Visualise Us

Gone are the days of money changing and diamonds at Marange and in comes business of semen. After exhausting all means of making an honest living some lazy women have turned to raping and stealing men’s semen. Recently there were reports of women moving around the country in fancy cars soliciting sex from men and then raping them at gunpoint and taking their semen. Some men often find it difficult to come out openly and report cases of rape, so some women have taken advantage of this to go on a raping spree and hijacking semen to sell. It is no longer a secret that men are also being sexually abused by women and its high time that men speak out against the abuse. The most scary and painful part to the rape victims (men) is the fact of getting raped and then having your semen stolen from you and not having a clue about where and what it is going to be used for.

The idea of getting rich quick has influenced some parts of the young generation to go that extra mile of earning a living without breaking a sweat. Just like in the North African movies where “muti” or black magic is potrayed as a way of getting rich quick, these ideas, and an element of laziness have engulfed and brain washed the young generation in Zimbabwe to the extent that crime is now being committed in pursuit of money and a good life. Recently police in Gweru arrested a group of female rape suspects with a consignment of used condoms filled with semen. People who were interviewed narrated how these young women were enjoying fancy lifestyles. These women were being admired but people didn’t know they were into the semen business.

So to all men who have been victims of rape please speak out – be a man about it!

Parallels can be drawn between the 1997 cash payouts to the war veterans and the recent disbursement of ‘youth development funds’ to the youth in Zimbabwe. The objectives of both programmes were to ‘economically empower’ ordinary citizens. While the war veteran payouts were just that, the YDF loans to the ‘youth’ are actually expected to be returned at some point. Under pressure from war veterans demanding payment for their role in the liberation struggle, President Robert Mugabe ordered unbudgeted payouts of 50,000 to each. The local dollar subsequently fell 71.5 percent against the greenback while the stock market crashed by 46 percent as investors rushed for the US dollar.

These unplanned payouts to war veterans went down the annals of history as the event that marked the beginning of the collapse of the country’s economy.

The ‘loans’ recently awarded to selected ‘youth’ in Zimbabwe may not accomplish glory of a similar magnitude, but what may follow can be anyone’s guess.

In the spirit of economically empowering the youth in Zimbabwe, the government – through the Ministry of Indigenisation and Empowerment – availed funds to be used in bettering the lives of youth through income generating projects. The funds are being managed through CBZ Bank, and insurance giant Old Mutual is part of a $10 million grant deal to the YDF. It is a big wonder what made the company agree to such an arrangement which stands to undermine its financial position. When companies like Old Mutual start to simply give away their net worth as gifts, we should get worried. But perhaps it is a clever way to escape the 51% remission guillotine.

In the YDF programme, there is no recovery plan, no obligation, and no collateral – just “young people who have benefited from the facility are encouraged to pay back the loans so that the funds can be extended to other eligible youth in revolving mode”. Are you kidding? So the 800+ lucky ‘youth’ whose names were published in recent press releases as beneficiaries are expected to create thriving businesses that will in the short term make profits from which the loans will then be paid back so that others can benefit.

There is no stipulated timeline by which the loans should be returned, so technically these are indefinite loans. There are just too many holes in this programme. As economist Erich Bloch would say it; the indigenization issue is being handled with a “total disregard for all economic fundamentals or principles.”

This could well be a grand scheme by some well placed individuals to throw away populist money and obtain a few kick-backs in the process. Can imagine obscure groups like Upfumi Kuvadiki getting such loans and actually being expected to pay them back, laugh out loud. We are assured that there are no ‘ghosts’ on the beneficiary list. Probably. I personally know someone whose name appeared on that list. To the best of my knowledge and without being judgmental, this person has plans to purchase a residential stand, possesses no entrepreneurial skills and actually got a consultant to develop his business plan that got him the loan. He wouldn’t say exactly how much he is going to get, but he invited me to ‘also apply and stop being jealous and missing out’.

The requirements are that you just fill in a form, submit a business plan, company registration document, identification documents and Bob’s your uncle, literally. You also need to prove that you are ‘legally constituted’ in a partnership; and if you are not, you are expected to ensure this happens within three months after receiving the loan (why bother then?).

Am I missing something here? Or perhaps I am just being jealous? Well, if you can’t beat em join em hey?

This is Zimbabwe.

There are so many Zimbabwean women who don’t like what they see when they look in the mirror. They look at their skin, and wish it would be lighter and brighter, because they believe that then, they will be prettier. Even when I was in high school, it was commonly believed that if a girl (or guy, come to think of it), was light, they were automatically more attractive. This really used to frustrate me, as I thought that some of these “pretty” girls really weren’t pretty at all. It’s attitudes, and silly beliefs like this, that I thought people left behind, when they finished high school, but it seems this that is one belief that haunts so many of Zimbabwe’s women, throughout their lives.

When you look in the mirror and see something you don’t like, it really bothers you, right? You try all you can to remedy it. If it’s a pimple, you try squeezing, drying it with toothpaste and all manner of face washes, masks and creams. You do everything you can to get things back, just the way you like them. In the same way, a lot of women are doing everything in their power to remedy their complexion “problems”. I can’t help but think that, while some of us looked at Michael Jackson’s pasty skin and chastised him for how he had gone too far with the lightening creams, there were many among us who secretly envied him, and longed to know his secret. Now, Zimbabwean women have skin lightening secrets of their own. Illegal and controlled legal substances, that drastically change the appearance of the skin, making it light and bright. The most popular of these are Diprosone ointment and Hydroquinone – oral tablets and creams. Below are the dangerous facts about these drugs. Facts that so many of our women choose to ignore:

Diprosone is a topical corticosteroid, commonly used to relieve the effects of eczema and other skin irritations, due to its anti-inflammatory qualities. This prescription-only substance is however, only used on a short-term basis, as it can cause real, lasting damage to the skin. Many women ignore the recommended dosages and opt to use it daily, as a skin lightener, and to promote hair growth. Prolonged use, or in this case, misuse makes the blood vessels more prominent, can lead to bacterial infections, causes the skin to eventually degenerate, making it thinner, more fragile and susceptible to bruising, then eventually, skin cancer, liver damage, kidney damage or poisoning. Hydroquinone tablets and creams work by basically lessening the concentration of melanin in the skin. It banned in many countries around the world. The long term side-effects are the similar to those mentioned above. One can also begin to get blue-black pigments are deposited onto the skin, (I’m sure you may have seen some unnaturally light women in Harare, with purplish lips).

It is clear that these are very dangerous substances, even in the right hands. So, where are women getting these substances? Well, getting these prescription drugs is easier than you think. One can even get them from their hairdresser, or in some of the Nigerian shops in Harare’s Gulf complex. The dream of lighter, brighter, (and eventually whiter), skin is one that can now come true for the women of Zimbabwe. More and more women are taking the plunge and taking their skin on the road to disaster and ruin. The side effects I mentioned earlier will happen to all its users, eventually.

Some nights I like to read bedtime stories to my 3-year-old son. I have been told, and strongly believe reading aloud to my son, even before he is able to read and write himself, is very beneficial. I find bedtime reading is another way I can bond with him, and get to know his likes and dislikes, gauge what and how much he knows and teach him new things, as he tends to ask so many questions after a story.

He loves to be read to and often recites parts of the stories along with me as I read. You see, I have a small collection of books, and they are all now quite familiar to him. I would really like to add to this collection, and introduce him to more stories he is not familiar with, and, most importantly, Zimbabwean stories.

It is saddening to think that my son has never been read a Zimbabwean bedtime story. I’ve read to him about penguins and polar bears in the snow, kangaroos and koalas in the Australian outback, seals and dolphins swimming in the ocean, all things which are foreign and irrelevant to our sub-tropical, land-locked nation.  I fear he may be learning more about the world out there than he is about the world around him. I think its important to read stories to our children, involving things, places and people that they can really relate to.

The formative years of children are the most important, and many lessons they learn at this stage have a lasting impression on them. I want my son to grow up learning about our country, every step of the way.

A while back, I searched high and low, for local (in both authorship and subject matter) books for children below 5 years and was disappointed.  Apart from the age-old “Sunrise Readers” collection that was recommended to me on one of my many quests, are there any Zimbabwean children’s books out there, for this age group?

I feel these gazetted wages are fair on the employee as these domestic workers deserve the best as well. One thing people should realise is out there in SA, the States, Britain etc, hama dzedu mamiads and they have been sending money back home & they tell you kuti ndirikutambira zvinoenderana neni. Isusu muno muZim we feel a maid mumwe munhuwo tinomuoona as a second class citizen. These domestic workers are abused mudzimba umo & on top of that opihwa mari shoma. On the other hand these gazetted wages are not fair on the employer because, the monthly salaries that people are earnign are not enough. One can’t spare a $100 on a maid then arnd $100 for ZESA then another $100 on your water bills yave marii, $300, tell me who can afford to dispose such huge amounts on a monthly basis, apa hatina kutaura rent coz majority of the people are tenants. The equation is just not working out. Hameno ministry of labour kuti ukufugnei but I feel they should adjust these salaries across the board, munhu wese needs an increment.
- Sandra, Kubatana subscriber

In the last edition of our Kubatana newsletter we included the recently gazetted wage increases for domestic workers in Zimbabwe. Pretty much unlivable wages don’t you think?

But the response that we got was unanimous in saying that wages are so low across the board that its unsurprising that employers can’t afford to pay domestic workers more. What do you think?

Government has set wages and conditions of service for domestic workers in a move that will result in the highest-paid such worker earning $100 per month. The new wages and working conditions were approved by Cabinet recently and are with effect from October

Domestic workers – including child minders, cooks and gardeners – will now be paid between $85 and $100. Workers not residing with their employers are now entitled to accommodation, transport, electricity and fuel or cooking allowances. A yard worker or gardener will now get $85 per month or a weekly wage of $19,60, while a cook or housekeeper is now entitled to $90 per month or $20,79 per week.

Those domestic workers looking after the disabled had their wages pegged at $95 per month or $21,94 per week.

Some domestic workers with Red Cross certificates or similar qualification who take care of the disabled and the aged are paid $100 or $23,10 per week. Those who do not stay with their employers are now entitled to monthly allowances of $50 accommodation, $26 for transport, $5 for lights, $5 for fuel or cooking and $5 for water.

~ An extract from The Herald, 29 September 2011