Zimbabwe Absurdity

Monday 18th April was the 30th anniversary of Zimbabwe’s independence. Celebrations were held at various places around the country and I am pretty sure attendances were not that good – after all – who wants to hear a politician spouting all the usual slogans on your day off? Aware of this, the organisers use a bit of psychological pressure on the the farmers in the rural areas to donate food in order to attract a crowd. Maybe they think it will help garner votes come election day but I think people have a shorter memory than that.

Comrade Mapfumo, chairman of Gomba District ZANU-PF phoned me last week to ask for “a beast”. I presume that meant a bovine of some description. I don’t farm cattle and had no intention of giving anything else either so said no. Then the letter arrived:

Curiously it is dated 1st April though it was not intended as an April Fool’s joke. I am not really sure what they thought they would put the salad cream on either. This was a little more difficult to ignore so I phoned around to see what other farmers were doing. Unfortunately they were donating so I swallowed my pride and took around 120kg of sweet potatoes left over from a cutting project for an NGO. No doubt Comrade Mapfumo (as he calls himself to me) will have something to say and it won’t be “thank you”.