Murder issues

Since l was a little girl, l have often thought that Zimbabwe is safer than South Africa. I have often known that you can just get shot in South Africa over nothing. I have heard of car-jackers and people being thrown off building or being stabbed to death. And as l thought of all this l always felt safer in my beautiful country.

However of late l don’t feel safe anymore, there has been an outbreak (if l could be allowed to use that) of crime. People are killing each other every single day. It’s even worse because these are not just random crimes. Newspapers are awash with headlines like “Jilted lover stabs woman” or ex-lover stabs and kills woman or brothers killing each other.

The world has literally turned into a warzone area. People kill each other over minor issues. Someone can die over a 5 rand coin. What is worse is that people are not killed by strangers, they are killed by people they trust, people they love and people who are close to them.

About a week ago, in my neighbourhood, two brothers had a fight which resulted in the death of the older brother. The younger brother striked his older brother with a hoe on the head three times before fleeing. From my understanding, theses brothers where fighting over a house, their parent’s house. It took a week before the killer was found somewhere near Ntabazinduna.

 

During the time l he was missing, l felt unsafe during that time; l could help but wonder if he would harm more people where he was. I felt scared and I was even afraid of moving around in the dark and l wondered how his siblings felt.

I am happy that there are responsible citizens around who saw him and reported to the police that they had seen a fugitive. When he was caught, the police came with him to his home. I have never seen a crowd that big, people wanted to see the guy who had killed his brother in cold blood, they wanted to look into his eyes and see if there was a sign of regret. People kept murmuring and making obscene statements that I cannot put down into words.

I have known this guy ever since I was a little girl, l also wanted to see how he will react and if he really was sorry. I tried so hard to look at him and the human in me was hoping to find something, a trace of regret or something close to that. But l didn’t see anything of that sort, no sign of remorse or anything. I wondered how he would kill his own brother and still manage to keep a straight face. I wondered how he felt as people he used to know and hang out with looked at him in disgust. Funny enough, he actually had the nerve to look at the people, look at all of us and stick his tongue out at us. He made a mocking gesture at us!!  Is he proud of what he did? Does that mean, “don’t worry, I’ll be back”? I was honestly touched and hurt. What has happened to this guy?

As I was part of the crowd watching him as he gave out his statement to the police, l heard some people say things about this guy, things that made me even more scared. These people said that this guy had a book where he made a list of the people he wanted to kill \and apparently his brother had been part of the list. They said that in that book, he mentioned that he had killed another guy (name withheld). I was really shocked and I realised that probably these are the deeds of a serial killer. Who would keep a list of names of people he wanted to kill and would also indicate that he has eliminated someone from the list.

This got me thinking. I wondered what sentence he would get, how he would defend his actions, how he would defend the fact that he ran away. I wished l could attend his court case but unfortunately l couldn’t. For all its worth, l wish he would get a life sentence. And l hope l would not see him out on the streets before year ends.

Unemployment

I have often wondered what would happen to me after I graduate from varsity(which is not very far). With every day that passes by l get anxious and more anxious about whether or not l will get a job or I will be unemployed for the next 5 years. I know of people who graduated years back and are still unemployed. I can just imagine how painful it is for someone to go through 3/4/5 years of varsity only to be unemployed for the next decade.If they are lucky to get employment it would be temporary teaching.

There is a vast majority of varsity graduates who cannot even secure a position as graduate trainees because people in companies are employing their own. There are certain companies where I have heard you are not likely to get a job if you are not Shona or Ndebele. They say people are getting employed on a tribal basis(that much is true for some companies or organisations, l have seen it before). If you are not connected (they say) you cannot get a job.

Just yesterday I smiled to myself as l read an article from one of the local papers newsday. The article was about the suspended ZBC CEO Happison Muchechetere who had said that George Charamba, the secretary for Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, was employing untrained personnel to work in the studio.I remembered the time that we were looking for attachment, went to ZBC to submit our CVs and we never got responses. Our industrial co-ordinator actually told us that we were not really going to get attached at ZBC. I still wonder why he said that .Sometimes l think its because he was aware of the corruption taking place there.

Without only looking at graduates, there are those people who may not have gone as far as gvarsity or college but are trying to make ends meet. At some point the government introduced the youth fund which was supposed to help youths get loans to start their businesses. If I am not mistaken l think it was part of the indigenisation programme. Many youths tried to access those loans but failed to because they allegedly said they did not have ZANU PF membership cards. Some allege that those incharge of disbursing funds wanted to be bribed so that they can create a business plan for an individual and make them get the loan. Some cases where worse because it was alleged that these officials connived with some people, created fake business plans and get the money for themselves and share.

While some people are trying to make ends meet, trying to start business either because they cannot get employment or whatever reasons they have, those employed to help the unemployed misuse the funds, misallocate these funds!! It is indeed a sad story.

There are those people who are not employed and do nothing about it because they did not receive any educational training or because they decided to quit “boring” school. These are the most annoying because everytime I leave my house, they are sitting by the road waiting to ask for money to buy beer. These people irritate the living hell out of me because they think that because someone is employed they have money to donate to them every single day. All they think about is beer day in and day out, week in and week out till year end.

But is it a matter of choice? Do they choose to do that or they have no option but to sit and do nothing? Maybe it is partly because there are no job opportunities that carter for them, or maybe its because they are too lazy to wake up and do something about their situation.

 But for all it is worth, l still think that most of them are just victims of circumstances, it could be the economy, it could be family background, religion or jus mere ignorance or laziness.

Crime

In one of my previous posts l mentioned something about vehicles of police officers not being stopped on roadblocks. An incident that happened late the past week actually made me realise that it goes further than just vehicles.

A week ago, l was having late lunch with a friend of mine when she received a call from one of her family members telling her that a car driven by a drunken guy crashed into the back of their car. They were calm because they the police were handling their issue. After parting ways she called me and said that the police had dismissed the issue because the guy who was drinking and driving is the son of one of the bosses there.

I honestly was totally angry and disgusted by that. How can someone who is drinking and driving and is a danger to other motorists on the road walk free? Is it because they also by virtue of being related to a police official become immune to the rule of law, the laws of the land? is it one of the privileges of having relations with a ZRP official.

This is not the first time l have really heard of such an incident. A guy friend of mine once told me that he had been arrested for loitering and was taken down to the police station. He was not put in a prison cell because he had relations with one of the bosses.

I am really disturbed by these occurrences because this is creating an unsafe environment for fellow citizens. I bet this means that anyone with relations with any of the ZRP officials particularly the seniors officials can get away with any crime including murder. Our world is becoming unsafe by the day as criminals walk freely on our roads and continue committing crimes every single day.

 ZRP should stop sleeping on duty and wake up and see how much they are destroying our lives. I am reminded of this guy who lives a couple of blocks from my house. This guy murdered his friend in cold blood after a tribal dispute (if l recall correctly). He stabbed his friend who died on the spot. This guy was caught and sent to jail for less than 3months.How can a charge for murder be less than 3 months?? How is that even possible? He was back on the streets and still is roaming our streets to date. How does the justice system of Zimbabwe allow a murder charge be less than 3months?? Frankly, l am still afraid of that guy? I cannot even say “hello” to him. I am afraid of saying anything to him because lam afraid l could offend him and he could kill me too. How do we live without fear around these people?

Are we as society safe when people like this are out of prison? They do not get the sentences they deserve. I still don’t understand how Gumbura would be sentenced to 40 years in prison for allegedly “raping” consenting adults and people who commit crimes like murder and armed robberies escape prison?

What has this country come to? It is slowly becoming unsafe by the day. How do we live without having to look over our shoulders every time? Where l stay l cannot move around after 8 because l fear that l will be mugged. People get mugged every single day but surprisingly, police officers are on patrol every single night.

How come the mugging crimes continue to go up if the police are doing their job? Why are they sleeping on duty? Being in the police force requires more than just wearing the ZRP uniform and getting free rides on the commuters and free food from the vendors, whatever other benefits they give themselves. It entails being loyal \and patriotic (being patriotic in this sense means being loyal to the people you serve and that is the citizens of Zimbabwe)

Homosexuality

First and foremost l would like to say I am neutral when it comes to these sexual orientation issues.

Zimbabwe is a Christian country and therefore homosexuality is not acceptable because as our President says “They are worse than pigs and dogs” (his words not mine). In as much as the majority of the people in the country are against homosexuality, it is important to note that homosexuals are becoming a significantly forming a huge part of the population in the country.

Instead of proposing a crackdown on gays, which l think it a little absurd because we have a few people who have actually come out and said they are gay. I wonder how the gay police will pin point these gays. Will they go around asking people if they are gay or what? If being gay could be genetically detected it would be easy.

I have often seen gay people around, men who are women and women who are men (I hope that makes sense), l know people that have experimented and tried to be homosexual and  I have seen people who have confused sexuality and don’t know if they are homosexual or bisexual.

I don’t know anything about the origins of homosexuality but l sure as hell think that the South African soapie generations helped the homosexuals in this country know that this was not an unusual thing and therefore they were not genetically mutated. It made some of them “come out” and those who are afraid are still hiding.

Homosexuals are people like another person. They are not animals but they have a different sexual orientation. All they want is to be accepted by their society because they are no different from any other person.

I have a friend of mine who is studying abroad; I recently discovered that she is lesbian. She  has not been able to tell me but she says she found that out about 2years ago. Now the problem she has is that quite soon she will be coming home and she does not know if her parents will accept her if she told them about her sexual orientation.

I often wonder why people want to judge homosexuals when God has never judged them at all. However l would want to applaud the Gays and Lesbians association and the Sexual Rights Centre for taking the taking a stand and protecting the rights of these people. The last thing we would want to see is the killing of these people like we have seen happening in other African countries.

Gold for God or God for Gold?

Growing up l have always known that a church is God’s house and that churches were built by the early Christians. I was raised and first baptised in the Roman Catholic Church. So l guess l am able to make a comparative analysis between the traditional church and the mushrooming Pentecostal churches.

Pentecostal churches are mushrooming across the country. Following these churches are rumours that these churches are run as institutions for making money. I have even heard people say “If you want to make money, open a church”. This they say referring to how these churches are making money from the congregants. I understand that these pastors actually set a bar as to how much a person should give as offering and the least amount of money is usually US$50.

Congregants are expected to give a specified offering as opposed to what l have known to happen, what the bible says “give your best offering”. My best offering could be US $1 so where do l get $49 from? And as far as l know there should never be a stipulation for any offering.

Pastors of these churches drive the latest cars and have their children going to universities abroad at the expense of these poor congregants who cannot even afford to pay tuition for their children let alone pay rentals where they stay. They are exploited and give to “God” so that all their problems will go away but little do they know that the money is not really going to God but it is used to satisfy the Pastor’s insatiable greed for money.

These churches are also characterised by scandals. Not money looting scandals but RAPE scandals!! These pastors stand in front of congregations preaching the word of God but behind closed doors they turn into hyenas who rape other men’s women. They condone rape in public but go on to implement the act itself. I have never seen such hypocrisy!!

There are instances like the Gumbura case whereby he is accussed of raping women in his church. I don’t want to be one sided in these issues and attach all the blame to pastors. In the case of Gumbura, there was a whatsapp thread that leaked . This thread revealed the other side of the story which was that these women were promised material things in return for sex. If that happened l think the problem here is with both parties, sexual addiction on the side of the pastors and desperation on the side of these women. These women are so desperate to get married or to get material things such that they are willing to engage in sexual activities just to get those things.

I do hope that someday we will find an answer to all this craze, maybe God himself can intervene.

Closure of industries

Bulawayo has been hard hit by marginalisation These are terms that are often hear. I really don’t know much about these terms but all l know is that Bulawayo is no longer the industrial hub for this country. And in His Excellency’s words Bulawayo is now an industrial “scrapyard”. Industries are closing down leaving the majority of people unemployed.

Where l live, only a handful of people have degrees or have attained education that enables them to have white collar jobs. The vast majority of people in my community work in these industries because they do not have educational qualifications that make them qualify for other jobs. In short, they do menial jobs.

The closure of industries has affected a lot of families and people. It is somewhat for this reason that crime is increasing in Bulawayo (I think). There has been an increase in stories in our tabloid newspapers which talk about people killing each other over a two rands or five rands, others kill each other over a plate of sadza. This is just how bad the situation is . I have often heard people laugh as they read these stories on our Ndebele tabloid publication “uMthunywa”, but all l have to say is, these things or stories are real and are reflective of the harsh economic conditions.

Bulawayo industrial site

People do not have money, some have to go on for days and days without food. Some people cannot afford to buy bread or food for their families, their children end up engaging in crime in order to fend for themselves and their families.

The older population has even relocated to the rural areas because they say the cost of living is lower there. They believe that its better there because they can grow their own food and depend on Aid from the government or Non Governmental Organisations.

About half the population that was previously employed in the industries is now unemployed. What happens to these people? How do they survive? How do they maintain their standards of living?

Bulawayo Council as a result of the closure of the industries is losing revenue which also impacts highly and negatively on the economy of the country in  general. This means that the economy worsens (i am no economist).

Going forward l hope that there will be capital injection into the industrial sector such that the majority of unemployed people will get employment and hope fully that will raise their standards of living.

Public service

 We have often relied on the public service for services. My father is a civil servant therefore I am a beneficiary of the public service. I have a Psmas medical aid card that l use as frequently as l can because l need to use my father’s hard earned money. So if and whenever I feel unwell I just go to see the doctor. So on this one instance I went to see a doctor at a Psmas clinic. I was really sick and I ask the doctor what was wrong with me. When l got there, the doctor asked me what was wrong with me and l told him. Then l showed him what l had believed to be a reaction from an insect bite. I was startled, shocked and certainly speechless wen the doctor told me to go and google my sickness before giving me my prescription. I can still remember that he stood half a metre away from me as he “looked” at the bite. He stood there with hands on his waist and just looked at me. I still remember how angry l was as l left his office, l complained all the way home and to date. I ended up having to see another doctor J

 I decide to include this in this blog post after I heard the story of a guy who was involved in a car accident and was discharged without any medication not even a single dose of pain killers.

What is happening to the health system in this country? What happened to nurses and doctors I used to meet in General hospitals while l was still young? What happened to the basic element of compassion? What happened to the basic ethic of doing your jobs? Are these doctors buying medical certificates? Are they real doctors? Are they lazy?

I do not understand how doctors who are responsible for taking care of our health have suddenly become so negligent. Sometimes l tend to think that maybe they are not happy with their jobs, their main aim of getting into medicine was because they were worried about the monetary benefits rather than saving people’s lives. I wish all hospitals were like ER hospitals. Maybe life will be better.

Another aspect to note is that, public hospitals like Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo have broken windows. For example; we once visited a cancer patient there. The ward had broken windows and people inside that ward were helpless they could not even move their beds away from the windows since the rain was going through the windows. What then is it that nurses go to work for, if they would not care about the sick people in the ward?

Standards in these public institutions are falling. From the security guard at the door right to the receptionist, all you receive is bad attitude. From the security guard by the gate of an academic institution to the bursar, from the nurse to the doctor. It is bad. 

Then there is the passport office, officials there are downright rude, they have no respect for any person whether younger or older than them. It’s as if they were told to give everyone who comes there an attitude. They have angry faces as if people there owe them, as if they have a grudge against everyone.

 

 

Vendors

There is a high rate of unemployment in Zimbabwe and most people struggle to make ends meet hence they seek for other alternatives of making money to sustain themselves. This has led to a significant rise in the informal sector whereby people start their own mini businesses in order to generate income. One most notable place that has become the hub for the informal traders is “Egodini”. This is a place where commuter omnibuses pick up passengers taking them to their places of destination. This used to be a Zimbabwe United Passenger Company bus terminus when buses where still the only mode of transport available.

I am not against informal traders because l believe they also are trying to make money like those people employed in formal sectors. But what is disheartening about Egodini is the dirt. l am pretty sure that this is the dirtiest place in Bulawayo. It is so dirty that I sometimes wonder if people buy perishables like fruits and vegetables from these people. Most of them don’t have stalls where they can display their products so they lay them cover the ground with a thin paper and lay their products there.

Egodini insert picture

A couple of weeks back, l talked to some of the vendors asking them how they felt about the dirt and why they continued selling in such a dirty place. I was told that these informal traders pay a fixed amount of money to the city council for rentals. There were allegations that the city council did not fulfil its part of the bargain of cleaning the place, the traders said that it was not their responsibility to clean the place, instead it was the City council’s obligation.

I have always noticed that at some point, the city council police officials chase these people and confiscate their products. I have often wondered why it is that way and how they recover their products. As l inquired further about this, l was told that City council officials confiscate products of traders who have not paid rent. If and when products are confiscated, traders are supposed to go and pay a fine to the City Council but they do not get their goods back. A certain man spoke with a heavy heart as he related to me how he had purchased a truck load of goods and as soon as it was offloaded the City council officials came and took all of it and he was made to pay a fine but never got his goods back.

The dirt found at Egodini

This I think is the meanest thing ever, how do they expect these people to make money if they take their goods away from them and share them amongst themselves. Once a fine is paid they should return the goods to their rightful owners. How can these traders succeed when the city council people are busy pulling them down?

Is it corruption or is it pure greed? I wonder? How then are these people expected to raise more money to go and buy other goods to sell? Let’s take for instance if this person has taken all his savings and bought all these goods and hoped to get double or triple profits. What becomes of that person after losing his or her goods?

No wonder sometimes it is like a cat and mouse game. When city council arrives informal traders run for their lives with their goods. Some of the materials they lay their goods on have been designed in such a way that when city council comes they just pull a string and everything closes in. For those who cannot make those designs due to the nature of the goods they sell, it’s sad that they run away and leave some of these goods. Long back they used to throw the goods into a bin and retrieve them after the council officials are gone(I am glad that they no longer do that because that was a health hazard) .

We need Bulawayo City Council to keep Egodini clean and stop confiscating the goods of these people, rather evict them if they don’t pay rentals.

 

Bleak future?

Everyday l sit down wondering what the future of our country will be and how it will be like. I think that way everyday after taking an occassional walk to our local shops. As l walk to the shops the things l see, make me wonder why people let go of themselves and their lives. Deep down l know that somehow, these people have different stories.

What l see in my community is displeasing to the eye. I see little girls who are 16years of age and below carrying babies.They are not carrying their little brothers or sisters but they are indeed carrying their own children. And the question that comes into my mind is "how a child look after another child?". L have often wondered because at the age of 23 i am still afraid of raising a child, l am not sure if i will gbet it right, l am not sure if l can handle all my school pressures and still take care of a baby.l am not sure l can actually take care of a baby without a paycheck. But what m,akes me sad is that these children are no longer going to school because their parent/s cannot take care of their children and still afford to take them to school. In some cases, these girls after realising that they are pregnant, immediately quit school because they feel like they are now old enough to be mothers or to take care of themselves.

Avast majority of the girls in my community do not think that getting a good education and a good job is important. They think that the prime end of a woman is to pop babies and get married. This is disastrous on its own and drives me insane. How can someone leave school and hope to be taken care of by a man? l am not demonising marriage but l think that girls should put themselves first because their chief end is not to get married and pop babies.They should secure their future first before bringing some one else into the picture.

Because these girls are so desperate for marriage, they accept any man who shows them a little bit of attention. These girls are abused by their boyfriends, beaten into a pulp and still go back to those boyfriends. You ask them why they are going back, they tell you that he beats me up because he loves me and l was wrong, i should not have hurt his feelings.Does that guy not hurt your feelings when he cheats on you with another woman? Does he not hurt hyour feelings when he does not come home for a week without any explanation? Does he not hurt you physically when he beats you up?
Why then do you accept such abuses?

I have witnessed a number of occassions when a girl was being thoroughly beaten by her boyfriend. The reasons are varied but most them nonsensical. This dependency syndrome is the one that makes women stay in abusive relationships because they would be thinking of how they will survive without the money from their mates and also what society will think of them.

It is quite disturbing to see how these little girls leave school and end up single mothers who cannot even fend for their children, who cannot get any form of employment now or in the future. The end result is prostitution. Most of these girls end up being prostitutes inorder to sustain a living and take care of their offspring. Every single day when i am coming from the library, roughly around 7pm inthe evening, l meet little girls dressed in skimpy clothing, smelling of cheap perfume getting into town to do their daily business. They are not shy neither do they try to cover up. And every single morning l go to school around 7.30 in the morning, l meet them at the drop off point, with their smudged hideous makeup, carrying their shoes in their hands and makng soo much noise.

My heart breaks for these children but what do l say to them and how do l tell them that they are wreckng their lives? What do l do? Society is busy labelling them and calling them names but not helping them build their lives. Why is the society we live in so highly acclaimed when it comes to criticism yet oblivious of the nature of destruction their children are in?
What then will be the future of our country if education has lost its value in the younger generation? What is the future of my community if no one is willing to help build the lives of these girl children?

Where are the resources??

I remember how excited l was when l passed my A level results. l was happy because it meant that l could proceed to university (which had always been my dream). My parents still thought l was a kid then and therefore the task of choosing which university to go to was theirs. I remember sitting in on one of their discussions as they tried to figure out which university I could go to. They agreed that l should go to THE National University of Science and Technology (NUST).I heard them talk about how good it is and that it is recognised internationally. I did not dispute that because l had done a little bit of research on it and also heard all these recommendations.

I finally went to NUST where I am currently doing my final year or semester (I prefer using semester because it makes me feel that I am actually almost done with my first degree). I loved my first years at Nust. I enjoyed the fact that l could be late for class and not be required to explain myself. I also loved the fact that l could go to class wearing my clothes, no uniform!! I can still remember how excited and happy l was then. I was enjoying all my first two years oblivious of the circumstances surrounding our learning environment.

The problem arose when l started getting serious with my school work (Final year).That is when l started noticing that our university is resource-less.

I am a journalism student and this field from what l know also comprises of practical work. During that time, our varsity did not have a radio studio. I can still recall that for our introduction to radio course, we went to Radio Dialogue so that we can get a feel of what a radio studio feels like. And we took turns to sit behind the microphone but the moment was short lived. If l recall clearly we barely spent 5minutes behind the microphone and we never went back to that studio.

We did another course on Fundamentals of Film and Video production. We did not produce anything neither did we get a chance to visit a television studio and to date l still have no idea what it looks like in real life. One of the reasons why we could not produce anything is because; The Journalism Department at Nust is in possession of TWO cameras!!!Just two cameras and my class has 42 students. How do we operate under such circumstances? How do we learn the basic television and radio techniques practically when most of us have no idea what a professional camera looks like, what a voice recorder looks like. How do we go out into the field of journalism without knowing all these basic elements? Most people in my class cannot mount a camera on a dolly because we never put that into practise. The point I am trying to emphasise here is that the university and the department do not have the required resources. Is it that they do not care or is it that there are no funds, no money to buy the equipment? Mr Vice Chancellor and Mr Dean of Faculty, what is happening?

In the age of new media surely our “internationally acclaimed university” should keep up with the latest technology. There is therefore need for the university to provide wireless internet connection and personal computers in order to catch up with these technological advancements.

In our university, each department has a computer laboratory where students are able to access the internet and do their research. I do not know anything about other departments but the journalism department has less than 50 fully functional computers and out of this figure some cannot even access internet. We are only given a single slot to access the internet for our research and it is 2hours long. Surely, how can we be expected to do all our research in two hours every week?

To top it all up, the wireless internet connection is as good as useless because it is always down. If it is not down, the signal strength is extremely poor. How then do we go about our new media practical projects when we are having difficulties accessing the internet? How do we research for our projects? Why then do we pay hundreds of dollars as tuition if we don’t have access to all these basic needs?

We have a very tiny library where we are supposed to read and research, but what do we read if we only have 5shelves of books available for the entire department? We are unable to get the books we want and we cannot access the internet as an alternative source of information, so what do we do as students? Not all students can afford to go to internet cafes or have their own internet at home. So what happens to those students?

We need to see improvement in terms of resources for the benefit of the prospective students and those who are remaining after us. Vice chancellor and Dean of department please help the students of Nust by making the learning environment conducive for them and their programmes such that they can become good at what they do in their respective fields.

I am very proud of the Lecturers from my department because all they do is try their best amidst all the struggles in our learning environment and somehow we have made it through. Thank you all for making learning a little better for us regardless of the prevailing conditions.

Roadblocks..

 Today my post is about roadblocks that decorate all our roads leading to the city centre.

As I go to school every single day, l take the emergency taxi popularly known as “khombis” or “umtshova” in Ndebele. This is an 18 seater vehicle used as a mode of transport for people without their own cars or means of transport. Honestly, I love and hate this mode of transport. I love the company l get there, the conversations that the people always have, especially the old and drunk people, sometimes little feuds between the conductors and the passengers. Its unbelievably awesome. The worst part comes when some passengers act like they own the seat they are sitting on and refuse to move over and give space to others because in these vehicles we are expected to sit in fours. So when they do that I get hard-pressed and clothes crease, there are also instances when some people eat in there, their juice spills over on you or whatever they are eating. Mixture of all types of deodorants, cheap or expensive. Some I will be allergic to.It gets stuffy too. I would go on and on about things that l hate about ETs.

On our way to the Central Business District (CBD) there is a roadblock that we stop at every single morning and the conductor jumps out with a little bit of cash to give to the traffic police. It is now a routine such that vehicles stop even when they are not signalled to because they know they have to give the traffic police their daily bribes. These officers take the money and from what l have heard, they share it amongst themselves.

I am totally disgusted by that because the traffic police no longer feel obliged to check the cars and see if drivers have licenses or not or if the vehicle is in a good condition to be ferrying people. It seems the basic principle of safety that the police should be working towards achieving is nullified upon reception of a mere $10 note. The lives of the passengers are put at risk because the officers have overlooked their obligation to the country and to society, which is to protect.

These are our everyday roadblocks. Then there are those ones that commuter omnibuses or Emergency Taxis(ETs) run away from  because if they don’t have the necessary requirements, they are required to pay about $50(not sure of the figures but last time l checked that was the fine).These are really deadly especially for us passengers. When these kind of roadblocks are on our roads ETs run from these traffic Police using other routes like the bush or other roads that are no longer in use.

There was once a time when the Police BMW would chase these ETs with people inside.it literally felt like or looked like it was need for speed. But why chase a vehicle when you can simply take down the vehicle registration number and hunt it down.I guess they will be  chasing after money at the expense of the safety of the people. What these BMW cops did not realise is that their fellow traffic cops are not doing their jobs proper that’s why we have all these incidents of people driving without licenses and having cars that are not road worthy still on our roads.

For those who use Luveve Road, l am pretty sure that most of us have seen two incidents of ETs bursting into flames on the road, not that they have been bombed or anything but simply because they are no longer road worthy or they have not been serviced in a while. Are the traffic police so oblivious of the fact that they are amplifying road accidents because of their greed?

File picture of a burning Kombi

There are certain vehicles in our roads that are not stopped at these roadblocks because they belong to certain Police officers. Being a police officer whether traffic or not definitely does not place you above the law. Remember in Zimbabwe we have a RULE OF LAW which says no one is above the law. Somebody give the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) a copy on human rights that talks about the rule of law!!! I am pretty sure they don’t know what Rule of law is and they don’t think it applies to them or they think they make the rules and laws of the land. DISCLAIMER:ZRP ENFORCES THE LAW AND DEFINITELY DOES NOT MAKE THE LAWS OF THIS LAND!!

The most touching event that was witnessed as a result of the reckless ZRP was of an ET that overturned and injured 16 innocent passengers as the driver tried to avoid spikes that where thrown on the road by the police. Surely, these police officers should know that for one throwing spikes at a vehicle that is in full speed is likely to cause an accident, but to throw spikes at a vehicle which is in full speed and is fully loaded with people is purely catastrophic. That is mere lack of one basic thing “common sense”.

One of the victims of the accident

I am disgusted by the Zimbabwean police force particularly the traffic cops. They are fraudsters hiding in uniforms, daylight robbers, robbing civilians of their safety and their hard earned cash.

Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Cde Augustine Chihuri. Are you aware of all this?

Do you know that in Bulawayo when people board ETs at 6^th Avenue and the ET full of people is taken to a police station, all the people in the ET are required to pay $5 each. Failure to do so results in an individual being locked up for the night in a prison cell.

We are no longer safe on our roads because the traffic cops are not doing their job. ZRP please, you can do better than that!!

Things that matter ....

I have often looked around our country admiring things that l see and sometimes getting disgusted by some things l see. I am fascinated by fashion and l enjoy seeing varied fashion types, some ethnic, boho, chic and some are ridiculously crazy but hey everybody has a unique fashion sense. I am honoured to practically have to share some of these with you.

 I have often looked at varsity students, undergraduates, graduates, high school students and the working class. All l think about is whether or not all these educated people or those trying to get educated will eventually get a job that will satisfy them financially, jobs they would wake up to happily every day without any disgruntlements.  Jobs that would enable them to sustain an above average living that is worth their academic status.

As I think of varsity students what comes into my mind is the institutions that breed these graduates, the infrastructure and resources.My heart literally breaks when l think of all this because as is, I am in one so called “internationally acclaimed” university which is resource less and has poor infrastructure. Its suprising where all the money allocated to tertiary education goes too. Misallocation??  misappropriation??looting???corruption?? negligence?? I honestly have no idea what is happening and no else seems to care. Why is everyone so quiet about this issue?

 In contrast to those who are at school, there are the people society calls school leavers. These people have different stories; some left school because they wanted to, some left because they could not afford to continue with their education, some because of cultural issues, there are a lot of different stories.

 I have often looked at the roadblocks which now look like they are part of the road structures with the traffic police getting their daily bribes from commuter omnibus drivers every single morning. I don’t know the purpose of these roadblocks but I will definitely do my research about that because this is a touching topic for most people. It is a major concern in our country, according to me.  

At some point l asked a friend of mine in USA about how she was doing and l was surprised when she told me that every time people asked her when she came from and she said “Zimbabwe” the people who live there and have never been to this part of the world  would start  asking her how it was living in the jungle, l mean honestly, we are black but we don’t live in a huge jungle with lions as our pets, we are not wild animals, we have a fully functional judiciary system, policies, laws and we even have a constitution (#proud to say we have one).We also are scared of wild animals. They live very far from us, in Game Parks.

 After a number of posts l do hope that those who have never been to Zimbabwe will have an idea of how Zimbabwe is, what we go through and a whole lot of things. There are a lot of untold stories that l am hoping to tell the world about Zimbabwe my beautiful country.

I will surely take you on a trip around Bulawayo and some parts of Zimbabwe which in any case may be reflective of things happening in the country as a whole.