The Sunday Mail
Rosenthal Mutakati
I spent close to an hour struggling for parking space at a popular drinking joint in Glen Norah, where people roasted meat and danced the night away with reckless abandon.
That we are in the middle of a Covid-19 crisis seemed not to matter as guzzlers battled for honours on the dance floor.
They were neither observing social distance nor wearing face masks.
It was as if merrymakers were oblivious that we are in the middle of a pandemic.
But such irresponsible behaviour is now common.
“Rega ndizvidyire dhora rangu, kufa kwakauya (Let me spend my money since death is upon us),” chirped one fellow as he did justice to Kanda Bongoman’s yesteryear hit “Monie”, better known by many as “Hinde Monie”.
As the crowd cheered those on the dance floor, broke fellows with a penchant for begging for freebies were busy hounding their victims.
“Let’s be merry good people. Let us enjoy ourselves; after all, it’s month-end. Purezha yadirwa sugar,” I could hear people shouting as the night wore on.
The same scenes are being witnessed across the city.
But there is always a price to pay for irresponsible behaviour.
Called “purezha”, “kuspakwa”, “kunakirwa”, “kudhuukirwa”, “kutetena dhora” or “kudya nyika rutivi”, merrymaking in the current circumstances is not without consequences.
It comes with tales of splurging school fees on booze and women, including unwanted pregnancies. Death is sometimes an unfortunate outcome.
“If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas,” goes an old English adage.
Zimbabwe has not turned the bend when it comes to containing the coronavirus.
Nearly 1 800 people have succumbed to Covid-19 countrywide since the pandemic was first detected in March last year.
The disease is still very much in our midst.
We need to take care.
The tightened Level Four lockdown measures introduced by President Mnangagwa on Tuesday should, therefore, be fully embraced.
While the Government has done its part to keep the pandemic at bay, there is need to heed health guidelines and protocols.
We need to eliminate social vices such as child marriages, rape, abuse and domestic violence associated with initial lockdowns.
Previous lockdowns resulted in many young girls failing to report back for school after falling pregnant.
There were also disturbing reports of young people taking illicit and toxic drugs.
Mischief during the lockdown is self-defeating.
Remember the wise counsel of William Shakespeare: “The evil that men do lives after them, but the good is oft interred with their bones.”
Inotambika mughetto!
