If you were having coffee with me, I would be glad to see you and ask how March has been treating you?
Looks our Vice President didn’t survive the tide after that strongly worded rebuttal of the allegations levelled against him he finally tendered his resignation and the president graciously accepted it. Now we await to see who will be appointed as the new Vice President.
It must be a scary thing to walk in the corridors of the ruling elite wondering if anyone has anything that can be used against you and if they don’t if it can be created.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that lockdown restrictions have been eased, curfew hours have been reduced and intercity travel is now allowed and most importantly one does not need Covid Exemption papers to travel….
I am selling my old essential travel exemption papers, never been used, don’t ask where I got them, if lockdown had continued a few days longer I might have had to see if I could fool the police with them to get into town to handle my affairs…
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that getting transport into town is still a bit of a mission as they still haven’t allowed private commuter transporters to operate unless they are under the ZUPCO state owned franchise… Recently the president commissioned 50 new buses to add to the fleet of ZUPCO buses in a move that is hailed as reducing the transport blues.
Lockdown is over and seems like life is already back to its default settings fuel has gone up and that means consequently everything else will go up from transport fares to pretty much everything. Only recently the Zimstats had released stats showing inflation was going down and optimistically forecasted it would be going down.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you about a case that has been trending of The Grass vs The People in Chilonga, a region South East of the country. The areas is populated by the Shangaan people a minority tribe of Zimbabwe and the government approved a statutory instrument which would allow a thousand families in Chilonga to be displaced from their communal land to make way for growing Lucerne grass, a rich stock feed for dairy cattle for DenDairy, one of the country’s biggest dairy firms.
Speculation is that Dendairy enjoys proximity to ruling elites with the president even rumoured to own shares in the company. People have been calling for a Boycott of Dendairy products until Chilonga is saved. Some even pointing out how the design for the Dendairy milk cartoon is coincidentally and suspiciously similar to the headquarters building for the ruling party ZANU PF.
Meanwhile the Masvingo Magistrates Court has granted an interim relief barring the arbitrary eviction of Chilonga villagers..
Generally I don’t buy Dendairy products, cant afford milk for my tea and coffee so I pretend I prefer my coffee black like my soul… that’s how you are supposed to drink coffee right? No sugar no milk because you are sweet enough?
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that the vaccine programme is still continuing. 32000 frontline workers have been vaccinated and haven’t heard of any adverse reports. Interesting aside though, during a senate session an MP was asking about consulting with spirit mediums to show us the way with vaccines…. Okaaay.
After cryptically announcing that schools should prepare to open like its a sort of Girl Guide institute where one must always be prepared, the government has finally announced the dates for the 2021 school calendar… School opens 15th of March for the exam classes with the others opening 22nd of March for the rest of the learners.
You would think during the long break the government had taken time to figure out how all this will work, like for example teachers are already citing how they wont go back to work till they have been vaccinated and also that they are incapacitated and want a salary adjustment before returning to classes.
So whats going on in your grass of the woods?
~B
Becoming The Muse 
This looks like COVID19 is good at sorting the wheat from the grass. I mean, the weak just seem to be resigning everywhere we look around the world. Good luck Beaton. Keep your spirits up, or the coffee drinking!
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Thanks for visiting and cheers here’s to the wheat from the grass
~B
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You keep your chin up!
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For the reopening of the schools, you guys don’t have to worry much. Here in Kenya, we debated and lamented loudest about the reopening of schools. Some schools didn’t have teachers, other schools had no desks and classrooms. The first 4 weeks were a disaster. Yes, kids were studying under the trees. Cases of covid-19 went up, in schools. Well, second term is almost over. This is the third month, of our kids spending the entire school day with a mask on.
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Counting down to schools opening… I guess we just have to open and deal with the challenges that come up because it obviously won’t be a smooth process… And learners have lost a whole year of school and looks like this pandemic isn’t ending soon so might as well see how to best function with it
~B
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Beaton, I’m always reluctant to compare my daily experiences with weekly life. I just don’t have anything to compare. We stay home most of the time (fun places aren’t open anyway). Our power stays on (unless there’s a fire or high wind shaking lines loose). Our big adventures are going to the market (no travel restrictions) and not having our purchases bagged because that would mean someone touching our stuff twice rather than once (oh-kay I guess we can cope with that).
These are just plain weird times and both our governments don’t exactly inspire trust.
It does sound like things are changing for the better there. I sure is about time.
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Living in Zim is just something else. They say inflation is going down, and yet price of goods are skyrocketing. If you don’t own a motor vehicle, I’d advise you not to get into town unless you have a “strong wallet” Netone has just reviewed their tarrifs (which is madness by the way) and Econet is yet to follow suit. The Shangaan have had 3 displacements and now this? No consultations or anything and this is being done by the government.
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I was in town today… I don’t own a motor vehicle and my wallet has taken a very sizable dent I was not ready for the prices…
Also an SMS from Econet notified me tariffs will be reviewed on the 10th of March…
~B
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Still slow going on the vaccine distribution here, although nearly half the US has now gone mask free, ironically most of those states have the highest infection rates since the start.
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Vaccine still moving along but there’s been a slight scare after a health worker died soon after the vaccine…. And they are still trying to establish if it was the vaccine that caused it, it was something that would have happened anyway
But can you really be certain? And of course would one trust what they are going to tell us about anything…. Hmmm
~B
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I don’t know how you can live without milk in your coffee. Will remember to send you some milk. Am not really excited about the easing of the lockdown. I was getting used to the solitary life. I think its good not to mix too much with people before every one is vaccinated which may probably take even up to another year according to my own estimates
I will however move around with caution cos have not been vaccinated yet. Everyone out there is a potential covid 19 carrier and its scary. Thinking of relocating to another planet!
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African is a country and we all know it….” what we actually mean is the diseases are similar it’s crazy how I think you are writing about Uganda…but then you are not…thank you
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Africa is such a country!!!
I know right… Sometimes we think the things we face are just ours but no… Well on the positive side it means when a solution is found it will be a continental solution
~B
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