The Sunday Mail
OWNING a car, or making people believe you have one, is perceived as a status symbol.
There is just something about that four-wheeled monster propelled by an internal combustion engine that makes the lion in most people roar.
The smell of petrol and diesel simply drives some people crazy.
Forget about the type of car, repair costs and attendant fuel expenses, cars make people mad.
For some lodgers, however, owning cars has left them stressed as homeowners largely do not take kindly to motorists.
“I cannot have a lodger who has a car at my house because people may end up thinking he is the landlord. Moreover, the car makes it difficult for my wife to sweep the yard,” one landlord said openly in Kuwadzana.
“Cars also invite thieves, so I would rather stay alone with my family than be exposed to thefts and the risk of death by someone with a car. Ngaabve,” he continued, before taking a big gulp of opaque beer and wiping his mouth with the back of his sooty hand.
Apart from the wealth of convenience a car unlocks to the owner and those close to him, there is something about owning a vehicle that people do not want to miss.
It is worse in rural areas where parents, relatives and community members use driving and/or owning a car as a yardstick of success.
“My son is doing well in the city. He now owns a car. When you talk of comfort, Henry is having a good life, I tell you,” you hear elderly people telling their peers during binge drinking. He has a very beautiful car with a good radio. I only thank the gods for the success my son has achieved,” they will say.
Whenever a girl visits her aunt to formalise her relationship with her boyfriend, the first question she is asked is whether or not the prospective husband has a car.
“Ane mota here mukomana wawati anoda kukuroora (Does this guy who intends to marry you have a car)?” she will ask in jest, yet she will be meaning every letter of the word.
Whether or not one owns a car also determines the bride price one is charged.
“If the prospective son-in-law does not own a car, this could be a sure sign that he is not of means, thus, the best way is to lower the charges or ask him to come back at a later date, when his fortunes would have improved. How, in this day and age, can you let your daughter marry someone without a car? Educated people must own cars,” an elderly man told this writer straight in the face.
However, unbeknown to most people, not everyone who drives a car owns it.Some cars belong to companies, friends and relatives — who would have just entrusted someone to drive them — and that cannot be viewed as a measure of success.
It is this warped belief that men who own cars are well-heeled that is making children run into challenges. As I commit pen to paper, gentle reader, some women landed themselves in trouble by falling for guys who were always behind the wheel, oblivious of the fact that the cars they were driving belonged to relatives and friends.
This partly explains why some unscrupulous traditional healers are making huge sums of money by making unsuspecting clients believe they can enhance their economic status by winning cars in popular competitions and promotions.
“A fool and his money are soon parted. I am making big bucks from men and women who are seeking to enhance their status by winning cars in the OK Grand Challenge. All I do is charge them a few dollars and give them a long list of dos and don’ts which are difficult to observe. When they fail to win cars, I will just point it out to them that they did not follow my instructions strictly to the letter,” I heard a traditional healer saying in Highfield last week.
Gentle reader, whether one owns a car or not cannot be used as a measure of success. Let us simply work hard and honestly to improve our lot.
Inotambika mughetto.
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