Ubunthu

This great African philosophy which places people above all else is under threat of becoming obsolete.

Ubunthu

Most of the popular social media platforms are abound with stories of people being mugged,burned by our brothers in the Republic of South Africa, because they are perceived to be "foreign".The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the plight of the foreigners in the diaspora but of aparticular concern is the discourse coming out of South Africa.The amount of hate and intolerance is in sharp contrast to the ideals and the cooperation which existed beteween the founding fathers of the liberation struggles in the Sadc region as well as Africa in general.Iam sure the revered Nelson Mandela must be turning in his grave at the utter vetriol coming out of some misguided South Africans.

Zimbabweans,Nigertians and other foreigners living in South African are living in constant fear of reprisals and unjustified scapegoating.Although most of these "foreigners" have actually justified their positions in the firms which have hired them they are still accused of having stollen the jobs from deserving South Africans.Most of the people mourning and threatening unspecified actioins against these black brothers conviently forget that Africa is our home and the bounderies which exist now are as a result of the colonizers.Most of the bounderies actually force a lot of tribes,kith and kin apart,which renders them rediculous.

History books are full of tales of people who came from their countries of origin to settle and work in foreign lands and their adopted countries actual benefitted emensily from their contributions,so instead of complaining about people coming to take "their" jobs ,these blocks just need to wake up and compete for their place in the sun.PEACE

"Majega" Given A New Lease On Life

The deteriorating economic situation in the country has given a new lease of life for the beleagued "Mageja".These are the men who drive hand carts to carry all sorts of goods for a fee.

"Majega" at work

These gentlemen have been maligned for the longest time for taking part in menial jobs which a "right"thinking person would not touch with a long pole.The high cost of transportation as a result of the exploding inflation rate has forced a lot of the people to review how they interact with the cart-drivers.They are ever present in most of the high density surburbs of Zimbabwe and help people move their goods from point A to point B.The fact that their fares are much more reasonably priced makes them more attractive to the general public.

A typical day for them starts as early as five in the morning and will end when it is too dark to see.By far the biggest need for these gentlemen nowadays is the carting of water from homes where the owners are fortunate to own borehole to those who donot have that privilege.After paying for the water ,this is normally charged per bucket,the cartdrivers then charge their transport costs per bucket as well.The more established ones have a client base which ensures that they have business on a daily basis.All told this makes for a very tidy sum of money and these gentlemen have been known to take care of their families quite well.Given the fact that ours is a country where job opportunities are scarce,these gentlemen have shown quite an entrepreunal spirit and with the right kind of backup they very likely can start a well oiled transport business since there is a dire need for water in most of our urban communities.

The economic downturn is certainly working for them.

The Power Of Gratitude P4

The tail-end of 2019 will be remembered for the devastating pandemic that came out of Wuhan , China.

The Coronavirus

The predictions that most Third World countries would have people dead or dying in the streets and no one to help them.The fact that this has not come to pass and my country has escaped relatively unscathed is the reason for the gratitude and optimism.My country has been in the news for the wrong reasons of late;a runaway inflation that is fast approaching the 1000% and as a result a food basket that has become unreachable for most of the vulnerable members of society,a health sector that is in the intensive care unit ,very low moral and remuneration in the public sector ,food insecurity ,political instability.All the above make very depressing reading.But the country has largely been spared from the Covid-19 pandemic and for that we are most grateful.

By and large the biggest chunk of people who are testing positive to the virus thus far have been returnees from the diaspora with very few local infections and transmission. Maybe we are benefiting from the early lock-down

that was introduced by the government.Whatever the case might be, the situation bodes well for a country which does not have enough resources to buy essential drugs and keep staff interested in their jobs.

We keep hoping and praying that the good fortune that we have experienced continues and it spreads to other sectors of the economy.

How Not To Run A Business 1

I have had the misfortune of working under three bosses who had the worst work ethic imaginable.
This is not a case of PHD(Pull Him Down) syndrome.The first case was in 1996, when a colleague started a company which was contracted to a service provider contracted by Econet Wirelwess to solicit for customers to join the nascent network.It had not yet gone live since its case was before the courts of law.We were a lean operation - a start-up but what we lacked in resources  was made up with seer enthusiasm and hard work,until the money started to roll in .

How Not To Run A Run A Business

Immediately after Econet Wireless was granted a license,the head honcho started showing his true colours.He would leave just before lunch and would phone to give instructions for me to lock up ,he would  come the following morning around nine ,with bloodshot eyes,regaling us of his escapades of the night before.We continued to work hard that within a few weeks he had bought himself a second hand Mercedes- Benz sedan.Afterwards, he became scarier as he would always be out chasing one deal after the other. It got to the extend that he would make excuses for not paying salaries whilst he lived it up every night with his buddies.

When a deal to supply one of the service providers with leather pouches for mobile phones fell into my lap, I grabbed it with both hands and supplied them.He later discovered what had gone down and was furious.

There and then there was a parting of ways and I gladly continued to service the clients I had found earlier whilst I worked for him.If he had treated me decently I would not have acted like that.

Innocent Victims Of The Economic Meltdown

Recently I have had  conversations  with two young girls who have been rendered "orphans" because of the debilitating economic meltdown which  Zimbabwe has been  experiencing for the past decade or more.

Innocent Victims Of The Economic Meltdown

The first is a sixteen year old girl who is studying towards her Ordinary Level examinations in October this year.I discovered that her mother passed away when she was three months old and her father ended up going to the Republic of South Africa to seek greener pastures.She was left in her father's older brother and his wife to care for her.The painful part of the story is the fact that she has not had the pleasure of knowing her father at all since she became aware of her paternity.For a girl child this can be very painful since girl children normally form very close bonds with their fathers.She went on to disclose the fact that she was told that her father had remarried. Whilst her Uncle had tried to reach out to his younger brother so that he could take responsibility for his daughter, the phone always goes unanswered.At the time of writing she still has not heard from her father.The saving grace is the fact that the Uncle is doing a splendid job of raising her.

The other case is a thirteen year old girl who has just started her secondary education and she broke down in the clasroom.After calming her down and asking her what the problem was ,she intimated that she missed her mother.She said that her mother was  had gone to RSA four years ago and has never come back nor has she called. The mother has not bothered to check on  about her welfare  at all.At the moment she is being looked after by her father's sister.The father is a subsistence farmer more than two hundred kilometres away.In someways this girl seems to feel that she has been abandoned twice.

Whilst I understand that things are difficult here but please lets try and be responsible for the lives we created.

Rukweza Growth Point's Scary Reputation

Nestled on the foot of the magestic Denzva mountain,Rukweza was also in the news last year for the marauding snakes which would roam the village in search of food scrapes from peoples rubbish dumps, has taken an even scarrier turn.

Rukweza Growth Point's Scary Reputation

Two murders in the space ot two months has most residents of Rukweza growth point as well as surrounding areas running scared.

For the the family of Alex ,the 25th of December will firever be a day associated with sadness and longing.Rumuor has it that on the fateful day,he had been celebrating the so called "birth of Jesus Christ" with his younger bother and some friends when some unruly individuals accosted him and stole four dollars from his pocket.We understand a fight broke out and when some good samaritans came to Alex's rescue the the thugs who had accosted him weere not happy.They waited for him when was making his way home,assaulted him with what people believe were screwdrivers 

and other blunt objects,killing him in the process.They dumped his body on the tarmac so that it would appear as if it was a hit and run accident.After his corpse was taken for a postmortem it was established that he was not the victim of a road accident.

After the mourning period ,his remains were buried in the village graveyard,what surprised all and sundry was the fact that a week later his cofin was exhumed and a further post-mortem examination was carried out.His remains were to be retaurned later and interred, But as I write, nobody has been 

arrested for his murder.

The other incident which has struck fear into the residents here is the fact that last Wednesday another youngman who was on his way to go and visit his ailing mother was also 

murdered and his remains placed on the tarmac ,similar to what had been done to the body

of Alex.

As a result of these incidents people in the area are very nervous and most imbibers of alcohol now make it a habit of leaving their watering holes early so as to ensure that they do not get waylayed as well.

Plucky Lady Starts High School At +50

It has been a week now since I met Mrs Jane Doe ,I haven't asked for her permission
to write about her so ,I will not mention her name.I have recently gone back to my old
profession- helping kids learn and master the English language.

A Plucky Lady Starts High School At +50

I was summoned by the lady in charge of the institution who informed me that was an old lady who wanted to speak with me.When I get into the office ,i saw this older lady ;dignified ,bespectacled and composed ,who informed that she wanted to English from the form one level and hopefully sit the ordinary level examination.The lady informed us that she had recently resigned from her job in the national army and now wanted to pursue the her passion and be able to communicate with her grand kids since they were at school going age and she would want to also help them with their homework.
I was really touched ,here was a lady who seemed to be comfortably well-off,she drives a pre-owned Harrier SUV which is in a very good condition.When we discuss further,i learnt that most ladies from her church always asked to be the secretary whenever they had discussions ,so this one of the other reason why she wanted to improve herself.Fortunately for her however, is the fact that she can express herself well in the language but what is lacking is the formal instruction.She confesses that she only studied until grade seven after which her guardians informed her there was no money to send her to high school.

Needless to say ,we quickly settled the tuition fees and Mrs Doe promised to come back for her first lesson on the following day.As I write we have spent a week learning and she has proven to be a very attentive student indeed.For anyone of you out there who have a passion to do something and have been putting it off because you believe you are too old ,GET UP AND DO SOMETHING!