The Sunday Mail
Rosenthal Mutakati
WE were exchanging pleasantries with acquaintances in Glen Norah last weekend when we heard a heavy thud.
It was immediately followed by a loud, piercing scream.
Almost everyone rushed to investigate.
Lo and behold, a logger lay writhing in pain, with his diesel-powered chainsaw barely a metre from the point where he had landed.
It happened that the chap had “foolishly” been cutting the branch he was sitting on.
Well, he had put himself in harm’s way.
In Shona, they say “ndomene haichemedze”.
While it is tempted to condemn this imbecile, we seem to be doing the same thing when it comes to the coronavirus.
People seem to be nonchalantly letting their guard down at the most inopportune time.
Private kombis are still ferrying people with neither masks nor respect for social distancing.
Shop owners are also entertaining customers without masks.
It would be hard to convince anyone who visits our suburbs that the virus is still in our midst.
Shopping centres are always teeming with people that are heedless of dangers caused by the coronavirus.
Ignoramuses are still happily sharing beer mugs.
“My friend, what is it about coronavirus that you want to tell us? We grew up together and we cannot be separated by anyone. We do not need any masks. We actually suspect that people like you are the ones with the virus because you travel a lot,” said one guzzler identified as Tawanda.
His younger brother Richard weighed in.
“This coronavirus is now water under the bridge. This is time to look for money and not to be afraid . . . Whether you like it or not, you will die one day, and if that day comes, there is nothing you can do. Ucharasa hama nekuteerera zvese zvese.”
The way people are dancing the night away at nightclubs in the ghetto is as if normal service has resumed.
Barbecues have become commonplace, while securing parking at shopping centres is now a nightmare owing to high vehicular traffic.
What is making matters worse are rogue police officers that only need to have their palms greased to look the other way.
“My brother, I am in business to make money. Every month-end council wants payment for rent and I also need to pay my workers.
“We give the police a little token and continue with our operations. This is my life and my family depends on this, so hapana kuvhara nekuti ndikavhara ndakuvara,” one businessman told this writer straight in the face.
Even in the central business district, beer is being sold openly, while some people are exchanging masks to move from one place to another.
Rising infections and the spectre of a third wave of the pandemic is reason enough to double down on preventative measures.
Masking up, sanitising and maintaining social distance is the way to go in our fight to stop the virus from spreading.
The coronavirus pandemic is lethal.
Inotambika mughetto.
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