The Sunday Mail
ALL he could find in the parking lot were dry leaves and oil droplets.
He had no clue the direction his employer’s motorbike had taken while he was running errands in the capital.
Teary-eyed and dejected, Brendon, who was now sweating profusely, confusedly looked behind a nearby hedge, tree and under parked vehicles, but the bike was nowhere to be found.
He even searched for it in his trouser pockets.
“Ndaipaka apa, just as I do every day. I even have the keys and I just do not know what happened. Can someone please show me the direction the person who took the bike went? I am talking about my job here. Inyaya yebasa rangu pano,” Brendon said while wailing like a kid.
Such is the confusion one goes through whenever something is stolen from them.
Losing something to thieves makes people momentarily lose their mind.
When I woke up to find the toilet pan stolen in Crowhill so many moons ago, I rushed back to ask my wife whether she had not put it in the house.
You feel dizzy and hopeless the moment it dawns that you have been robbed.
Victims often cannot help but have an emotional breakdown.
The public, however, does not care less.
They will jeer and ridicule you for falling victim.
In Glen Norah, there is a family that has gained infamy for stealing wet clothes from the laundry line.
“You should sit nearby after washing the clothes because unosotwa nemachinda acho,” you often hear people saying.
There is an element of selfishness in people who steal.
Called “kuba”, “kunjonja”, “kutsotsa”, “humbivha”, “kudhuba” or “kutsindira”, stealing is common in communities.
Some people cannot help it; they steal anything they can lay their hands on.
It is not unusual to walk into a church to find someone reading Holy Scriptures from a stolen bible or singing songs of adoration from a stolen hymn book.
People steal a lot these days.
Musicians are complaining about piracy, which is daylight robbery.
People are also stealing people.
Wherever you go, you are sure to be told the tale of someone who stole a child or ran away with a colleague’s husband or wife.
In this era where almost everyone strives to be the best, there are companies that are literally stealing workers from their competitors by promising them better salaries and allowances.
Thieving is as old as creation.
In the Bible, Jacob stole his brother Esau’s birth right after conniving with his mother.
Some people are given to consuming the fruits of others’ labour and they see nothing wrong with it.
Others even slaughter beasts at their homes and brew beer to ensure they get guidance in their criminal enterprises.
“Some people are dangerous. They steal from anyone, even their parents. Stealing is actually a profession,” one elderly man told this writer.
Employers are the biggest victims.
“I would rather work alone than hire someone because munhu pachake anoba vasahwira. Some people can hardly spend a day without stealing. Sadly, employers are the worst victims. At work, people steal anything they can lay their hands on, including pens,” he said.
Gentle reader, there are people who have modelled their businesses around thieves because they know they will never go out of business.
Day in, day out, people are setting up security firms because they know there is always business for them.
N’angas too tell the world that they have muti to ensnare thieves and are even displaying adverts to that effect.
“Uya uone chiororo kubata makororo. Sekuru vakabva kuChipinge,” you read signs posted on electricity poles in the ghetto.
There is also new technology like surveillance cameras and digital tracking systems to keep thieves at bay.
While criminals have been there since time immemorial, we must always be vigilant to avoid losses.
Inotambika mughetto.
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