Coffee With Pricing Wars and Hereos
If you were having coffee with me, I would be happy to welcome you to my tangle of words. Once again, it’s a long weekend, courtesy of the Heroes Day and Defence Forces holiday which is celebrated on the the second Monday and Tuesday in August
Ostensibly, this holiday is to honour Zimbabwe’s liberation war heroes. Our liberation war lasted more than 15 years and resulted in the death of over 10,000 guerrilla fighters and over 20,000 civilians. It is a tale we shouldn’t easily forget. War, is a terrible thing, and my late uncle, a former war veteran, used to impress on me how war is bad and only actioned as a last resort.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that its common to come across such sentiments from those who witnessed the war, but then there is a newer and younger which doesn’t remember any of the ravages of war, advocating for a radical change in governance. Of course, it doesn’t help matters that the current government adopted the colonial regime’s guidebook and reacts to any perceived threats with deadly force, which makes it seem as if what changed is simply the skin colour of our oppressor, rendering the sacrifices made, redundant. Was this what they died for?
While I appreciate and honour our heroes, we need to move past the war of liberation, not saying that we forget our heroes, but be able to honour them without being held hostage to the sacrifices they made. Revolutionary parties that liberated their countries from colonial rule all seem to behave like children of the same parents, consumed with their continued stay in power…
Pick a country, any African, in southern Africa you will find a revolutionary party clinging to power, claiming to represent the people’s will yet moving with a certain entitlement that makes everyone else, second-class citizens unless they or their descendants actively participated in the liberation.
If you are having coffee with me, I would tell you that over 40 years after our independence, the generation that made the actual sacrifices is either dead, dying or past their prime… which heroes will we be honouring next and how will we decide who those heroes are or if it would be simpler to close off the chapter of heroes?
If you were to my ask me who my heroes for the day are.. I would start the list with the internet service providers who have recently updated their pricing to something more affordable… Its hard to ignore the Starlink Effect which has instantly made any corner of the country accessible to the internet at reasonable prices. While it feels slightly unpatriotic to praise Starlink, and despite concerns of having your internet traffic in the hands of an eccentric billionaire, they cracked a proverbial whip, which has seen Zimbabwe peak at being Starlink’s fastest growing market in Africa, accounting for 83% of the country’s international internet capacity.
Before Starlink, I used to be a consistent subscriber to Telone for home broadband, the connection was slow but it was better than not having internet… For the same price, I suddenly could get unlimited satellite internet at faster speeds, so I did the needful and migrated. Over the past couple of months I would get calls from Telone asking me why I hadn’t been renewing my subscription and the answer would be the same, that I found a cheaper alternative…
Now they are offering a new set of comprehensive packages easily the lowest I have seen.
Meanwhile, the largest mobile network provider seems to also be restructuring its services, even though they haven’t offered a clear guideline for the changes they will be making… more affordable packages will definitely be on the menu, according to their latest press release.
Speaking of menu, sometimes competition can be a healthy incentive in how services propagate. The Hungry Lion a South African fast food restaurant chain specialising in fried chicken opened a branch in Harare, a direct competition to established fast food outlets and now there is pricing wars as they try to maintain their market dominance.
Whats a hero in your neck of woods?
~B
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