Of coffee as usual…
“Coffee as usual” I say as I switch off the kettle to pour you a hot hug in a mug. “Sorry? I cant hear you over the sound of the music” as the sub-woofer vibrates with bass billowing out the dust of disuse. Its strange having electricity at this time of the day I had slowly forgotten what to do with it, I am sure even the radio is wondering if its Christmas.
I still haven’t figured out exactly how the new electricity load-shedding schedule works but its definitely an improvement from having 18hours of no electricity everyday to this, whatever we are having even though I keep waiting anxiously for the power to go, I don’t know how long the power will be, so lets make this quick.
Coffee as usual I tell you, as I return missed calls from my mum who is probably worrying herself into high blood pressure wondering if I am safe, after all the news and videos circulating on social media about the police crackdown of protestors on the streets of the capital on Friday. Coffee as usual I say again as I respond to multitude of messages and emails who have seen Zimbabwe in the news again and remembered that’s where I am and sending positive vibes and telling me to stay safe.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you how the main opposition party has planned to stage peaceful protests and lodged their applications to do so with the police and had been cleared. Even the president was said to have said the protests could go on as long as they were peaceful and lawful, its within our constitutional rights to protest after all. The dates of the protests had been confirmed in advance but on the eve of the first demonstration the police citing a Public Order and Security Act (POSA) called off the planned demo, which meant that they could treat any gathering as a threat that needed to be dispersed.
POSA is a nasty piece of work with its roots from an oppressive regime which now our government uses it on us. Of course POSA is being repealed to make way for a new more “friendly” Maintenance Of Peace And Order Bill although those who argue against it say 20 of 23 sections of MOPA are duplicated from POSA and some sections “modelled” verbatim from South African law’s Regulation of Public Gatherings Act 205 of 1993
Coffee as usual, as I tell you that on Friday people tried to protest despite the court dismissing the appeal and what happened next you have probably seen in the news…
And the news is another story altogether I understand the need to tell the story unadultered but sometimes they seem like vultures chasing the next sensational headline…
Just to point out though that one of the journalists, Doubt ended up arrested for trying to assist a protestor before you paint them all as cold story chasers.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that I hate that the only thing I have to say about what transpired is that at least this time no one died, (as far as I know) because the last time we had protests the were fatalities and the internet ended up being switched off.
And where was I?
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you I was safe at home, the keyboard warrior that I am, my respects to those who are willing to brave the inevitable crackdown of riots and protests, I have received my share of this and for now if it can be helped, I prefer to stay away from the front line of tear gas and baton sticks…
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that not only did the riot manage to disperse the protestors they managed to shut down the whole city and probably turned the whole day into one big stay away, but hey its all business as usual
And where was the president?
In Tanzania for the 39th SADC Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government where he is going to take over as chair of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.
Coffee as Usual in the teapot-shaped republic
~B
credits: Nyasha Musandu
Becoming The Muse 
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