The Sunday Mail
I ALMOST rammed into a vehicle that seemed abandoned at a traffic light-controlled intersection on my way from work at midnight last Wednesday.
When I gathered courage to alight from my car to investigate the situation, I found out the youthful driver was sloshed beyond measure and had taken a nap, hoping to continue with his journey when the light turned green.
The bloke was reeking booze and keen to continue sleeping, forcing me to switch off his engine and drive away.
Such is the state of affairs in the big city, gentle reader, where both drivers and pedestrians are always drunk, rendering the potholed roads unsafe for all users.
There seems to be an unwritten law somewhere requiring people of all ages and sexes to stay drunk.
Drinking actually makes the lion in most people roar.
In some homes, the father, the mother and all the children will be dead drunk, without anyone to control the other.
Their homes resemble a goat pen, where both men and women have horns and beards.
Igombototo nemashura ezviratidzo.
In such homes, people can skip meals frequently as all family members will be incapacitated due to beer.
“Vakomana, doro rinonaka, dai waiva mufushwa ndaisa muhomwe,” sang Chimurenga guru Thomas “Mukanya” Mapfumo.
The inimitable Hosiah Chipanga chipped in, singing: “Doro rakanaka, haridhake asinganwe.”
In Sungura kingpin Alick Macheso’s song “Kutsvaga Chiremba”, we come across the following line: “Kunwa hwahwa ndokuti udhakwe, vamwe tinonwira hunovaraidza pfungwa, vamwe tichinwira kunodzima stress.”
Gentle reader, it is a known fact that beer is big business globally and the fact that artistes have committed songs to the beverage attests to this fact.
Called “kudhakwa”, “kugungwa,” “kudashurwa”, “kudushwa”, “kunyura”, “kupombwa”, “kudzerebedwa” or “kuherenderwa”, among a host of names, being drunk is common these days.
People are drinking a lot.
At funerals, it is not unusual to find mourners drinking as they believe it makes them while away time and forget the challenges before them.
People make merry at parties, weddings and many other social and cultural events after consuming alcohol.
“Serious matters are never discussed on dry throats,” you often hear elders saying as they demand alcohol, while discussing serious family matters.
People who refuse to buy beer are sometimes chased away or accused of being stingy and uncultured.
“Your nephew was here, seeking to talk to me, but I chased him away because he could not buy even a single calabash of opaque beer.
“Tell him that I do not entertain stingy people,” my eldest brother once told me.
As I commit pen to paper, gentle reader, there are some characters that claim not to be able to function properly without booze.
They take beer before going about their duties. They seem to exhibit a lot of confusion if ever they try to do something without a beer.
Yours truly knows of a machinist who lost his job at a big company for always reporting for work under the influence of alcohol.
Without any need to discourage people from drinking beer for whatever reasons — cultural, medical or personal — it is imperative for those who take the wise waters to do so responsibly.
It is my plea that people should stick to safely produced alcoholic beverages, which are manufactured within the definitions of Zimbabwean law.
Inotambika mughetto.
Feedback: rosenthal. mutakati@ zimpapers.co.zw
