Water Woes Bedevil Chitungwiza

It is a fact that Water is life and its absence results in a lot of anguish and heartache especially among the women and children in our patriarchal society.

Water Woes Bedevil Chitungwiza

Our society dictates that women and girls are solely responsible for the upkeep of the family kitchens and the chores which go with the maintenance of the same.Recent events which have seen erratic and intermittent supply of the precious liquid which is responsible for the smooth running of our bodies,homes and gardens to mention just to mention a few important aspects.Nowadays, the few boreholes that were sunk by some well meaning donor organisations have become a hive of activities as most mothers and girls try to get a few buckects of the precious liquid for their families.So dire is the need that one such borehole close to my residence is always packed full of human beings; some standing others sitting on buckets ,patiently waiting for their turn at the heavy metal handle,  so that they can drew their buckets full.Gone are the days where people could sleep peacefully in their homes ,quite a few actually spend nights at the boreholes.

The act of sleeping at boreholes have in-turn spawned some unwelcome social ills such as rapes and sexual favours demanded in exchange for a chance to jump the queue and draw water.Tales are going around of gangs of young males who are terrorizing the women and girls at these boreholes as they unlawfully monopolise these for their own benefit which involve the demand for sexual favours in exchange for water. Other unscrupulous young thugs are known to propose love to innocent young girls and they indecently assault them by grabbing their breasts or butts. They are doing all this with impunity since most men are not involved in the fetching of water.

Apart from these social ills, there is also the ever present danger of water-borne diseases since some people cannot stomach the thought of spending endless hours in queues in order to get a few days worth of water supplies. A lot of shallow unprotected water bodies have been dug and a lot of people are resorting to these for their daily supplies of water. One shudders to think of the consequence of an outbreak of cholera of dysentery. Already health facilities are struggling to cope with the demand for services now, in the event of an epidemic, there could be a disaster of epic proportions.

Sports Betting And The Unemployed Urban Zimbo Male

In a country where it is reported that there is a ninety percent unemployment rate , the scarcity of jobs has led to most urban males flocking to sports betting  houses to try their luck.

Sports Betting And The Unemployed Zimbo Male

They wait patiently outside the locked doors of the sports betting lounges for the doors to open and   rush to grab choice seats at the vantage positions to be able to best watch the repeat of games played the previous day.Whilst some will be busy scratching their heads and placing bets on teams scheduled to play later in the day,for the rest of the mostly male viewers it is a safe environment ; with clean free ablution facilities and entertainment galore.For a few hours they can forget the fact that they unemployed and don’t have any lunch money.The few with a few cents to spare diligently study,discuss and place bets  on teams of their choice hoping for an elusive payday with stakes placed heavily in favour of the betting house, a very few come away with any payouts.Desparation has left many clutching at straws in the hope of scoring a few dollars for their daily sustaince.

The only women found in the packed sports betting lounges are the cashiers behind the counters and the others on cleaning and sweeping duties throughout the day.This is a male dominated society after all.

The queues of people waiting to place their bets are endless throughout the day save only for the days when there are live matches,then the tension is palpable as supporters of the different clubs try to out-shout each other as they egg their different teams to victory.In the pace of ninety odd minutes, money is made and lost and the person who benefits the most is the owner of the betting house,who stand to rake in thousands of dollars every single day of the week.

The sports betting phenomena is so popular that even those who are employed spare a few minutes during lunch break to come and place bets or catch repeats of matches played earlier.

With the failed economy adding more and more numbers to the growing numbers of punters hoping to score big at sports betting ,this is a scourge that is here to stay.

Gratitude part 2

The late Mother Theresa, the world renowned humanitarian, said ‘We shall pass through this world, but once if, therefore, there be any kindness that we can show or any good thing that we can do, let us do it now. Let us not defer nor neglect it for once we leave the world, we will never pass this way again.

Wicknell Chivayo

I write the above quote to enlighten my fellow Zimbabwean, a certain  Wickell Chivayo.The fact that he has done wonders of The Warriors is there for all to see. Much of the hype was created by the same journalists that he is now bashing at every opportunity he gets. It is most unfortunate that the Youngman was so offended because a journalist had done his job and had got the scoop of the week by informing the nation of the fact that the beloved Warriors coach had gone for quite some time without being paid. Facts are stubborn; it is very difficult for a father who sees his families’ dreams go up in smoke, to expect him to be tactful and remain stoical whilst people hog the spotlight for his endeavors on the sports field but his family goes hungry. I believe Pasuwa had reached the end of his tether that is why he let the nation know of the shoddy way in which he was being treated. In my honest opinion, we need a lot more people like Pasuwa.

Wicknell has been very fortunate to be well endowed with cash, but The Good Lord, in his wisdom ensured that he isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. We are created with two ears and one mouth for a reason; that we talk less and listen more. The ‘selfless’ act of sponsoring The Warriors in this hostile economic environment certainly does not warrant the temper tantrums that the nation has had to bear witness to these past few days. It seems as if the nations being held to ransom by a tin can despot who wants everything to be down his own way

We are not ungrateful BUT if someone helps one out and brags about the act at every turn, is it not better to throw off the york and live an honest poverty-stricken life. Enough with these childish tantrums already, sport especially football is supposed to bring the country together not tears us apart.

The Cash Crunch And Its Consequences

The Eastgate branch of Mukuru is failing to manage the crowds who throng their banking hall monthly so that they can access the funds sent to them by their friends and relatives from the diaspora as yours truly experienced on the sixth of June 2016.

The Cash Crunch And Its ConsequencesAdd caption

One of their employees known as Ernest failed to control the crowd leading to a chaotic five minutes in which no services were rendered to the customers  in the banking hall this was despite being shown that some individuals were causing mayhem by jumping the queue.The employee mentioned above refused point blank to entertain the displeasure of the customers,he ended up abandoning his station after noticing that the situation was getting out of control.

The situation was not helped by the fact that the customer responsible for the breakdown in the queue was a young lady,pardon me if i appear sexist but this is just the fact.Ernest's complete disregard for the queuing public's plight is nothing short of callous dereliction of duty .Given the precarious situation prevailing in the economy,no company can afford to ill-treat it's customers in the manner described above.One hopes the powers that be take heed and resolve the chaotic situation promptly.

Pearls Of Wisdom From My 'Aunt'

A few friends of mine and I were involved in an informal business during the later part of last year before an opportunity which was too good to let pass presented itself.Of course we could have been complete idiots if we had let this go.

Pearls Of Wisdom From My 'Aunt'

The better part of the month of December was spent at the Deeds Office in Harare pursuant to registering a company.The first person we approached promised to speedily bring the idea to fruition for a small fee,he claimed to know the inner workings of the office ,having worked there before being led to pasture.I digress this is a tale for another post.We submitted the names we preferred as the company name,gave the required amount for the name search and got the good news that the desired name was available.The amount to secure the name was duly paid and the company memos typed and printed.Soon after our 'consultant' became very reluctant to do anything else without any payment.Being no push-overs,we refused to release any payment until the whole process was finalised.After the fall-out,we decided to take the matter into our own hands and went to the Director of the department who was more than willing to help ua after first admonishing us for having used an unregistered consultant.To cut a long story short, we finally completed the registration exercise a full month later although the documents showed that the company had been registered a good two weeks after first submission.

Our second order of business was the task of knocking on doors to try and get into partnerships with various stakeholders who met the profile of the high-traffic destinations for our business.During one of these cold canvas visits at a very big multinational organisation we met Ms Maroodza,a receptionist.Her words of wisdom ring in our ears to this day.'When you start operating and things start turning rosy,do not forget those you started out with.If you promise someone a hundred dollars as payment for services rendered,be sure to pay that person.Guard against the tendency to buy flashy cars or suits that are very expensive instead of reinvesting in the business, this was said in between answering calls .We waited and listened carefully because we could see that it came from the heart and she meant well.

Very often ventures started with very good intentions fail to come to fruition because of lack of focus or selfishness on the part of leaders of these organisations.

Friendship

This past week has been emotionally taxing.I learnt of the passing on of two people I regarded very highly.

Friendship

The first person whose death I learnt about was Stanford,we went to school together and were joined by our common bond; the cruel teasing that we got from our colleagues  at high school.I was the tall ungainly boy from the rural Manicaland who did not know his way around town, whilst my friend was an Albino.Naturally we gravitated towards each other and found comfort in each others company.Most weekends ,if we did not have some chores to do at home we would visit and hung-out.All throughout high school the friendship grew and when we went our separate ways to pursue different careers,it survived.We were to meet later after we both married and were able to introduce our young families to each other,only to lose track again when I migrated.When I came back I looked for my friend without any success until last weekend when I went to his parents home where I met his brother's son who was very surprised that I was looking for his late uncle.The news floored me,never in my wildest dream did I envisage that my friend was late.

I knew Mrs Lebesa during my time in Lesotho and she was able to help me immensely on two different occassions, imagine my surprise then when I learnt that she had also passed on,this from the Whatsapp status of her granddaughter.To make matters worse was the fact that I had been thinking about calling her and had even cropped one photo in which she was celebrating her granddaughters graduation from college.

The lessons learnt therefore is that life is too short and one should communicate with their friends and relatives as often as possible lest one is left rowing the missed opportunity.

Sexual Harassment In The Workplace

The supervisor[name supplied but withheld] of one very prominent Harare based cleaning company which has contracts to clean a lot of business premises and embassies is a perpetual sexual harasser.

Sexual Harassement In The Workplace

Reliable sources paint a grime picture of a married man who cannot keep it in his pants,He is reportedly related to one of the top managers and has been carrying out his nefarious deeds with impunity for a long time as most of his victims cannot report him for fear of victimisation.The sources claim that he has bedded most of the female employees under his supervision,should one turn down his advances then they get shifted from place to place and made to do the worst jobs.In a country where the economy is reeling from high unemployment,most ladies choose to resign than be made play-things of the serial sexual predator.

Sources say matters came to a head at one institution,a lady who has continuously turned down the unwanted attention of the abuser was dressed down before all and sundry for failing to do an imagined task well.What really irked the lady was not the dressing down , but for it to be done in public was very stressful to say the least.As I write she is contemplating resigning her job.

My appeal is for someone with the right legal background to start a programme of empowering our daughters,sisters and wives on how they can sue the harassers and the companies that turn a blind eye to sexual harassment in the work-place