Dancing in Native Africa and America

My forefathers danced almost every opportunity they got. They danced to the beat of the drum and to the clap of their hands. They even danced to music played on instruments that included mbira and a guitar like instrument the name of which has just eluded me. (If there is anyone who knows its name, please leave me a comment below, I would much appreciate). They sang on occasions like rain dances, marriages, funerals and harvest celebrations. They also did dance to while away time and during these times, especially when the moon was full, they would hold competitions of both drumming, mbira and guitar playing and while the dancers danced, and the musicians played, singers sang, and the fun's sounds bounced off the walls of the solid mountains in the surrounding vicinity the whole night.

    The Shona people were and are still very good poets too. Their totems are but praises of their tribal sacred animal. They have all the nice words to exult themselves and even when praising their chiefs, they employed the use of rich language. Their lavishness spilled even onto their dress manner, the decorated troops wore plumed headdresses and loin skins of rare animals. The western notion that they wore loin skins makes it today seem like they were rag-tag loins. In actual fact, they were very comfortable clothing items made with great care and expertise. Among the dances they had, the most common was Dinhe, which was a dance to lure ancestral spirits to speak to the people. Then and now, the dancers do a lot of warriors' movements in combat and top it up with leaps and moves of a joyful person. All this is set to a heavy beat of the drum, clapping and singing at the same time. The Shona dances were a central part of their worship and interaction,  they meant a lot.

       Thousands of miles across the Atlantic, the five hundred plus native American tribes have dances for almost the same purposes, if not the exact thing. Apart from the differences in musical instruments, native American tribes dance pretty well and for the same reasons. I recently attended a dance of some of the tribes and was offered an opportunity to peek into their world of spirituality and social interaction. The dance party was led by an energetic middle aged man whose dance skills were a marvel. He said they danced because they simply love to dance. He also said they danced to communicate with their ancestral spirits. In their realm, when a person dances, his/her spirit is let loose and would intermingle with that of the earth, the mother of creation and of those around him/her. He then did a dance and I saw that he was indeed lost in the rhythm, that he forgot all about us and everything else around. His moves came so natural and soon, a lady took to stage and a young man who had never danced until his grandfather passed. He told us of how he felt the sudden urge to honor his grandfather by partaking in the dances of his people and sooner than he began to, he was enjoying himself immensely, of course, he put a great show for us. Then I danced too, being cultural, I did it with ease and sheer enjoyment. That is when I felt the confluence of my culture and the native American culture. We are all the same, despite where we come from, when all has been said and done. 

The thriving spirit of entrepreneurship in Bulawayo

So many young people in Zimbabwe have been so innovative and highly adaptive to the economic situation prevailing, many thanks to the ruinous policies of the government who over the years leading to the collapse of the major functions of the economy, have ignored the need to raise more awareness of and support the young business population. In Bulawayo, there was a rise in companies started up by these young people who despite the hardships of getting properly integrated into the business world made a foot stand and operated to serve a community in need. From around 2007, when many of the factories and other forms of employment failed, many were thrown out of work and hardships set in. Many people joined the exodus to the diaspora- to South Africa, Botswana making it by illicit means and some went across the seas just to get in better places and earn a living and education. These immigrants faced new dangers in those lands and lack of opportunity. In countries like Botswana, there has been public floggings of undocumented Zimbabweans while in South Africa, the world witnessed the xenophobic attacks of foreigners including Zimbabweans prior to and after the world cup. Everywhere else, the story of misery goes untold pretty much as it is difficult to completely thrive in an environment that is not naturally your habitat.
      Thus the business sector of Bulawayo saw a rapid rise in entrepreneurs who lived a cat and dog life with the tax watch dog, ZIMRA who seemed to cash in on these. First of all, the inflexible policies of the tax regime seemed to pose a heavy impediment on these businesses. To obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate was very hard for young businesses because at one time ZIMRA demanded that an entity has to be in operation for at least a year or so, then it came to six and finally to three months. While most substantial contracts, local and national government tenders required this document, many start-up companies were at a disadvantage and it seemed to contradict the Ministry of Youth's effort and preaching that the youth were being helped to run businesses. These entities that sprouted to cover the glaring chasms created by the collapse of industry in the city and I believe at that time, there was need to decentralize control of government functions such as ZIMRA for the smooth flow of tax revenue into the country's coffers. There were technology companies that specialized in selling computers, components and software. Then was the colleges formed by former teachers who could not afford to live off their paltry government salaries. These helped sustain the heavily shaken education sector and there was also medical supplies companies, hardware stores, computer services, phone sales, unlocking and the whole nine yards. I ran a Financial Services organization a friend and I had started up and we specialized in these start-up businesses helping them to report to stakeholders and also seek for funding. It is through this that I encountered the indifference of the people who influence economic decisions in the country of Zimbabwe. There was a time when I wrote a letter adressing it to Geshom Pasi the Commissioner of Taxes, complaining about the unrealistic demands of the tax regime and how hard it was for new companies to operate legally. The manager at ZIMRA offices in Bulawayo, a certain Mr Rombe (if my memory still serves me well) reacted to this request with total disregard. His actions were, the companies had to do what they wanted and not the other way and I felt sorry for him, to run an organization with such out of touch demands is like trying to paddle a boat with a spoon. The refusal by ZIMRA to flex their demands led to them losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to their own agents who accepted bribes and it killed the business culture because companies ceased drawing their accounts correctly so as to pay their tax dues, instead, they just went over to the ZIMRA offices and sought their friends who wrote the clearances out for them, for a fee of course.
   Then there was the unannounced visits by ZIMRA on the same businesses over and over again. Not to say they were not necessary, these visits were very important but given the number of businesses that had sprouted in the city, the tax officials seemed to target the same businesses every time they did conduct these visits. As a result, those subjected to the visits were further constrained from growth because of the severe penalties they suffered after such visits. This is what we tried to help companies avoid by providing a service that was cheap and guaranteeing that their books of accounts tallied with their tax contributions and in times of visitations like these, they would be able to walk off unscathed.
   The city council also had a statute stating that for a business to obtain a shop license, they had to have been cleared by the taxmen and thus, for those start up businesses that were in retailing and every other business, it became hard for them and knowing of this glitch in the system, the city council sent around their enforcers who dished out tickets and collected bribes from the businesses who were trying to make it in business and that ate deep into their profits rendering it difficult for them to thrive.

   It is lastly a great thing to hear about the unveiling of the program JUICE by Prime Minister Tsvangirai because it aims among a plethora of positive things, promote entrepreneurship and the creation of a sound small business environment goes a very long way in helping an economy to be afloat. It is a welcome initiative and now the job is left for us to vote in a man whose promise embraces our dreams.

My people lost their culture.

I feel culturally exploited. Have you realized what we are? Culture stealers....One day, way in the past, there came a person from the West, and having loved the land that was full of riches and a people who were more than willing to accept him into their society (Oh what a terrible mistake), the person decided to stay and with him came his fellows and a culture and an insidious intent to grab the people's number Uno resource: Their land. Now he did this by displaying his culture to the people, his culture had technologically enhanced objects that made life a lot easier, like, Mirrors, Cigs (Cigarettes really?), Matches, Sugar, Guns and ammo, Clothes that covered his whole body (Hence the nickname, Vasina Mabvi/ Men without knees) and hats etc...and the people were awed...they though of him as a god and having seen their admiration, the person and his tribe moved fast to consolidate power in the people's society....In no time, the people were under this person and his peers and they said of the people's culture, it was inferior and devilish (seriously, how dare can someone come into your home and tell you that and you let him go?) and hence, they should discard it and follow his.....well, there was a rally of people leaving their ways- which had sustained their fathers and their fathers before them opting for this man's culture and amid that culture was a creature called capitalism that had the people in a crux....it brought along its tentacles that included money, work and taxes and soon, the people were in debt and they had to work in a system that the person created and eventually they had to be educated in the ways of the person...Alas, the education opened their eyes to see how stupid and backward the ways of their fathers were, how their wisdom was not wisdom at all...Ironically, it also opened their eyes to see how he had initially outsmarted them. The people cried out to God and organized themselves into armed resistance and finally won the victory! A period of pomp and fanfare followed the toppling of the person however, it was short-lived.

  Today the people having wrestled power from the person, they now continue to worship his culture....and disregard the wisdom of their ancestors....It is a tough tough thing for them to start considering their culture as worthy because they had been told for years and years that theirs were ways of the dark...And I was born amid the furore and now I am trying to find my way back to where we lost it...and thus, here I am, hoping brothers will join me on this noble sojourn. Still my people,what a sad sad life they are living....

The next government after Mugabe.

Mugabe is going to go, one way or the other. I do not say this in an insidious way but in the natural way, everyone shall cease and pass on to the next stage of their lives. Just like Mandela once was, Abe Lincoln, Idi, Patrice de Mac-Mahon, Kamuzu Banda, Churchill and all of them, came and went and so is Mugabe. Whatever notion he has rubbed on to his supporters that he shall reign till the donkeys grow horns just show how stubborn and vain he and his supporters are. I mean nothing is entirely wrong about the man, if I did see everything wrong about him, I would not be a legitimate countryman and son of the soil too. I too believe in fair distribution of land. I too, am a firm supporter of black empowerment in the nation and I too, am a firm believer in equality and the divinity of God on top of all that.

I was having a very interesting conversation with a man who claims to hold an office in the party led by the president incumbent via email and he had a lot to say and most of it was nothing but dogma. He tried by all might to make me believe what was indoctrinated to him and I listened  I did not shut him down so that he reveals me more of what his party believes in and I concluded that all he wanted in this party are personal gains. That is not patriotism, not at all, that men and women gang up starting a political formation so that they can masquerade as politicians and drain the country of its resources. I read recently about the story of reserve bank governor Gideon Gono and his former right hand man, Munyaradzi Kereke about the corruption  charges being laid on the governor and how it is reported that he said he can not be arrested because of what he did for the country, well that was his job, wasn't it? Was he not getting paid? Unless the whole nation begged him to take the job of reserve, then we can listen to him say he can't be touched, otherwise, he deserves to be dealt with lawfully and accordingly.

Here brothers and sisters, is what Zimbabwe wants in the next ruler of our golden nation.
A president whose primary function is to drive the state to securing the nation's sovereignty and territory. To this, we do not have problems with regards to the territory, no threats except for the case involving the Zambezi Water Project in which Zambia and Botswana are having issues with the Zimbabwe drawing water out of the Zambezi river.

Secondly, the country needs a president who will reduce domestic threats. The securing of the independence of the native people of the country is not the end to the threats that we are exposed to. Currently, there are so many problems facing Zimbabweans in the country caused by advances of other nations, spread of epidemics like Cholera, Malaria, HI Virus, and many others.

Thirdly, the next president should be able to establish a good judiciary system, one that is able to enforce the constitution of the nation. The current corruption in the judiciary system is because of the fact that Mugabe installed cronies in places that people have to turn to in case of them seeking justice and in the end, he lives above the law and can manipulate the constitution as he wishes.

The next president should truly help to create the zeal in people to practice democracy. As people usually follow the order from the top, as currently, many people are caught up in corruption because they will say, when you ask them, everyone is corrupt, even government ministers are, which is a true statement. So the next president has to be able to inspire people to practise democracy and include them in the decision making process of the nation, because, a government is for the people. It is quite ironic that one of the current parties in the government, ZANU (PF) to be specific, used to sing a lot about a government for the people by the people and it turned out that the people being represented were the people in the party ranks, not anyone else. That is not what we like in out nation.

The current business situation is not conducive for the economy to thrive. First, it is because there is a heavy involvement of politics in the nation's economy. How on earth would we have serious investors if war veterans would take over any seriously operating business? Not to exclude them out of businesses if they so wish, but I believe the proper way to do this is by having them, for example, form cooperatives that are invested in, by independent investors and even themselves and life goes on blissfully. At the moment, the Indigenous Empowerment Programme is benefiting the government ministers and people who have connections in the government and those at the Zimbabwe Investment Authority because they trap investors before they even go anywhere and the rest of the population lives on. For this reason, Mr Mugabe has to cede the office and let another person to continue with the good work he has started. The next president has a task of creating a stable business environment and work hard to attract investment and promote exports by fostering trade relation all over the world, promote Zimbabwean production so that industry may be revived and once again, there is employment and prosperity once more. There are lots of opportunities for our industry in mining, agriculture, manufacturing and even the tertiary industry where we need services such as insurance, finance etc. All these presently are almost defunct because of corruption there is nothing is going on at the moment and its not like there are no opportunities, there are vast opportunities that are being kept under by the unfriendly policies the government has chosen to adopt and its very sad a case of ours.

The next president should focus on rebuilding the health care system of the country. Not many people talk about this when we talk about the presidency but it is one of the most pertinent issues in our country. University of Zimbabwe has churned out lots of medical professionals and most of these are found working at foreign institutions because they are paid better, and of course that shows a lot of respect for the time and money they spent in school acquiring the skills of their trade. It is ironic that the chief whips of our country seek medical attention in foreign countries including Comrade Mugabe himself who was recently reported to be in and out of hospital in a foreign country. Now one may ask, what is wrong with our own healthcare system? It has gotten so bad that even the ones responsible for its upgrade do not trust it. Is that a good sign of leadership? It is nasty, and terrible and if we were truly a people who sort justice, we would have stopped him from flying away to seek medical attention because, one, he would be spending millions of dollars supposed to be spent on something vital in the country. If I may ask, how is his health different from that of a three year old baby living in Chivi who needs cholera medication? This should be addressed and we make sure that the next president does not take the whole country for a ride.

The president should strongly advocate for Zimbabwe oriented solutions that embrace Africa and then the world. It has been the past mistake of many African states to allow western countries to give them solution to their problems and they have increased the dependency that they have had on them, opening a way for the latter to manipulate them. An example of this is the mistake of Esap in the 90s that the country plunged into a very serious predicament and also in that light, the failure by the late Malawian president to deal with the issue of gays and lesbians in his country, being pushed into a corner by the United Nations and other Western nations by being threatened with withdrawal of donor funding. Now the question is, would a leader of a nation reverse a decision that he made, in the capacity of his position because someone has threatened him with something, God bless his soul but that was unprofessional of a president. One thing that I feel makes up a leader is the conviction he has in what he believes in, and of course it has to be moderate but if a man goes back and forth, it is scary to leave him in an office such as of presidency. Thus, a grand programme, run by an elite group of wise Zimbabweans, they may be elders, or professionals, but having the nation at heart and an ability to come up with smart solutions for the benefit of the country at large. Of course, in this age of global networking, it is vital that the country participates in international affairs and takes advice from everywhere but still thrive to safeguard Zimbabwe oriented solutions to our own problems.

The next president should work hard to eliminate the ethnic and even racial tensions existing in the country. As a young person who has been in the country, I am not dreaming when I say there is a lot of racial and tribal tension in the country. Whatever is being presented as that problem having been done away with is complete baloney. Except for artists, that I have seen working in harmony with each other, there has been a great deal of nepotism in the workplace and everywhere else and there is talk about tribal injustices every time in the streets. The people of Matebeleland, are still smarting from the Gukurahundi period which left thousands of their kinsfolk dead after the Perence Shiri led genocide. This issue is never going to go away until some sort of reparation has been paid to these people and they get incorporated into the affairs of the nation substantially. If left unattended, this issue can grow and fester into something nasty in the future because they all talk about it and yet are not given a proper answer when they ask the issue to be dealt with.

Finally, the next president should resuscitate the other vital sectors of the nation that include health, education, agriculture,women and youth rights, art, science and development and many more programmes that will ensure that Zimbabwe bounces back and bounces back for good. He/she should not necessarily be the head of a political party because that is part of the tell-tale signs of a despot, and they also should be also able to foster unity and have a driving vision that all will want to participate in to change the course of events in the country. To everyone else who is not president, cooperation and patriotism is the way to go because each and every individual has in their own right, the power to build the nation.

God bless Zimbabwe!!

Turns

So turns out,

That the one we took,

For a man,

A principled one for that matter,

To lead us out of the hard times,

Took a wild turn,

Against the gravity of the wind,

And so he came out,

As a thorn growing undesirable among flesh.

So,

It’s like sleeping with the devil,

Because at Harare,Remember,

When people,

Who were members,

Before of a movement,

The same,

That cried out and,

Vehemently detested,

The rule of the fair skinned,

Who wanted us to fear him,

Without justifiable reasons,

To believe he was the better being,

Better as the light of the sun,

Is to the glow of the moon.

At Harare,

Where the wealth of a nation,

Was slowly squandered,

By the men who swore at Chinhoyi,

To serve brothers and sisters,

Shed their sweat and blood,

To bring equality and justice,

Hijacked the reason and intent,

Of the so many who failed to make it to the end,

Who I believe would have loved it not,

To see the same people reeling under injustice.

A band of men,

Who organized themselves to destroy,

What was left of the wealth.

Women wept,men braved the pain,

But could not hold back the tears,

As the whip licked their essence,

And the thief stole in front of their eyes,

Only the dead escaped the madness,

Of rabid mongrels out to devour,

The remains of a nation.

A Million souls planned to march,

To the end of the tyranny,

But guns and bayonets were drawn,

Loaded and pointed,

Threatening the very existence of those who dared,

Demand the truth,

A vote was held,

But they ran away with the ballot box,

Further depressing the weak spirited,

And hounding the souls of the resistant.

Things got septic,

Hospitals spit the ill,

And drugs scuttled off the dispensaries' shelves,

Blindfolded,

To find themselves in some back alley,

Fuel sank into the earth,

An embargo was dropped on the nation,

Morgues filled with bodies of departed spirits,

Who had failed to live on in the misery,

Or God had decided to relieve the of the pain and suffering,

Grocery stores could not be restocked,

And bare necessities suddenly became like gold,

But,

Everything surfaced up at the black market,

That came and devoured the right market,

And paper money rolled out of the mint,

Kicking prices higher and higher towards the heavens,

At this point, it would be appropriate to say,

Women wailed, and men cried foul.

School, the institution suddenly become obsolete,

Educators dropped their books and took their knowledge somewhere else,

Thieves stole and shared with the police,

Young women offered their bodies for pennies,

The talented workforce migrated to the west with the sunset,

And my migratory avian visitor,

Sensed the distress in the air,

And ceased perching on my rooftop,

Mandy I named her,

And I miss her.

The nation, under the reign of the gang,

Creaked and groaned like a ship out in a storm,

About to hit bottom,

It struggled as they pitted brothers against each other,

All for the gain of their pockets,

And the strength of their power.

And now,

A new day seems to be arriving,

Slowly, 

turning the eastern sky ruddy,

And the nation ,slowly, Is stirring into action,

To strike once again,

On a new note,

Like the forefathers said,

Nothing under the sun, 

Remains just the same forever.

The Independence that never is.

Formerly Lornrho, Lonmin is registered in London, headquartered in Jozi, SA. It brings an age-old situation to mind- colonization  which was for capitalist gains and not for African development. The capitalist gains and the people lose, that's the simple equation of it. I think the South African government needs to deal with this issue and deal with it to the very last. The deceased miners, unfortunately, in trying to air their grievances, were branded militants and were slayed in very cold blood. The government in SA has no grip on its affairs, it is controlled by capitalists. To this end, it does not serve the people at all. Most of these miners were shot in the back which puts to rest the case that they were attacking the police, instead, the police attacked these people. For what reason?
SA govt leaders are eating with the bosses of the mines and the people are suffering. The people, the rightful owners of the resources are starved and made to work for peanuts. Their areas are not developed and their youth not taken care of. The way most African economies were built is in such a way that they depend on their colonial masters, western economies, and it is difficult for them to effect Afrocentric/Autocentric development and rely on themselves. The black governments, not a single black government has been able to wrest itself from the grips of western system of finances.What is also happening is that although there are African businessmen, there are still lots of capitalists from mother countries of colonizers who still have large controlling interests in former colonies and they would not tolerate it when the ordinary worker stages a demonstration to air his grievances. The murders just reveal two driving forces of capitalism, greed and fear.


        History has a way of repeating itself. It was in 1949, Nigerian coal workers took to militant action and they were massacred. Just like the Lonmin men, they died trying to be heard. The government's downplaying of this whole issue makes them suspect, the men at the top's hands are greased that is why their mouths are shut. Now the whole fiasco of Julius Malema and his tax and tenders saga. It just leaves the ordinary man wondering, did the people who go into politics do it for personal gain? No, no way, they do so for authority and more money probably.

Mugabe invaded the farms, and the factories belonging to Europeans. Unless it was a spontaneous decision, he should have made sure the economy of the country was not tied to the western world, or if it was, it was not heavily dependent on it. The IMF has recently cut down the forecast for economic growth is Africa for 2012 to 5% because of the reasons associated with the Eurozone crisis. This is but to show the heavy dependence of African nations to Western nations and an epic failure of many African presidents to restructure their economies and create an independent trading zone within Africa. But he did not take pro-active measure and the moment we were sanctioned, Mugabe and his brood would fall into tirades blaming the western countries with every breath breath they took, so they have wasted their precious time instead of coming up with a plan, a working plan so as to make the economy efficiently function. The reforms that took place in Zimbabwe did away with monopoly in many industries in which Europeans or former Rhodhesian whites had control of, but they failed to come up with a plan to replace them and instead, led things to getting worse and worse. The reason Zimbabweans failed to rise immediately and Just look at how Europe killed our natural skills by providing us with manufactured products from them, made from our resources, if they had not, we would have figured out how to do so many things on our own.

And now the Malema issue, just like the Gono issues are just but also scratches on the surface of an intricate web of utmost corruption and selfishness of the very same people the masses throng to in support. There is still foreign capitalists who are using the South African government to siphon the resources and the people get nothing at all while the same politicians, the African petit-bourgeoisie that comprises the Zuma entourage just like the Mugabe crew have gone on to acquire immense wealth while they subjects, the same they promised freedom are wallowing in poverty. Freedom is not only 'not being ruled by a white regime', but political, social, economic and all other freedoms. In Zimbabwe, we have had so many people killed during the campaigns of ZANU (PF), MDC and other parties and mostly the former has been notorious at killing and kidnapping opponents just to remain in power and destroy the people's rights just a lot more. There are so many cases that the people of Zimbabwe and South Africa would want answers for. The case of the Marange diamonds whose operation was supposed to have improved the economy to an extent but as of date, all is vanity. The ownership of the gemstone fields points at the rulers again. Since 2008 when the army invaded the fields killing small time local miners, the same who were supposed to benefit from the natural resources of their motherland. Now the fields are exploited by Anjin and Mbada whose board consists of senior military and police fat cats. Goodness knows very well that these gems are not being mined and the money put where it is supposed to. There goes another digression, a complete deviation of the people whose sworn purposes are to serve the country, but it now appears that they are serving themselves. That is the reason the Lonmin miners went on strike, to be considered, appreciated and remunerated accordingly. However the coward capitalists had the police kill them in cold blood and they stole their resources. Before I go, let me show you how history repeats itself and that this has been happening well before African independence and nothing has changed: In a country called Uganda is an area called Chunya. This area was rich in gold and the British came in and mined it, fast, using locals to do the digging. Their mining activities scarred the land and destroyed fauna and flora and then the gold vanished. When there was no more gold, the British simply moved on and the Chunya people remained as they were, poor, even poorer and having to live in a badly damaged environment. Is this what we want our nations to be?

Party People.

In one nation,

Party people came to reign,

Oh what a day it was?

Party people to occupy,

The offices at Munhumutapa,

Some went to Chaminuka buildings,

Others Ambassador House they stormed,

It was a jumble of activity,

As others occupied Kaguvi,

Defence House,

Makombe place,

Mukwati, Kurima House,

It went on and on till they got to,

The State House,

Where their principal took residence,

To rule a nation,

Bring to it the promises made during the war,

Chimurenga!

All conditions favored the lot,

They spoke and people, we believed,

Happy and we were relieved,

They walked and we followed after their footsteps,

And the rains fell and,

wet the earth,

To cool our feet as we journeyed,

To a future we all sat up and imagined,

When the times were torrid,

Those times when Ian Smith was the law,

And his bunch of helpers all were strong,

And we were just wrong to be us,

Until the cock that crowed,

Heralding a new dawn and a new day.

Party people converged to,

The offices at Munhumutapa,

Some went to Chaminuka buildings,

Others Ambassador House they stormed,

It was a jumble of activity,

As others occupied Kaguvi,

Defence House,

Makombe place,

Mukwati, Kurima House,

It went on and on till they got to,

The State House,

Where their principal took residence,

To rule a nation,

They came with something we all eagerly awaited,

Independence,

A reign of one who truly embraced oneness and fairness,

Comrades,

as it turned out that,

Was it a fatal mistake?

Or just a twist of fate?

What we experienced,

The lashes of the whips on our souls,

The lies that had gone off to the wind and bounced back,

To torment us because we trusted the party men,

And danced our nights away to inspire them at,

Pungwes,

And drank every word they poured into our thirsty expectant lives,

From chalices of deception.

And thus it is our fault that now were all entangled,

In a snare they laid for us,

Because we trusted them and gave them the permission,

To protect us but they decided to go East,

And cut us where we bled the most,

They snatched our cries right from our own lips,

And filled our community with a group of spies to hear when we cried,

And descended on us swords drawn to draw our blood,

Whenever we said we were tired to hear their voices,

No more of your empty lies!

No more concoctions of your vile spirits,

That got us drunk that we beat our own mothers,

That got us so inebriated with pride

That cursed our very fathers,

Oh what a contemptible lot the party men are!

We all cried in one voice,

But they heard,

We want to bring back the colonizer!

So they ran in on us,

In a rough ratio,

Swords drawn, one hundred of them to one,

Killed a dozen and maimed a lot more,

The party men,

Who bore the symbol of the Cock,

So we set our voices to cry out to the east,

All the way to the North,

And sanctions were carried back by the reverberations of our distressed screams,

Suddenly,

Everything started falling on us,

Except the rains!

Good Lord can you hear us,

So the people ran away from,

ZANU (Pee- Ef) in haste,

To the new Em-Dee-Cee,

A movement with a democratic twist,

The real democracy not the one thrown to the dogs,

Now the children were even afraid to cry,

As we all huddled up in the huts,

Too afraid to breathe because outside,

It was teeming with thugs sent from,

Those wretched offices of government,

Men and women who boasted of the power vested in them,

By the tyrannical efforts of the man Mugabe to keep holding,

On to the pillar that held our very lives together.

And then many fled,

When the sun rose,

Many were nowhere to be found,

Having crept away hidden by the darkest hour of the night,

To beckoning lands with a promise of freedom,

The UKs and the USAs,

Neighbors,

That abhorred the fact that we ran away,

Botswana, South Africa,

Even the kingdoms of Mauritania,

Saw the arrival of some of us,

Weary from the long days lived before,

Seeking for places to lay our heads and rest,

But alas,

There was no rest in these places,

Met with terms and conditions,

To fulfill certain criterias,

And being aliens with very limited rights,

We were regarded with suspicious eyes,

And could not rest so easily thus,

Some were attacked by xenophobic ones,

Bitten and chewed their very essences of life,

Made us to realize the fact that,

Rest is only found in the heavens,

Never on this earth,

So everything fell down on us,

Our rankings in prestigious fields,

The respect people had for us as a people,

Our currency value dropped to the molten magma depths,

And then it was cancelled,

Leaves departed from the boughs,

And our dignity as well ran after the time,

More hope poured away,

Corruption dropped onto our heads with a nasty,

SPLAT!

Never have I ever seen such despair,

As mourners cried for the dead,

Who instead were mourning for the living,

For they were the ones who were still facing lack,

And danced with the troubles in the dusk,

While their shadows rebelled on the walls

Who had to watch starved uneducated children roaming the streets,

Turning into prostitutes and thieves,

Because there was no dignity not anymore.

Then I saw the unity,

That never was in the first place,

Having first in an election race,

Party men devised a scheme to keep them in,

So they brought the case of a united government,

To serve the people,

But what we didn’t hear,

Were their actual words,

And its a pity that we missed it,

What they meant was,

To serve their desires,

To acquire and be the wealthiest,

Mining diamonds to sustain their lavish lives,

While the nation,

They pledged to serve in the beginning,

Is poorer than a church mouse's dinner table,

They wine and dine with each other,

Kings and princes of misery,

That wrested the power off the coloniser,

Only to be the enslaver,

And whosoever sees that it is not the right thing,

Shall herewith be declared an enemy,

And has to be eliminated.

Party people converged to,

The offices at Munhumutapa,

Some went to Chaminuka buildings,

Others Ambassador House they stormed,

It was a jumble of activity,

As others occupied Kaguvi,

Defence House,

Makombe place,

Mukwati, Kurima House,

It went on and on till they got to,

The State House,

Where their principal took residence,

To rule a nation,

Now the whole nation,

The same nation,

Lies in desolate ruins,

Spirits ruined,

Hopes ruined,

Health ruined,

Education ruined,

Community ruined,

Families shredded to pieces,

Patchworks of roads lead nowhere but to misery,

Smouldering ruins of a great past,

It sure has been a very bumpy ride,

From then to this very minute.

Mufakose,

Does it mean we die everywhere?

It is everyday from hunger and disease,

And everyday to our carnal selves.

We watch and see,

And tell ourselves this is it,

Enough the times have we sat,

And watched them while they tore our sovereignty to pieces,

Time to put their little party to its very end,

Bowed heads bob as we all agree,

Time indeed to put to rest the party crew!