The Sunday Mail
There is a lot going on in Zimbabwe.
From men who are being dragged to court to look after their own offspring and women who are so fed up of their cheating husbands that they go and dump their philandering husbands’ underwear at the office, to food outlets that are opening on every street corner as if someone has a wish to see all Zimbabweans becoming obese; to vendors that now occupy the very centre of the capital city and cases of typhoid that have suddenly become a routine thing especially in the capital city — there is truly a lot which is going around us.
In this column you can look forward to Sokostina, of the Monkey totem, that little animal that jumps from branch to branch so fast that at times you wonder whether you have actually seen it or not, touching on everything that is happening around. You can even tip her on story ideas.
This daughter of those, whose totem allows them to eat that which has been stolen. That daughter of those referred to as vanaMukanya will be with you every Sunday as you lie back and take it easy filling you in on all manner of things that the monkey, being a busy little animal, will happen to have seen going on around.
Be it policymakers who need to be held to account, be it business people, be it women, men or even pastors and prophets, Sokostina will deal with them.
After all, that is exactly what “This and That” means — a mixed bag.
This week because the rains have fallen, Sokostina has made an observation. There are moments when one is driving in Harare that they find themselves feeling sorry for their car. Sokostina herself was laughed at recently when she confessed to screaming when her car hit a huge water-filled crater, which she saw when it was too late to avoid.
Roads in the capital city and throughout the country have become death traps for vehicles and humans.
No matter how good a car is, after travelling on such roads, especially Harare’s roads, the car will surely develop some fault or other. Talk of cars that groan and mourn in protest as they move after the shocks and everything else just gives way.
There have been all sorts of jokes doing the rounds following the decimation of Harare’s roads by the rains that fell some weeks back. These rains caused havoc not just in the areas where homes were ravaged like the Hopley settlement but also on the city’s roads.
All the patchwork that had been done to Harare over the past year under the guise of road repairs was exposed for the sham that it was.
Imagine seeing roads that were recently patched up; with gaping holes hours after the rains fell?
This story has been told too many times with no meaningful change taking place. Surely it is not too much to demand that Harare City as well as the Government put the necessary plans in place to ensure that as a city, Harare has good roads.
The same applies for other local authorities.
When it rains there is always havoc in Harare. When the first heavy rains of this season fell, there was chaos when the city’s poor drainage system simply failed to cope with the water and most roads were flooded.
Goodness, even some homes were flooded.
Sokostina remembers houses in Mbare, which became inhabitable. The same situation affected residents of Manyame Park and some sections of Chitungwiza. Was anyone paying attention?
Sokostina doubts it because as soon as the next heavy rains fell, the cracks appeared. Even more homes were flooded.
Some collapsed and their inhabitants right now are facing an uncertain future. Is our Government aware that the people in areas like Hopley fall in the very low income bracket and when they construct a dwelling, no matter how poorly it is constructed; they usually would have put their all into the construction.
Wonder how those people are faring now that it is raining again? What makes their issue even more complicated is that they do not have the necessary paperwork that allows them to build proper houses.
Why is this taking long?
If the place is really theirs, then they would get the paperwork as their legislator has appealed for. These settlements we have sprouting up everywhere will be the undoing of this city.
Sokostina calls on the responsible authorities to act. In this year of performance and delivery, Sokostina would hate to see someone lose their job for failing to deliver.
Deliver, comrades.
It is just like the potholes. Sokostina has seen a circulating comic image of a giant crocodile poking its face out of nasty pothole. She has also received a message that reads; “One of these days we may stumble upon a mermaid in one of these water-filled craters on our roads.”
This depicts just how bad the situation truly is.
These are the things Zimbabweans have become very good at. Making jokes and constructing witty comments as a way of dealing with whatever stresses they find themselves faced with. Sokostina wonders whether people should not be a little bit more serious and realistic.
There are suburbs that have gone without water this whole week with the city not providing any alter natives.
But Zimbabweans lap it up and come up with jokes.
The President has told us that we should expect delivery and service, has he not? So why are we allowing people to get away with murder?
I am on Harare today.
After all, as residents of this city pay rates and taxes, so they should get services. Motorists pay taxes, too, to be on the roads thus they deserve functional road systems. When the whole road network of a capital city has become littered with huge gaping holes, is making jokes all you can do?
Why are you allowing the council to take you for fools? As people who pay licence fees to Zinara and fork out toll fees whenever we travel, should we not expect good roads that do not give way at the first sign of the rains?
Sokostina pays her dues hence she is demanding services.
It is not very fair when people just want to collect for doing nothing except being there. There is a culture of entitlement that has gripped those who should be providing services which is quite worrisome. They move around in big vehicles hence they do not feel the potholes.
But those of us who pay the taxes that allow them to move in the huge cars have small cars we struggle to buy and they are always breaking down, costing us more in repairs because the roads are no longer fit to be roads.
You find yourself yearning for a smooth gravel road at times and it is not odd to find motorists using side roads or creating their own dust roads on the road sides because the road itself would have become a jungle. Hence using a ‘‘bhinya’’ (side) road becomes a better option.
Cry my beloved Harare.
What happened to the city of old that had wide and tarred roads?
What happened to Sokostina’s city of old that had traffic lights which worked all year round?
What happened to the Harare that had street-lights that actually lit the avenues ahead of us?
Today the only places you find with lights are people’s homes?
How much do all these things cost?
If these huge cars are sacrificed for a while, surely we can get some service?
