Coffee With Salted Sugar
If you were having coffee with me, I would welcome you to my tangle of words. It’s the season of storms, the kind with thunder, electricity blackouts and occasional constitutional amendments, so let me offer you a hot beverage of your choice and ask if you prefer sugar with that. Or salt. We don’t judge here.
It’s just hit me that I have an ingrained culture of reusing and recycling that is borderline hoarding. I struggle with throwing away things that are perfectly usable, you know; empty boxes, plastic bags, and jars. Do you happen to have a drawer full of plastic bags in your home?
In our house, empty jars are converted into storage jars for salt, sugar, rice and, well, anything else that needs to be stored in a container. It’s a perfectly functional and cost-saving method, with occasional mishaps. For example, it’s easy to add sugar into the jar with rice or add sugar into the jar with salt, which is how we ended up with salted sugar and neatly labelled it to prevent brewing a disaster in the kitchen.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that salted sugar has a surprising number of uses. I have never added salt to coffee; but I hear it is reminiscent of seawater. I wouldn’t know; never been to the ocean. Anyway, if you need to prepare a meal that requires both sugar and salt, such as porridge, you can simply use your salted sugar. And if that gives you a running tummy, well, you can make a Salt and Sugar Oral Rehydration Solution… win-win.
If life gives you salted sugar, you find a place for it; a reminder that you can make plans, but life has other designs. The war veteran, revolutionary Comrade Bombshell, who had dreams that he would live to see the country he fiercely fought for become a free and prosperous nation, passed away in the early hours of the 6th of February 2026, leaving one final social media post on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Comrade Bombshell, Blessed Geza, died in South Africa and was buried in Sanyati, Zimbabwe, on the 16th of February 2026, amidst an awkward official silence from the government. The kind of silence that is loud enough to trend. War veterans of such stature would usually be granted hero status with a state-assisted funeral at the very least.
The silence is unsurprising, as Comrade Bombshell had been outspoken about corruption and the state of affairs in the country, trying to mobilise the masses into protesting against state capture by political elites termed as zvigananda and the mutilating of the Constitution.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that in a strange coincidence, the latest cyclone to affect our part of the world is named Cyclone Gezani; as if the very universe was staging a dramatic tribute. An 83-year-old liberation war hero dies with a broken heart, and the skies respond in solidarity. Or maybe it was crying for the Constitution. Hard to tell these days; so much to grieve about.
Soon after the death of Geza, the government announced that the Cabinet had passed a Bill to make several amendments to the Constitution of Zimbabwe. The amendments include increasing the presidential term limits to seven years and presidents to be chosen by Members of Parliament rather than in a direct vote in presidential elections. Comrade Bombshell is likely to be turning in his grave at what he referred to as a mutilation of the Constitution.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that though the Bill is yet to go through Parliament, it’s predictable how that vote will go. It foreshadows the future layout of the political playing field. Gone will be the era where a charismatic individual could simply leverage their popularity and ambiguous strategies to become a presidential candidate. Instead, they would need structures and parliamentary support, something the ruling party has been cultivating for 46 years… good luck to them.
Meanwhile, the effects of the 15.5% Digital Services Withholding Tax (DSWT) are making an impact on transactions. Imagine, to make a $50 payment, I need an extra $10.25 in tax and charges. And they say this country is open for business, but all they are doing is pushing me to find creative banking solutions… anyone have a borderless banking solution?
What’s been happening in your neck of the woods? Any storms brewing like coffee with salted sugar.
~B
Buy me coffee
Support my tangle of words to weather salted sugar storms ☕🥳🥳🥳
$2.00
Becoming The Muse 
Your thoughts.. if you will?