If you were having coffee with me, I would be glad to have you visit this socially distanced space I call home to my musings. You know your way around, coffee is served and by that I mean that the water has boiled and you can pick between tea bags and instant coffee; the sugar is in the coffee jar, teabags in the salad cream jar and there is no milk, just vibes. ^_^
So we have just gone through the first week of Lockdown Season 2 as the pandemic wreaks havoc in ZImbabwe if I was to quote some rather alarmist media publications… Its almost like we have gone back to when the pandemic first started in 2020 with people panicking, spreading misleading information and alarming statistics, keeping a death tally like it’s the scoreline in the final of a championship game.
The situation at BeitBridge border post which had improved somewhat after the holiday season rush has again in the past week escalated into a humanitarian crisis as people tried to travel to neighbouring country South Africa, some returning for work and others just to escape being in Zim during lockdown.
Governments of the two countries cant seem to agree on a solution or way forward and diplomatic relations are a bit tense especially after a Director of Information called out South Africa media for spreading falsehoods and threatened to drop a bombshell on the real reason South Africa’s ANC delegates Zimbabwe a few months back and insinuations of a coup in South Africa..
Of course a communique has been dispatched with the government and ruling party distancing itself from the mischievous tweets
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you I probably need something stronger than coffee but then since I am not entirely sure if the sale of alcohol has been Nicodemusly banned as part of COVID regulations, I am saving the little I have left. There’s been conflicting reports and social media posts and I haven’t as yet seen or heard the official position on the sale of alcohol.
Speaking of falsehoods and conflicting reports, a video circulated on social media last week showing a mother holding a limp baby in one hand while grabbing a police officer with the other hand and a mob of people shouting that he had killed the baby…
I didn’t watch the video in question, I couldn’t, but it was alleged that the police officer had beat the woman who had the baby strapped to her back with a baton stick, resulting in the child dying…. The police later issued a statement clarifying what had happened and that the mother and child were unharmed.
Putting aside the ghastly business of how police officers have this penchant for smashing in windows of pirate taxis am glad that no one died in this incident.
One would expect to hear more about what happened to this woman and her child but whats on the news is that police have arrested a journalist Hopewell Chin’ono(third time in past 6months) and an opposition party politician and a Spokesperson of the opposition on charges of publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to State with regards to the above story, for tweeting about it.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell that speaking of falsehoods and incitement its been crazy seeing happenings at the Capitol and crazy how democracy, law and order are such a fickle thing. Imagine someone entrusted with nuclear launch codes being deemed unsafe to handle social media platforms.
Its been crazy looking at our governments rush to point fingers at how that one president is trampling all over rule of law, conveniently forgetting how their hands are none to clean…
Meanwhile of course the pandemic is reaching alarming levels though I try not to keep score of the figures and just generally stay away from all the scary news… but from the headlines sounds like a vaccine could be coming but then is it just me or does COVAX rhyme with Con Vax and that reminds me of Drax which ended being a scam outfit that tried to rip off 60 million dollars from the government.
If you were having coffee with I would tell you that I have an uncle battling COVID, its been a bit scary but he seems out of the woods now. Can you imagine that he was being treated at home because the were no available hospitals for COVID patients and then because of electricity power cuts he got worse as the ventilator kept switching off. Eventually found a private clinic and from the latest update, he is doing much better.
The rise in COVID cases and deaths has gone far beyond what it was at the time it first peaked in 202. The government has restricted people from intercity transport of bodies for burial like how people prefer to buried at their home villages.
Meanwhile Uganda is about to go to polls and elections in Africa are never without drama, so to my connections in The Pearl Of Africa, stay safe as you exercise your constitutional right.
Whats going on in your neck of the woods?
~B
PS oh by the way do you use Whatsapp? How concerned are you about their new Privacy Policy?
Becoming The Muse 
Your thoughts.. if you will?