It’s not how well you say it
When the cock crowed, euphoria filled the land. Five year plans were brandied about with enthusiasm, gusto and the future seemed bright. We looked beyond our borders and thought, just like the South Africans do now, “Thank God we are not like those countries up north.”
When Mozambiquean refugees sought haven from the RENAMO stoked civil strife in their homeland, we were prone to treat them with contempt, calling them mamoskeni” while we gloated in our own sense of wealth, success, stability and invincibility.
We laughed at our Zambian brothers and their “worthless” Kwacha (back then) and how they needed wheelbarrows to carry enough money to buy a loaf of bread… Little did we know that bearer cheques lurked in the shadows or that a new currency would have the suffer a fate similar to that of the bearer cheques in a short, short period. Read more
Visions of ailing men in Chenjerai Hove’s ‘Bones’ & Shimmer Chinodya’s ‘Strife’
Professor Robert Muponde
On Thursday 16 October, the 5.30pm Literary Evening at The Book Café extends a warm welcome to Professor Robert Muponde from the Department of English, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Responding to a long-standing invitation by Pamberi Trust, he will make a presentation based on the work of two of Zimbabwe’s best-loved authors, entitled ‘Visions of Ailing Men in Chenjerai Hove’s Bones and Shimmer Chinodya’s Strife.
The paper seeks to explore the ways in which differently placed dystopian masculinities in the two novels help us to think about an evolving narrative of postcolonial Zimbabwe.
Mr Memory Chirere of the UZ Department of English will chair the ensuing discussion. Read more
How prostitution happens
I prostituted my car this morning.
With each person I picked up I thought of how many people out there don’t have the options that I have. What of those people who didn’t have a car to prostitute?
I opened it up to anyone who had money and I let them all come in, no questions asked. Just pay me Z$200 and you can jump in. I’ll take you where you are going. I won’t check if you are a potential thug. Just jump in. I had no protection- but I needed the money.
It started on Monday when I went to the ATM and couldn’t get any money. On Tuesday, the story was the same. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- still no money. I got desperate. I could have changed some of the forex I have but the street rate was deliriously low. The bank rate was worse. The transfer rate was great, but I needed CASH. Read more
