Kubatana.net ~ an online community of Zimbabwean activists

L is for Learner

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So, Hillary Clinton deems it the best political move to sack her campaign manager and replace her with a black one after losing some caucuses and primaries. Don’t know if that’s gonna help her muscle her way through to landing her the majority of the black vote, but how crude.

Speaking of muscling one’s way – have you ever noticed how most experienced drivers are extremely unkind to ‘newbies’. It’s really hard to be a learner driver on Harare’s streets. Yesterday while driving in a clearly marked learner’s vehicle together with my instructor beside me, I found myself the target for a loud honk from a silver Toyota Hilux behind us. Ok, so I had suddenly stepped on the brakes to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of me. But, like he hadn’t had to learn to drive as well as make mistakes himself? As if that wasn’t enough, no sooner had the robot turned green than the silver Hilux overtook us in such an intimidating way, almost blowing me off the road. I was quite shaken afterward. It felt almost like I had no right to be on the road, like the car I was driving was so inferior as to be a nuisance.

These days you notice similar behavior on the Zimbabwean political playing field – how ‘newbies’ are being treated. It is almost like they have no right to contest longstanding authority. They face intimidation, threats and the like. Sometimes, they are even disowned, more like discarded from their affiliated parties. I kind of feel sorry for the way Dr Makoni is being treated, simply for wanting to take a shot at leadership.

One comment to “L is for Learner”

  1. Comment by paul murima:

    Ndokudziza kwacho diya!
    true. drivers are very much less considerate about other people who are beig inducted into the art of driving responsibly.