You wanted me to be your Valentine but what is a Valentine?
I hope you do not wish me to write you a farewell note and sign it from your Valentine then my head gets chopped off, for you see I am rather attached to my head; and that, according to some legends, is what happened to the first person to send a note signed from your Valentine.
History and legend have various martyrdom stories of people named Valentine killed rather violently on the 14th of February, so when you ask me to be your Valentine and I go silent, I really trying to figure out if you want me dead.
Dear Heart if you are asking me to count how many ways I love you I would need more thanone day, I would need each morning of everyday; every sunset, every sunrise, each breath and every sigh……..
Dear Heart…. If you love flowers I would help you grow a lil garden or maybe gift you a pot plant or show you how to grow flowers in teabags. I find it a touch disturbing how people give each other flowers essentially demonstrating that I killed these beautiful flowers for you, now watch them fade and wilt because I love you
Dear Heart if you were a flower in my garden, I would never pick you, I would be the sun and in the warmth of my love you would bloom. ♥♥♥
Dear Heart, I find Valentine’s Day a commercialised scam and the only people who actually gain from it, are the people who sell love’s paraphernalia and I hope you dont think I am saying that but because I could not afford to get you something nice nor is it because the post office people would not let me dress in wrapping paper; tie a ribbon around myself and affix a postage stamp marked Special Delivery.
Dear Heart, did you know that way before Valentine’s Day came to be in honour of slain Saints, the period used to be a weird fertility festival involving the ritual sacrifice of goats and dogs and whippings
Dear Heart I hope you are not I mad at me for making you rethink what Valentine means but if you are, I would tie a cape around your neck and say “Now you are Super Mad“
Dear heart; I am not saying anything by it but have you noticed that
I make her giggle like a child—so pure, so contagious. Zainab smiles with her whole face and laughs so free; so generous with it. I am the funniest man alive. She gets me. Against a million odds, her energy matches mine. She is all I’ve been waiting for. We are on the same wavelength. We hear each other, see each other and mimic each other’s vibe. My heart wants to spend every second with her. She sparkles. Her presence makes my core shiver. Zainab wants me and she is not afraid to show it. Courage of emotional expression. This I like the most about her.
We have been dating for two months. Love’s zest climaxes at the beginning of a relationship. I’ve experienced this before, but with Zainab the level is unprecedented. Love’s zest climaxes at the beginning and its endurance peaks at the middle. At the end, zest and endurance tussle it out. What wins depends on the couple. And sometimes, love loses to another love, other times it loses to hate. For now we shine the brightest. She is my star, I am her star and we travel in this galactic world side by side. Same energy.
It is a few minutes past eleven. I am in my pyjamas, calling to say goodnight. “48:51”, the call timer says. We will probably talk ourselves to sleep. She is in her pyjamas too. She even told me its colour and what’s not under. My room is chilly with the rainfall and my bed is cold. Her voice, which exudes her warm heart, warms me. The lights are out but their power rationing cannot stop me from beaming.
“I have been meaning to ask” she suddenly says “why you’re still friends with your ex fiancé, Hal?”
Where is this coming from? I ask myself. In my silence, a lot of things cross my mind. Like she’s not really my ex fiancé. I popped the question, she said yes, then changed her mind the next day. We didn’t even get the chance to start talking about wedding plans.
“What do you mean?” I finally say “though we had different opinions about our future, we still respect each other. We dated for three years. She knows me, you know”
“Wow” she says “you should hear yourself speaking right now. Do you still love her?”
“What? No” I say, sitting up “I love you. Why does it bothers you so much that I’m still talking to her?”
“You really can’t see it, do you? You barely go an hour without bringing up her name”
They just brought back power, I say. The first time this weekend. I need to iron some things. She says she could hear the ceiling fan turning. I ask her if we can talk about it in the morning.
“Ok” she says “but you should really think about this tonight”
How could I not? She didn’t sound happy with me.
Why can I be friends with my ex without it meaning anything to my new relationship? Zainab means everything to me right now. That’s all that should matter. Hal knows me. We share a deep history. It is important to me. If only this doesn’t concern Hal, she would have advised me on what to do. She is very good with people. But she is too selfish to be reasonable in a case like this.
Why am I thinking about her right now?
I read something somewhere about black holes in space. They are regions of intense gravitational field. So strong nothing can escape out of them, not even light. I am ironing my shirt and can’t help the thinking, maybe Zainab is right. There is a black hole in my space and part of me is in it.
This is trying to taint our run. Zainab and I are on a streak, superbly fitting into each other’s lives. I guess love comes with all the excitement just to show you how good it can be. Then it quickly pushes you into the endurance stage to see if you’re worthy of it; worthy of a happy ending. Is love fair demanding more from one partner than the other? Again, I guess one decides if it is fair by deciding how much his partner is worth to him. If one can give his all and get love back in return, then it is fair.
The air in my small apartment is getting uncomfortably warmer due to hot steam from the pressing iron. I am eager to finish, edgy. Perhaps I am edgy about something else. This is making me anxious. No sacrifice is too much for keeping happiness. Look at Hal. She gave up our future for her “happiness”.
I reach for my phone.
“What” her sleepy voice says “I’m trying to get some sleep”
“You don’t have to worry about Hal anymore. I love you. You’re my priority” I say, surprising myself.
Sometimes, I don’t know what I want to say till I say it. The time is 1:07 in the morning and I decided this love is worth holding on to.
Bio: Ibrahim Oga is the author of Sisyphean Mind Anthology. He has an ongoing series on channillo.com titled Vista of a Sisyphean Mind.
The Legend of the Zambezi River God, the Nyami Nyami, is a story known and shared by locals of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Visitors to Kariba Dam are greeted by an imposing statue that is supposed to depict the famed River God.
An enterprising dealer may try to sell you a Nyami Nyami walking stick which is not a walking aid but rather an artistic impression of the Tonga lifestyle, but be careful not to confuse the “historical stick” with the actual Tonga cultural and religious beliefs.
On an episode of River Monsters, Jeremy Wade speculated that this invisible executioner of the Zambezi River might be a vundu catfish but whatever it may be to survive the surging might of the Zambezi river it would definitely be formidable…….
I have never given much thought to this legend, even though around my neck I wear an ivory carved Nyami Nyami pendant neck piece, an old gift.
I had been gifted the pendant by an elderly lady, old enough to be someone’s great mother, “for luck” she had said. She also insisted I wear it always. Wearing it always was easy to do since, it was very light and the fine leather thong that secured it around my neck, had been bonded together and the only way I could remove it was by cutting it off.
I met the lady during
a school field trip to Kariba Dam, she was selling pricey but beautiful curios
and oddities at a market stall. I had desperately wanted to buy a souvenir but
I had nothing left to spare since I had bought a rare flower. A valentine gift
to bring my crush back at school.
“Mlilo, she must be something special” she remarked
I was momentarily caught off-guard as she had addressed me by my clan name, then I remembered I was wearing a name tag, all the students wore them. I smiled politely and shrugged.
“I last had someone give me a flower a lifetime ago” she said, as she sighed wistfully.
Again I shrugged as I turned to walk back to the school bus, I took a step then paused, a random voice in my heard whispered “Why not”
I faced her again and
without much in the way of ceremony placed the flower into her calloused hands.
“Danke” said thanking me in my mother language and proceeded to chant my clan praise which I am ashamed to admit I hardly knew, then added an unfamiliar blessing but it sounded like it roughly translated to “May your fire never go out in the storm”
That’s when she handed me the ivory pendant “For luck” she said.
I ran to catch up with
the other students going back to the bus which was already hooting as the
driver signaled we hurry up. I don’t remember what happened with the crush for
valentine but this was a high school crush, those came and went with school
terms. I totally forgot about the incident and never thought much about the
Nyami Nyami
Years later, I still never thought of the Nyami Nyami even as I absentmindedly fingered the pendant around my neck wondering, why all of a sudden it was quiet and hot. The noisy desk fan had stopped rattling shakily about, the metal blades that threatened to pop off and decapitate the nearest person had stopped rotating, it did that sometimes for no reason, but this time it was because the power had gone out; again. The power utility company called it load shedding, when they scheduled electricity blackouts.
Of late, the electricity
was like an errant spouse, who left the house early in the morning while you
were sleeping and returned well after you had gone to bed. Today however this
was an unscheduled blackout, so picked up the mobile phone to call the fault
section. That’s when I noticed the mobile phone had no network I tried the landline
handset and it had no dialing tone either. For as a second, it felt like those
alien invasion type of movies, but then from watching Hollywood movies, aliens
never come to Africa.
I went to bed in darkness, it was a moonless night, the kinda that gives one night terrors, and I had strange troubled sleep. I dreamt of two ancient souls separated by a vast dam wall and connected by a deep empty yearning and a storm raged as one formed a fist and pounded the wall in frustration, thunder crashed as cracks appeared and darkness swallowed the world while the wall crumbled down. I woke up with a start, my hand clutched tightly around the Nyami Nyami pendant and the dying tremors of an earthquake; apparently we had just experienced a seismic event.
Later much later, I would learn that the power outage had hit both Zambia and Zimbabwe. The authorities would say that “an event” which had occurred at Kariba South Hydroelectric Station had triggered the total shutdown of electricity. They blamed the drought for low water levels, which caused low electricity generation and the crack in the wall was as a result of tremors caused by shifting tensions. Strangely enough, they were gathering local elders in both Zambia and Zimbabwe to do an appeasement ceremony so that it would rain, after all it would not hurt to practise our customs.
Something must have worked because eventually it rained, breaking the drought; although no official statement was ever given, repairs to the Kariba Dam had to be suspended for a year, in some circles the word is this is in deference to the wishes of the Nyami Nyami……
Some nights on a moonless night I have the stormy dream again, I see the lady who gave me the Nyami Nyami pendant, she still has the flower I gave her, pinned to her hair,
“Tell them to remember our story” she whispers and she dives into the churning water, as the crack in the dam wall widens and water spills out to swallow everything…
That’s when I wake up.
~B
The above is a work of speculative fiction inspired by some true events. You could read more on the Nyami Nyami on this postZambezi River God
NB Fact the Kariba Dam is under a 300 million dollar repair project which had it not been undertaken the dam’s collapse would have happened within the next five years.
The Tonga people believe that Nyami Nyami will one day destroy the dam that displaced them from their tribal lands; in its quest to be reunited with its mate and to seek retribution.
For clarification, according to the Tonga people Nyami Nyami is not a God they do not pray to Nyami Nyami but rather pray through the Nyami Nyami for intercession
I have started and stopped and restarted, rewrote and stopped writing this post because I simply can not find the words do justice to this man, his music and the legacy he left…..
Oliver Mtukudzi born 22 September 1952 and gone to soon 23 January 2019 coincidentally on the first anniversary of the death of his long time friend the father of South African Jazz Hugh Masekela
Image credit: Veli Nhlapo Sowetan
Sometimes in death, just like in poetry, music and art; life has a certain symmetry.
Tuku as Oliver Mtukudzi was affectionately known had a musical career spanning close to five decades resulting in a 66 album discography one can be forgiven for thinking he was much older than he was.
Small wonder his music transcended generations x through to the millenials, with a song for every season, reason and occasion, from birthdays to weddings, funerals and any gathering you could think no playlist was ever truly complete without Tuku Music.
Tuku Music thats how he finally labeled his brand music an Afro-jazzy Jit Afro-pop sound accompanied by guitar which earned him the moniker:
The Man With The Talking Guitar
“I looked for a sound the guitar couldn’t make in a guitar — that is how I learned to play the guitar”
Oliver Mtukudzi
Recognised not only localy and regionally but globally too with a string of accolades next time his name, not only a musician but businessman, philanthropist and UN Goodwill Ambassador.
The man might be gone but his music and legend live on; the come very few people in a lifetime with the power to wield such an influence, who can grasp the soft power of music and subtly weave it into themes that you can relate any given day, a song to celebrate success, a song for mourning, an ode to death, a song for marital abuse, a song for strength.
Even those who did not understand the language still felt a connection even singing and dancing along, to be honest the are some songs which even to date I am still learning what they were really about and not just a catchy dance track but actually a sad song but mastered ever so well
With 60+ discography that is older than I am, I can not even begin to try and pick out a tracks, that I liked better than others, I have even reconnected with tracks that were from my soundtrack growing up I did not even realise I was even listening
And to borrow from the track Ndima Ndapedza, which is a farming metaphor song meaning that I have finished my portion of the work
Penyu pese masakura mazunza Samanyanga zvasarira isu
(you finished and dusted, whats left is for us to figure out)
You would think he was being prophetic but who do you ask?
He lived as an icon, died as all man must, buried as a hero and forever remembered as a legend.
~B
I have no rights to any of the images in this post
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you its still mango season, and we blending them into juice. I’ll even tell you a lil twist, throw in a banana into the mixture and surprise your taste buds.
If you were having coffee with me, I would ask your opinion on the internet if it had done more harm than good, to the fabric of the world; if world governments could or should ban or restrict access to some of it?
watching Online With Anxiety on BBC: Inside the weird world of social media burnout. How the quest for likes and validation could change us and also contribute to depression
I watched a BBC report about how social media use is linked to an increase in depression and teen suicide. The UK government is considering taking legislative measures against social media companies if they do not purge harmful content from their sides.
The crazy weird thing is sometimes the harder you try to purge something the more you sensationalize it. There was this game, targeting vulnerable teens, that trended in some circles early last year, challenging them to do tasks which would ultimately lead to suicides; I dont know if anyone else noticed that the more people actually gave out details warning people to not play the game, the more people actually sought out the challenge….
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you, thats the thing with social media and the internet, news spreads like veld fire. Are more people commiting suicide or more people hearing about it cause of social media or maybe both. Simply banning the social media will not fix anything whats broken inside some people….
Coming back to home, our government ordered an internet shutdown, as it was blamed for the violent protest and later the internet was restored but partially with restrictions to social media sites. A constitutional court ruling later ordered full internet services be restored on the technicality that only the president would have had the authority to issue such a directive and not a minister and that was that, but still leaves loop holes in the constitutionality of ordering internet shutdowns, this wont be last the time it happens…..
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that its open season at the fake news factory; its really difficult to know whats happening especially when even the official information channels contradictory and entirely whole accounts of whats happening.
A hoax message went viral about how people using VPNs to access the internet were being investigated by the police, till the police had to issue out a statement that they were doing no such thing.
If you having coffee with me I would tell you I wrote a post with ten simple ways you can use to check if something is fake news, Stop Reflect Verify so you can share responsibly
While the internet was down the were untold cases of atrocious violations to men, women and children, by people dressed as security agents which never made the news. The government attributed some of these acts to “rouge elements“
Sky News broke the story of security forces in Zimbabwe beating a man
I was appalled by today's @SkyNews report. That is not the Zimbabwean way. I have instructed that the individuals behind this be arrested and encourage all those impacted to contact the authorities and file an official complaint
The president’s official twitter account shared an excellent and decisive response to this news story but what has me worried is that, the are so many other things that havent been responded to, the state broadcaster carries on as its business as usual.
Do we have to wait until news makes international headlines for it to be true? When you have so many people desperate for news any news about whats going thats a perfect breeding ground for fake news…..
According to The Herald, a local newspaper Zim is under a co-ordinated media attack and that SkyNews is not accredited to operate in Zimbabwe and their report is unbalanced…
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that for now its calm, but its that uneasy calm and everytime I see a group of police officers or soldiers, I feel a slight panic coming on, like maybe I am somewhere I should not be or doing something I should not be doing, or perhaps I wrote something I shouldnt have (hang on a second while I reread this post)
Well thanks for dropping by, I hope you have an awesome week, whats your truth?
~B
PS We lost a legendary musician and icon Oliver Mtukudzi and the other post I have been writing is in honour of Samanyanga
The internet has become the new alter where we sacrifice our attention, as well as each other, inviting and intruding upon virtual strangers for inspiration, encouragement, motivation, amusement, friendship and even cheap giggles.
Here are some people who live somewhere in the void between my phone, laptop and I; who made my past year, on whose sites, pages and timelines I would camp and occasionally laugh uproariously while I shook my dread locks….
@buhle_matshathe self-styled #MokoombaGroupie on whose timeline I discovered music by Mokoomba (a Zimbabwean musical group, originally from Chinotimba township, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe;The name MOKOOMBA stems from the deep respect that the Tonga people have for the Zambezi River and for the vibrant life that it brings to their music and culture ) because I know she has exquisite taste, great love for her family, is very expressive of her opinions and sometimes she writes, smiles,laughs and dances
@D_elleriously whose delinquency takes varied nomenclature forms, sometimes mildly stable genius, other times simply mad or delirious but always scathingly hilarious, whom I suspect shouldnt be let out to the general populace without a charred warning label. Less a writer and more a person who writes you could check out this guest post:
The Curatezim twitter account, technically its not one person and the account that is curated by a different Zimbabwean every week some are interesting individuals, others you would have more fun watching paint dry and some really make you want to shout that’s why they shut down the internet cause they dont deserve it but hey one can always mute a twitter account and wait out the week. Years back I once curated the account during a time when one of the mobile networks was running a free twitter promo, the real deal not the current version without pics diluted like cordial mixed by an evil stepmom, fun times….
image from bitchininthekitchen.org
The BritchyOne’s blog is high key one of my go to, for a humorous fix. A racounteur whose escapades feature characters assigned creative pseudonyms, which even come with a list of characters. I wouldnt say I found her blog; rather she found mine at a time I was writing a poetry series or more correctly a poetry duet with Mable, and I in turn returned the favour and checked out her blog and one year later still hooked and least because she once described my blog as something something swashbuckling Damascene steel, those are not things one easily forgets.
And how can I not mention, Josh who was one of the first people to follow my blog and years later still checks in on the regular and even featured as a guest blogger on a post about his trip to Belize:
Josh is a nature and jaguar enthusiast, (the wild cat not the car but I wouldn’t know maybe he is partial to the British automobile) and who knows one day you may see his name on a wildlife show……
I have surprisingly quite large blogging circles and there are lots of others who are probably reading this thinking why I did not mention them, I see you fam; shoutout to the #BlogIndaba crew you guys are life and definitely made my 2018 the richer for it….
I shall make an effort to periodically introduce all my other faves because well, A website means community
No blogger is an island
My other go to online page is Afrobloggers and if you had not known by now I am one of the people who labour diligently behind the scenes; where the world meets African Bloggers, as we try to reclaim our narrative and using the opportunity blogging awards us to simply tell our stories and maybe even write our own history while its happening, for some of us its not just a hobby, when we write to breathe
You can find the other bloggers on the directory of African Bloggers we are working to compile by clicking on the button below:
Bloggers; let's get to know each other. Reply with your blog URL, country and a brief description of what you blog about, niche/genre…. Connect up with others ♥ make the circle bigger ♥ ___a blog means community__ ~B pic.twitter.com/ufh7GqVc5K
Well, you can pretty much submit whatever you want, a poem, a story, a previously published post of yours, anything really, as long as it is not discriminatory and does not get me in trouble with any copyright infringement issues or arrested or killed by cute looking rabid bunnies or ninja clown assassins.
It would be preferable, you email me the body of the article in MS Word doc format with any accompanying images as separate attachments of the same email (if the images are not yours also include the credits) and if the article has been previously published also include the link to where it also appears
N.B. Also include a very very short bio, links to your socials and a profile picture to accompany the (even if your post is to be published as by an annynomous guest for those who have identity reservations)
Why Should You Consider Doing A Guest Posts?
I would like to think I have an awesome community behind my blog and you just might get yourself a new audience different from your normal circles
Guest posts are not only a great way of link building, growing your network and gaining new traffic for your blog outside of your regular circles but also an opportunity to explore content that you may not normally consider posting on yours perhaps due to your blogging niche or if you are a fly on the wall, yet you want to post something but you don’t have a blog yet or you just want to see what having a post on the internet feels like here’s your chance…….
PS you don’t have to be a blogger or have a blog for your guest post to feature here, simply contact or email me and we will make a plan….. Oh and this not a paying gig, not yet but maybe one day.
I think I should even add a disclaimer at the bottom so the cute ninja bunny rabbit assassins don’t come after me, something like:
Disclaimer: Views expressed in Guest Posts are not necessarily views of the site owner…..
If you were having coffee with me, well we woudnt be having coffee we would be trying out some freshly blended mango juice….
Good thing there’s mango trees in the backyard otherwise I would be unable to offer you much else, have a mango and wash it down with juice
It’s been a traumatic week, strange how only last Sunday was calm but deceptively more like the calm before a storm; as the country burned the next day, following protests that turned violent and an even deadlier response by security forces that has left a bloody tally of death, destruction and ruthless victmisation.
Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum say since the National Shutdown began on 14th January they have recorded: 844 human rights violations 12 deaths 78 injuries caused by gunshots 466 arrests#Zimshutdown#ZimbabweShutdownpic.twitter.com/1nokPXwEuR
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you about the internet shutdown that resulted from a directive from the government to Internet Service providers ostensibly as security measure to stop protestors who were co-ordinating via social media and the internet but under whose cover, a violent crackdown of suspected protest instigators was carried out.
The way the internet was shutdown you would think they did not realise it’s is a whole eco-system and switching it off not only disrupts the digital economy but denies people access to affordable communication and stifles freedom of expression or maybe they do and it scares them, to quote Game of thrones
“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say.”
Tyrion Lannister; Game Of Thrones
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that the way the internet has been switched on and off in the past week is reminiscent of a toddler discovering the power button on the remote control and keeps pressing it, you would they found a new toy.
This shutting down of the internet seems to be the new trend, as governments figure out that if you cant control it, shut it down.
“It is not even the second month of the new year and we have had significant internet shutdowns in four African countries,”
Berhan Taye, who leads the #KeepItOn campaign for global digital rights group Access Now.
I used to think my government would never do that but nope I was wrong, as Zimbabwe joined the list with the DRC, Gabon and Sudan. They read from the same Book Of Tricksit seems from contested elections to violent crackdown of opposition its not unique to one country.
At least for now the internet has been restored after a second black but partially (again) with limitations to social media sites who knows for how long?
internet restoration after shut down
I can predict its going to be tough for internet dependent enterprises when parliament finalises the Cyber Security Bill to minimize threat that is the internet; who knows maybe they will even throw in stringent licensing and registrations requirements like they tried to do for bloggers in Tanzania and all sorts taxes along the lines of Uganda’s social media tax…
Oh no! Maybe I am giving them ideas right now!!…….
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that during a joint press conference of the police and army a statement was issued that basically blamed what happened in the past week as being perpetrated by army deserters, and wait for it rouge elements who stole army uniforms and were masquerading as security forces but how does it explain them having standard issue military guns or using state vehicles, its all very confusing cause earlier they had blamed labour movements, civic organisations and the opposition and for the second time again #ThisFlag movement charged with trying to subvert a constitutionally elected government…
The Zimbabwe Republic Police and Zimbabwe National Army held a joint press conference tonight about the violence of the past weeks. They blame criminals, retired or fake soldiers / police committing offenses in uniforms or regalia. pic.twitter.com/2t3hhxtQKb
Looks like we should brace ourselves for more raids as they try to flush out the rogue elements and probably more internet disruptions, unless an appeal to the constitutional court set for Monday accomplishes anything but I have long since lost faith in the ability of the judiciary to uphold the constitution, waiting for them to surprise and as for people trying to reach out to SADC and the AU, did you know Zimbabwe’s president is the incoming Deputy Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security
If you were having coffee with me, we would be having mango juice I think it tastes great though somewhat pulp
Are you staying up to watch the blood moon tonight ? I would not miss it for the world, the moon and I have an arrangement, wherever you are looking at the moon know I will be looking at the same moon too
When I wrote my last post,Coffee and the domino effect I was merely speculating on how the close to 145% fuel price increase would have a domino effect; resulting in the eventual rise of everything else.
With the government insisting that the surrogate bond currency is 1:1 with the United States Dollar we could easily have the most expensive fuel in the world.
The fuel price hike announced on Sunday the 13th, also fueled a wave of unrest, as a planned three day peaceful protest by workers union and civic activists to shutdown the country, calling upon citizens to do mass stayaways, to send a message to the government of their plight in the current economic climate turned violent, with clashes with police and destruction of property, lootings.
The are conflicting reports on the actual numbers but several people have died and scores others injured from the onset of the protests (on Monday 14th of January.)
I wonder if we will have another commission of inquiry again like the one we had after the August 1 killings when people were shot during a protest; this time the blame will be placed on civilians shooting at each other as there is footage of a casually dressed individual with an assault rifle.
The police is seeking assistance from the public to identify the suspected terrorist in this picture. Who is he? Where did he obtain the assault weapon he is brazenly brandishing from? He is suspected of shooting some innocent civilians. pic.twitter.com/DSaPwugD5c
— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) January 15, 2019
Word on the street is that they are members of security forces dressed as civilians for deniability
Meanwhile; the president chartered a Dreamliner 787-8 (which I hear charges a pretty penny by the hour) aircraft on a visit to Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and then attend the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland
Its Day 2 of the #ShutDownZim protest and there is an uneasy unrest, practically deserted CBDs, what happens next……
After looking at
reports of people who were posting messages of missing school children who had
not made it home in the evening last, it just reminded me on the importance of
kids knowing their home addresses and phone numbers of next of kin, maybe move
around with a note in their bag with contact details of their guardians and
relations.
Do call up on your friends and family and just check in; as we wait for normalcy to prevail; though I am not even sure what normalcy is anymore.
I have had to read and re-read this post to make sure I am not stepping on any toes, maybe normalcy means simply persevering in silence and trying to not talk about the politics that creeps into every aspect our lives where democracy simply means picking who will loot the country next,
Bad things have a way of happening to those who dare act or speak out ……..
~B
PS I have been failing to upload this post all morning, I don’t know if the government has carried out its threat to shutdown the internet…..
Update:The Internet got shutdown in Zimbabwe; Tuesday 15 January 2019 at approx 10am CAT
Note:images from the protests are not mine nor do I own any rights to them
If you were having coffee with me I would ask you if you knew that a shadow appears something is in the way of light, before you answered quickly yes you knew that; I would stop you and say you think you know but have you really thought about it, a flame casts no shadow……
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that these are type of conversations we had in a fuel queue, to pass time during the over 3 hour wait in a fuel queue to get petrol.
I have heard people joke that Zimbabwe might be in the Guinness Book Of Records for having the longest fuel queue, well it might not be a true fact but we have had some pretty crazy fuel queues.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that we stuck it through with a very long fuel queue because word on the streets was that effective midnight (13 January) the fuel price would go up and true to the word the president was on national TV announcing that fuel was going to go up by over 100% from about $1.50; Petrol now cost $3.31 per litre and diesel $3.11
Even though the president assured the nation that the prices for everything else would remain the same, you wont need to be an economic analyst to predict the domino effect; how the fuel price hike will probably trigger an increase in transport driven services and by extension an increase in the prices for services as everyone simply passes on the cost along their chain and pretty much everything else will go up too; even things that are not affected directly by the fuel price increase will rise courtesy of an entrepreneur trying to cushion themselves from the rising consumer bucket.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that the civil servants sector in the past week refused a proposed 10% pay increase by the government. With the least paid government employee earning about $400 then that would translate to a $40 pay increase which would barely cover anything especially now in light of the 100+% fuel price increase. Its interesting noting how different newspapers phrased the headlines for the civil servant pay increase.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that now looks like a good time to start looking into ways of alternative transport or even alternative fuels for vehicles, we have a tremendous amount of sunshine this side of the world, yet I have never seen a solar powered vehicle, where are all these genius ideas and concepts…..Maybe I should have a chat with Elon Musk if you know how I can contact him please holla at me.
If you were having
coffee with me I would tell you I am grateful that once you learn how to ride a
bicycle you can never forget because looks like a bicycle might just become my
preferred economic mode of transportation
“A bicycle is curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine.”
John Howard
What’s going on in your neck of the woods? Here’s to an awesome week ahead
~B
PS would the price of internet access be affected by a rise in the fuel price, it shouldn’t right?…..
