(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Magona, Sindiwe; Van Der Merwe, Meg
This thesis consists of a creative and in-depth research component: a speculative novel, When
the Village Sleeps, and a reflective long essay. It is about a young woman, Mandlakazi, who
was born severely malformed, the result of deliberate invitro chemical exposure by her teen
mother, Busisiwe. Busisiwe watched her own mother raise three children with the help of the
child grant and decided that she would be better off financially were she to take advantage of
the grant system by having a disabled baby.