the mountaintops bother you?

Peace, Africa, Army whose warriors stab one another!

They rip each other but reassemble.

Pulling in different directions,

these spans will smash their legs. Mercy!

It's “Here, hold this! Go there!” What's this?

You herders of Sandile's cattle,

mimosa trees which twisted in falling.

That rising sun made me think of Shaka.

Let's build for each other so strangers don't strip us:

it won't go well if it's each for himself.

The fulfilment of what was written approaches,

I swear by my shades, and my father who sired me.

When that time comes, we'll rise to our feet,

misunderstanding will have no place.

I say you'll be one, however reluctant,

despite your screaming and kicking.

Peace!!