The Sunday Mail
GHETTO WHISPERS With Rosenthal Mutakati
I had barely settled in my chair when I saw a fellow reveller who had been ensconced on a tall barstool next to the barman fall on his back.
He spilled his beer in the process.
Moments earlier, he had unwittingly scorched a gaping hole with a cigarette stub on the shirt of an imbiber who was sitting next to him.
So heavy was the thud that announced his fall and fellow guzzlers temporarily left whatever they were doing to check on him.
“Ko aita sei? Kana aguta ngaanange kuden mhani,” one woman could be heard saying while adjusting her headgear and using her palm to cover her legs, which had been exposed by a temporary wardrobe malfunction.
“He must regulate his drinking; not to drink like a fish and act like a pig,” quipped one husky-voiced guzzler who was playing pool with his peers.
While almost everyone thought the middle-aged man had one too many, the bartender said the chap had bought his mug a couple of hours before his painful fall and had not even taken a sip.
“The world is a rough place. I cannot take this anymore. My wife ran away to South Africa with my younger brother and they took away all my pension,” the gentleman said, as he was being helped back to his stool.
It, however, did not take long before the man slithered away to God knows where without anyone noticing.
Welcome to the world of sibling betrayal.
Well, several people out there have tear-jerking tales about the trouble they had to endure at the hands of their siblings.
“Dai zvakaitwa nemutorwa zvaive nani panekuti zviitwe newe — buda ndibudewo neni,” sang the late legendary lyricist, Paul “Dr Love” Matavire, and his trailblazing Jairosi Jiri Band in his song “Kamoto Kamberevere”.
It seems the biblical tale of Joseph, who endured a lot of trials and tribulations at the hands of his brothers, continues to repeat itself over and over again.
Some sisters are no longer on talking terms over men.
“I am a troubled soul. I have vowed to neither get married ever again nor trust anyone. Imagine, my younger sister, whom I sent to school to pluck out of poverty, came to my house and ran away with my husband.
“So lustful of my husband did she become that she lost respect for me and went away with my husband without even caring to consider the welfare of my children,” said one lady called Aunty Jenny, who now finds solace in the bottle.
She said her experience at the hands of her sister has changed the way she looks at relationships.
She is not the only one in this predicament.
One Beauty Mutowindo said she lost her house to a bank after she used it as collateral to get a loan on behalf of her sister, who wanted to send her son to the United Kingdom.
“Ndakachekwa nerakagomara. My blood sister convinced me to use my house as collateral to unlock a bank loan so she could send her son to Britain.
“I did this out of love and what I got in return is nothing but betrayal. I no longer have anywhere to put my head and it pains me a lot,” she said.
Cases of sibling betrayal are as old as life itself.
Some brothers are no longer on speaking terms because of cases involving ‘incestuous’ relationships.
“A lot is going on in families today. You can find someone having family trouble because of the actions of his blood brother. Did you know someone can date his brother’s wife and even impregnate her just to spite him?
These are the kind of people who send resignation letters to their brothers’ employers out of jealousy,” said one pastor who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Cases of sibling rivalry and betrayal are just unfortunate.
The recent case of the Murehwa man who is being accused of killing his brother’s seven-year-old son with the help of a herdsman is too ghastly to contemplate.
An eye for an eye makes the world blind.
We should not take revenge, but strive to be our brothers’ keeper.
Inotambika mughetto.
Feedback: [email protected]
