Of HuChasi
While on the twitter streets between @Buhle_Matsha and @Ndi_Ash I picked up a phrase which echoed sentiments that I felt; when a lot of time and effort is invested to look like the things are being done; while the things that should be made to be done are not being done, a bit like a sleight of hand, misdirection or busy doing nothing. Where are the pots?
HuChasi /hʊtʃæsi/ [A Verb; Active Doing Word]
Definition:
- A semblance of work being in progress, even though the work does nothing to solve an existing immediate problem, for which action needs to be taken.
- Being seemingly busy doing everything else, except that which needs to be done.
- Drawing attention away from a pressing concern by engaging in an elaborate campaign to do something else instead
Examples:
- When its raining and one is outside getting soaked, struggling with closing and securing the gate; when the yard has no fence or perimeter wall and the house has no roof or windows.
- When you havent cooked supper, because there are no clean plates and you spent the whole day planting the seeds of the vegetables you hoped to eat for supper.
- When your bank has a cash problem and they forget to notify you of new charges and business conditions but they decide to introduce a new uniform for bank tellers to reflect your bank’s fresh new vibrant outlook and instill a sense of pride in the brand.
- When a country fails to clean out the corruption in its government so they clean up the streets.
Etymology
HuChasi; Hu- + -Chasi
Hu- prefix Shona word denoting a state of existence or being
–Chasi verb root derived from the noun Chasi (Surname associated with Fortune Chasi)
i.e. Being Chasi or Being like Chasi

BackStory
Fortune Chasi is Zimbabwe’s current Minister Of Energy And Power Development (effective from 14 May 2019 to present after a cabinet reshuffle) Chasi is one of the few government officials who actually interacts on social media and rose to prominence when he was Deputy Minister Of Transport And Infrastructure Development and would post updates of developments on Twitter with people tagging him as chiBaba Chacho (translates to a colloquial form of who’s your daddy or The Man)
The Ministry Of Energy And Power is a high profile troubled ministry which has to deal with our energy crisis from electricity power generation issues to load sheddings, the fuel crisis; fuel shortages and fuel pricings (fuel prices once triggered a deadly wave of protest) which is all crucially tied in with transport, industry and economy. At the onset of his appointment, some said he had been thrown a live snake and he in turn said he would skin this snake….
The Snake Skinner set out with a gusto, giving all sorts of updates on how the power challenges would be addressed, commissions and board members in the state owned power utility company ZETDC and power regulation authority ZERA were dissolved and reassessed; some members were implicated in cases of corruption and budget misappropriations; megadeals to get megawatts from neighbouring countries were signed and the electricity shortages were set to ease; governemt was looking at introducing electric cars and having solar installations at all service stations and all sorts energy updates…



People even took to giving Energy Updates of their own…
Fast Forward to a few months later and the Snake Skinner is still wrestling with the writhing snake, snake skinning is not an easy task and we set to brace ourselves for increased hours of load-shedding which were already averaging 15+ hours and the energy updates are coming less and less…
Fortune Chasi is one of my favourite ministers and not just because he follows me on twitter and I hope he can take a joke, but because he tries to give updates and seemed to genuinely want a try to make a difference but the sinister snake he was tasked to skin, slithers in the corridors of power and all one can do is herd it around always seeming almost just about to skin it….

~B
PS
Energy Update: This is not an official position about anything and any inaccuracies or sensibilities offended are not intended and should be contextualised in the satirical nature in which it was crafted. … because I like keeping my energy levels within me.
*Update
Effective 14th of August 2020 Fortune Chasi was relieved of his as Minister Of Energy and Power Development as his conduct of government business had become incompatible with the president’s expectations.

I now have a word to describe how I felt about a few of my previous jobs. The examples you gave are on point btw, made me chuckle a few times!
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Hahaha ever had one of those soul draining intern positions where you are a glorified errand runner and not actually learning a single thing about what you really should be interning about and when you ask they tell you it builds character everyone starts there and works their way to the top ha!
Thanks for dropping by 😂😂
~B
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Did we work together or something?? Haha describes my experience to the T! *sigh*
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Haha! Definitely the or something I think it’s one of those scams similar to working “for exposure” or the pleasure of seeing your name in print associated with an esteemed brand.
Sometimes it pays off but most times not so much.
~B
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Wow. I love your creativity…
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Thank you, well, I had time to think while waiting for the power to come back haha
~B
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Hahahahaha. I know the drill. Hope things will get back to normal soon or people might be forced to think that this is the new normal
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Either that…. or civil disobedience.
~B
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We need to do a lot of work in order to work
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I like this term that you have coined. I’ll add it to my vocabulary
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hahahaha its like busy doing nothing
~B
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I laughed so hard huchasi, I didnt get it till I got here “Chasi verb root derived from the noun Chasi (Surname associated with Fortune Chasi)” I couldn’t stop laughing and then read from the top again looool
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