Chitungwiza Residents Fall Prey To Water-meter Thieves,Again

Residents of the Chitungwiza suburb of Zengeza1 in Rusvingo road had their water-meters stolen.This has now become endemic.

Chitungwiza Residents Fall Prey To Water-meter Thieves Again

In an event that looks like a military operation,the thieves alternate the areas they strike and remove the meters at a different location every week.It is alleged that they perform their nefarious deeds very early in the morning around three and four o'clock. The situation is very bad for the residence since they have to replace the stolen meters and the Town council charges them for  re-installing the meters.

Those in the know suggest the trade in stolen water-meters is being fed by the flourishing home industries where cheap coffins are made as the brass from the meters is melted down to form the handles.It is my humble opinion that these acts can be nipped in the bud by forcing the coffin builders to show prove of purchase of any handles they may posses.Regular sweeps by the law enforcement officers will definitely put paid to this scourge.

Alternatively,residents could form neighbourhood watch committees to patrol their streets and stop and question any people acting suspiciously.I once lived in a community where this was implemented,the improvement in safety and security after a very short time was amazing.

The Different Faces of Harare

Harare has more than one face.A venture I have recently been involved in takes me to different parts of Harare; the leafy Northern suburbs of Mount Pleasant, Mandara and Borrowdale.

The Different Faces Of Harare

What I saw there was an eye-opener.The life and atmosphere in the Town of Chitungwiza where I live is a far cry from the suburbs mentioned above.The difference is so enormous one would be forgiven for thinking one was in a foreign country.Whilst there might be some pot-holes in line with the general decline in the economic climate prevailing in the country,on the whole streets in the Northern suburbs are better maintained.One can see the effort being made to keep up appearances.The motor vehicles are sleeker and well maintained.

Sam Levy's Village is like a fairy tale poster for a Christmas card.The shops are beautiful,full of various types of merchandise,one can easily see that the clientele being catered for is affluent.Most shops are air-conditioned in contrast to the shops on the other side of the economic divide.Living in the high density areas one can be led into a false belief that whites have left the country en mass,but they are there.One just has to go to places like Sam Levy's Village to see the proof.

It is politically correct right now to regard this country as belonging to black people.The venture we are involved in to a large extend depends on people with extra cash and the leafy affluent suburbs is where the money is.

Just the outside appearance as well as the size of the residential stands attest to the wealth of the people who live here.Surely if people in the people in the high density suburbs took pride in their surroundings and stopped wining and whinging about their situation being difficult, a lot could change in these areas.

Gratitude.

As the year draws to a close,one cannot help but reflect on the that is reaching its tail end and be thankful of the grace that the Almighty has bestowed on one,

Gratitude

There are also lots of people without whose support and goodwill the road travelled could have been impossible to navigate.Mr E.R.G,whose wisdom seems to grow in leaps and bounds.

Mr A.K. Mutambara, whose vision and drive this blog and many other ventures would have been stillborn.That chance meeting 29 years ago has blossomed into this worthwhile friendship.It is truly wonderful;l the way you selflessly give of your time and resources.

Mhofu,my sounding board.No matter how wacky my ideas maybe sometimes,you still manage to make sense of them.You are one in a million ,the younger brother I never had.Continue to make the great strides.

Mr Gumbo,entrepreneur extraordinaire,you are an inspiration and the big brother I have always looked up to.Even though you cry that the strength is gone but what you have started ;younger ,stronger bodies will take over and finish.

My two sisters,I have said it before and I will say it again ,I value your input.I appreciate all you have done .Alice and I will forever be indebted to you .Oh how wonderful and mature she has turned out to be ,thanks largely to your guidance ,generosity and perseverance.

R.K.G,you mean the world  to me.You know it,I know it.Let me not flog the proverbial dead horse.Needless to say you are one of the most important people in my life.

The crazy gang,my nephews,nieces and their sons and daughters.I love you guys to bits ,all except Ashas,you are too wicked for my liking.Tall nutty professor,I am humbled.You are making the right waves.Keep on blazing those trails.Mambo,what I have learnt from you this year is priceless.Then there is the Steelman,keep on keeping on monna.

My granddaughters,whose arrival made me realise how old I am.Hope to be around to spoil you rotten and you will give your parents a tough time.Forgive an old man some flippancy.This grandad will brock no ill mannered grandchildren!

Last but not least, my Lesotho posse; Malisebo,Retsepile,Mohai,Rosa,Mangubeni,Bandile you rogue,Mr Kasasa,Mami,Khakha and all the various people who made my stay there easy and worthwhile.My extended Gwangwara clan.I love you all.

My sister from another mother,in TZ,your support,counsel and the lengthy discussions we had,I know you are just on the other side of my mobile.

SaTupiri,you are one in a million.

To one and all A Merry Christmas and A Prosperous 2016

Embracing One's Cellulite

Most Basotho women are an African man's dream;full bodied, light in complexion and they love their food.

Embracing One's Cellulite

What I personally loved was their openness.They can discuss  anything and most are not afraid to argue their point.Most modern women will go on weight watching ventures ,were they starve themselves to conform to the dictates of the Media ;print and electronic. Not the typical Mosotho cause she will tell you that she is beautiful,'kemotle kenale li hips' loosely translated to mean I am beautiful because I have bulging hips.As we all know most of the heaviness around a lady's hips ,stomach and butt are a result of cellulite.

The typical Sesotho diet of 'motooho' a sour thick porridge brewed from ground sorghum flour which is boiled and allowed to cool then drunk either in the morning or during the day together with wheat bread prepared the traditional way maybe the source of the ample bodies that most Basotho women have.The fact that they embrace their unique appearance is in my opinion quite commendable given the copy-cats that now fill the African continent; where anything foreign is embraced wholeheartedly at the detriment of our Africanness and a few cases of bulimia have also been reported among Africans, which is a crying shame really.

The Quirky Stories From Lesotho

I spent quite some time in The Kingdom In The Sky and got my full share of some of their wacky behavior.

Basotho Women

Most residential suburbs do not have inside plumbing so most people use the longdrop toilets  a bit removed from the main residence.Where I come from,people visit the toilets ,do their business and leave .Not the Basotho women ,I noticed some accompanying each other to the john deep in conversation and continue this whilst one is on the inside reliving themselves.The first time I saw this I thought maybe it was a once off and the people doing it had some very important business to discuss,but I noticed that it would hasppen often.It is actually a norm where one finds ladies discussing anything from politics to marital problems like cheating husbands whilst one was standing guard like a guard protecting the national treasure and the other would be in the toilet.

Aunt's Gremlin Causes Daughter-in-law's Hand To Swell

One family is in an upheaval after the daughter-in-law opened her aunt-in-law handbag and found her Gremlin.

The Mukwasi family had gone to their ancestral home where one of their daughters was getting married. As is traditional, the negotiations are held at one's traditional home, unless the family is one of these coconut; black on the outside and whit on the inside.

After the merry occasion, one of the aunts asked one of her nephews who owns acar to give here a lift to one of the nearby towns. The nephew gladly obliged. After dropping her off,they realized that she had left her handbag behind. The nephew's wife who mischievously said that the aunt never put the handbag down so she wanted to see what was hidden there. The handbag contained an oily rug sewn right round with beads. It felt as if it had some reptile of some sort inside. She fearfully closed the zipper. Within seconds the hand that had held the Gremlin started swelling from the finger tips to the shoulder. The panic-stricken husband had to divert to a tradional healer he knew. Upon consultation they were told that the woman had held a Gremlin and if she had not been attended to quickly ,she would have died within a week. They were given some herbs to sprngle in her bathing water and told to return the bag tio its rightful owner .This they hastily did.

Three months after the occurrence the victim is on the mend and all seems well.

The Quirky And Wierd

My first trip to Botswana was an eye-opener in more ways than one.

That was way back in  the late eighties.Having travelled on the train for hours on end,we finally arrived in the capital Gaborone and what I saw did not impress me at all.Rondeval pole and mud huts right next to the railway station.I was expecting a cosmopolitan city,with sky-scrappers and all but alas this did not materialise.Since it was early in the morning we had to look for a place where we could freshen up before going further to Lobatse, where I had heard that goods were quite cheap there.These were the heady days soon after Independence ,when our Zimbabwe dollar was at par with the British pound.

The following morning,we were directed to a taxi rank, were we could get a minibus taxi to Lobatse.The first strange  thing  that I noticed was the female conductor. She was very rude to the passengers,I must add.After travelling for about twenty kilometres outside the capital we stopped at a Police road block.The men manning it politely greeted us and asked for our passports.During the search the female conductor got down went a short distance, but in full view of every one,and proceeded to relieve herself much to the consternation of the Zimbabwean first time travellers like me.The veterans told us that this was a common trait of the Batswana.if it was back home she could have been arrested on the spot for public indecency.

In Lobatse,at Wayside Shopping complex, the shop owner barred the locals from entering the shop whilst he raised the prices of goods.We proceeded to strip the shelves of goods. Laden with our new found material wealth ,we looked for taxis to take us to the railway station at Lobatse to wait for a train that would leave at 6 in the evening.We arrived sometime after lunch and the laisse-faire attitude of the citizens and the laxity of policing was evident for all to see as men would pass water in the street in full view of passers-by and they had the temerity to greet them.

When I got home after two days of travelling and told my friends of my experiences, they thought I was giving them tall tales.

Man Uses Gremlin's Head To Attract Customers

It is alleged that the gremlins are brought into the country from either Mozambique or South Africa, where they are sold by the Sangomas there for anything from a thousand US dollars  to five thousand dollars. In the tough economic climate we are living in some get rich quick charlatans are  resorting to buying these.

Man Uses Gremlin's Head To Attract Customers

One chef in a well known restaurant in Bindura is reputed to use a gremlin's head in all the dishes he prepares, it is believed that the head entices customers to flock to the restaurant resulting in a constant stream of revenue for the owner. Those in the know say that the gremlin's head does not burn neither does it get cooked, when it is removed after the food is fully prepared, it is as intact as when it was first put in the pot.

Despite the fact that the  rumour mill regarding the said restaurant ,customers still flock to buy the meals. Whether this gives credence to the tales is debatable .

Zimbabwean media is awash with tales of Gremlins ,which are supposed to bring their owners luck and riches beyond measures.

Conductor Loses Balance And Sprawls On Tarmac

The tendency by taxi touts of hanging onto the back of speeding taxis had a grave consequence when one such landed on his back in the middle of the main road just outside the Chitungwiza Town Centre.

Conductor Loses Balance And Sprawls On Tarmac

Basically these guys entice passengers onto a particular taxi, when it is full they are given fifty cents. Whilst I admire the enterprising young man for at least wanting to earn an honest living, the fact that they risk life and limb had all of us in the taxi transfixed as he took a tumble in the tarred road. He was holding onto the roof language rack,which gave way, resulting in him being dumped unceremoniously on the hard sun backed tarmac. The anxious driver came out to see how his tout was feeling and to his immense relief found that he was okay.Fortunately for him there was no following vehicle and he got minor scratches bumps and a bruising of his ego.

Working for ones dinner is commendable but one has to be safe from injuries and accidents.

Zimbabweans Lose Cultural Identity

The biggest number of people who display this lack of a cultural identity is of course the politicians.

Zimbabweans Lose Cultural Identi

Normally the various rallies that these people hold in their constituencies is typical of the huge gulf between the the electors and elected.First of  they will use whatever opportunity they get to show of  their command of the English language.Whilst we may boast of one of highest literacy statics in Africa,it surely does not mean that every Tom ,Dick and Harry is profficient in the English language.In the unfortunate event that a news crew with television cameras is around,then these politicians outdo themselves.Watching the news reel one can tell that the electorate did not have the faintest idea what the speaker was on about.IF they did then they would be signs of interaction.

I was in a chemist the other day when a middle aged man came in looking for various items that he had listed.He proceeded to address the saleslady in English,I suppose it being a business environment there is alright to use English but me thinks 35 years after Independance ,some of these colonialist tendencies need to be gotten rid of .After a lot of repetitive explanations of what he required,he ended up using his mother tongue Shona.My thinking then was why go to all the trouble if one has to go over it again in a different language ,unless granddad wanted ton show of  the fact that he had been to school and he could hold his in English.

He cultural prostitution  is so entrenched that most Zimbos have English and Shona names on their birth certificates and it is mostly the English names that are used.Some of the names are so absurd one would wonder what the parents were thinking in naming they offspring thus.

It does not end there as most families have tried as much as possible to alienate themselves from their cultural customs to the extend that they no longer visit their ancestral homes,eat the traditional foods let alone wear clothes that have a cultural identity.

Hell Hath No Fury

A friend of mine recently hooked up with what he thought was a woman of his dreams.He spent the whole day yesterday trudging between hid residential place and his lover's place without catching a glimpse of her.

Hell Hath No Fury

The friction started about a month ago when the lady discovered that she had missed her period after a vigorous night of love making.She believed one of the condoms burst resulting in her falling pregnant.To the man's credit ,he was over the moon, owned up and promised to make am honest woman of the lover. All along there have been rumors that the man has an estranged wife ion the diaspora,where she has spent the last four years without coming home.The man being a man assumed that thee wife had moved on hence his decision to look for a companion. Apparently the wife got wind of the development through her mother,now she is back.Yesterday afternoon she arrived and phoned the husband  to come and collect her from the road port.The lady who had replaced her in her husbands heart didn't take kindly to the development.An argument ensured after the call,during which she got a black-eye.

In the evening after escorting the wife to her parents' place ,lover man went to the lover's crib to discover that he had been locked out .No amount of calling or knocking could convinced the lover to open the door to rented room.Lover man had to go back where he had come from.

Early the following morning ,he beat a track to the lover's place but again could not gain entry.He came to my house,poured out his anguish,made all sorts of threats.His biggest fear is that because of the tiff ,the lover is going to get rid of the pregnancy.There in lies his anguish because he had promised to go and ask for the lover's hand in marriage and start for living together as husband and wife.

As things stand lover man does not know whether he still has a future with his lover or not.

Count Your Blessings- Zesa Blackouts 2

An earlier article on Zesa blackouts painted quite a rosy picture of the situation,after experiencing 24 hours of total darkness,I am, singing a different tune now.Normally, I try as much as possible to stay positive no matter what the situation but hey , I am human after all.This is way too much. I have done most of the things that I normally do during a blackout but this is a  totally different ball game.

Count Your Blessings- Zesa Blackouts

Apart from the fact the molten margarine ,spoilt leftovers and the frozen chicken pieces which have since defrosted because of lack of electricity and the debilitating heat,I am at my wits end.Add to the above is the fact that my only means of communicating with the outside world is also blanked out ,my positiveness is at an all time low.My mobile phone's battery is exhausted.The little cheer I normally get from the entertaining articles on the various social media is beyond my reach.Perhaps this will teach me gratitude hey?

It is amazing just how much we take for granted,just 24 hours in the dark makes one rethink their priorities.

Hotels Of Chitungwiza

The Kenny Mubaiwa owned Chitungwiza Hotel and Conference center is a poor advertisement for the hotel facilities in Municipality.

Boasting of zero stars, residents of Chitungwiza will be hard pressed to find a place where they can entertain visitors to the town.Completely surrounded by the suburb of Zengeza2,the hotel's outside appearance does not appeal to passers-by to enter and sample its hospitality.The reception at the hotel is not the best either ,yours truly arrived at the establishment and had ton wait for about ten minutes with two other youngmen who had come for an appointment to see the manager..When the lady receptionist did arrive ,her appearance did not do anything tom improve the doom and gloom which emanates from the place.She did not have any uniform,nor was her manner professional as she talked to us whilst she was munching on a cucumber.If one does not take potential; clients seriously ,they in turn will vote with their feet ,away from the establishment.There was nothing in her manner or deportment to signify welcome.

Small wonder then that the only regular clients that the hotel has seems to be Dynamos football club,which is linked to Mr Mubaiwa.

Once one gets past the hostile receptionist,the charge of forty dollars a night for a room seems on the steep side bearing the shortage of excess cash in the community.It is just a questin of time before this establishment closes shop and moves elsewhere.

Break Stones For A Dollar

Some enterprising young men in Chitungwiza are manually breaking stones to make quarry stones.
In an act akin to the Biblical saga of the Israelites ,who burnt bricks using straw.

Men Break Stones For A Dollar

The work is not for the faint hearted as it is physically and emotionally demanding.These young entrepreneurs break down granite rocks into manoeuvarable pieces which are further broken into what is commonly referred to as quarry stones to be used in the building industry.the only machinery used is their brute strength,12 pounds hammer as well as old tires to stop the stone chips from flying away.

It takes one and a half days to two days for the workers to fill a wheelbarrow.This costs a potential client thirty dollars.For a cubic ,one has to pay two hundred and fifty dollars.That is the equivalence of thirty wheel barrows,I am told.An extra amount of five dollars is levied for transportation within a five kilometres radius of the place where these gentlemen work.

What is heartening is the fact that the people do not sit on their laurels and grind their teeth in frustrating at the shortage of formal employment.They are doing things for themselves.Theirs is a symbol of the enterprising spirit embodied in a true entrepreneur.

Econet Wireless Creates Eyesore In Chitungwiza

Econet Wireless' desire to empower the common man is noble but the shacks from which some of these businesses operate from leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

Econet Wireless Creates Eyesore In Chitungwiza

First and foremost ,the siting of some of the Ecocash booths seems to have been done haphazardly with little regard paid to the outside environment.No effort effort seems to have been made in order to beautify these spots.One can see rubbish strewn right round some of the booths.The material used is o most extends corrugated iron sheets welded together to form structure which can house one person.You could be forgiven should you think that these are old fashioned outhouses used in the rural ares as long drop toilets.A little tiding would go a long way towards sprucing up the surroundings.

Secondly, the manner of the people manning these booths can put one off using them as most of the people may pear to think that one is inconviencing them by visiting the booths.Some change in attitudes,acknowledging the importance of anyone visiting the booth would go a long way towards ensuring the continued utilization of this essential service.

Thirdly,and I believe most contentious of all is the fact that maybe Econet needs to empower its agents more by providing them wit business training especially customer care.These agents are reflection of the Econet brand therefore they need to be at their best; physical surroundings as well as the way they attend to customers.

Chitungwiza Residents Shortchanged By Munucipality

The frequent burst of sewage pipes in Chitungwiza has residents up in arms against the municipality.

Raw Sewage On Streets

Areas around the C.A.A and Rufaro road between St Mary's and Zengeza1 are notorious for bursting pipes and spilling obnoxious ordours on residents.The fact that this has been going on since the turn of the millennium does not make it right.

From Mondays through to Wednesdays ,when the town has its weekly supply of water,the pipes bursts become numerous.An antiquated sewage system coupled with overpopulation,creates an unbearable strain on the pipes.There are certain areas which have become no-go-areas due to the pools of sewage stagnant on City streets.Maybe we need to have a poo-protest of our own.Take a leaf out of the notorious Poo Protesters of Cape Town.

The situation is a ticking time bomb, soon the rains are coming ,one shudders to think as to what horrors we are going to experience then.

Econet Reaps Customers Off

A brother -in-law of mine has had a torrid time at the hands of Econet Wireless recently.

Econet Reaps Customers Off

His ordeal started when he lost his mobile phone in a taxi whilst coming from seeing one of his customers.He raises and sells broiler chickens in his backyard,so his mobile phone is the best link between him and his customers.The next morning he went to his customers .The next morning he went to the Econet office in Bulawayo,where there was a long queue slowly making its way into the offices of the service provider.He finally got to the counter where he was asked to pay a dollar and provide proof of his identity so that he could get a replacement Sim,which he was assured would start working within 30 minutes.When the Sim started working he discovered that the number he had been allocated was different.After meeting with some of his customers most complained about him not picking up his calls,that as well as the fact that he would get calls from strangers.He had to go back to the service provider,wait in another queue before a Sim with the the right number was allocated to him.

Now,three weeks later ,the Sim is not working again.It has been four days now without mobile phone services at a time when he has to follow up on hid debtors to make sure that they pay.Yesterday,he went back again to the offices of the service provider to get answers and he was assured that his Sim would start working within an hour.We even tried to engage the company through their twitter account ,provided the serial number as requested but still,as I write his Sim is not working.Despite numerous ca,,s to the Econet customers 'scare' line .Imagine spending 17 minutes holding a call in order to be attended to by an operator,who assures you that from his end everything is working well and yet you don't have service.The fact that the Sim is loaded with airtime adds insult to injury.My brother-in-law's case seems to be just the tip of the ice-berg  as I read several other complaints from the disconnected customers on the twitter feeds.It is time Econet upped their game and improve their service.

Should it continue ,I will urge him to choose a different service provider,enough is enough.

Condoms For Teens Debate

The decision by the UNFPA and the government of Zimbabwe to distribute small sized condoms for teenagers 15 years and older has a lot of people hot under the collar.

Condoms For Teens Debate

According to Petros Muzondo, an author on H.I.V and A.I.D.S related issues,'children need God not condoms...even grown-up people are getting STIs and H.I.V.

The facts of the matter are that at this age teenagers have a vague idea about sex from their Biology classes,friends and peers.Bearing in mind the statics on H.I.V and A.I.D.S prevalence in the country , I believe the move to provide condoms is pragmatic .I think our teenagers require the right information ,lest they experiment or get the wrong or half-truths from their peers.In a society parents do not talk to their offspring about sex,the only information at their disposal is either from peers or what they can glean from their Biology texts.Not many teens have access to the Internet ,where they can research the taboo subjects.

Saying that distributing condoms will lead to promiscuity is like the proverbial Ostrich burying its head in the sand .At this stage teenagers are curios .They will want to know everything.And sex is a fascinating subject to them.Until parents face reality and realise their bundle of joy is grown and wants to know the WHYS and WHEREFORES of this world,they are headed for disappointment.The myths about sex needs to be debunked among youths .We also need to accept that they are sexually active .Is it not therefore prudent to then manage the situation by giving them the right information and manage the situation so that the sex they might be involved in is safe.

No matter how much hot air people might blow about how morally wrong it might be,the reality is teenagers are indulging in unsafe sex.Our media is awash with tales of school-girls aborting in school toilets or at home ,so we have to be proactive.No amount the of preaching or sweeping the problem under our collective carpets ,these are the facts.