WE NEED NEW HEROES, SANCTIONS ON ZANU-PF WILL & MUST STAY ON

When I started school in Zimbabwe in 1983 South Africa and Namibia were still under the yokes of Apartheid. Angola and Mozambique were fighting civil wars , RENAMO in Mozambique and UNITA in Angola were sponsored by foreign powers mainly Apartheid South Africa. Kamuzu Banda of Malawi cooperated with Apartheid South Africa. As I started high school in 1990 things were changing for the better in Southern Africa. I remember in form 1(grade 8 ) when Nelson Mandela visited Zimbabwe soon after his release from prison, one morning in Mbizo, Kwekwe I was on my way to school at Manunure High School and someone told me the day had been declared a public holiday in honour of Nelson Mandela. We grew up on a diet of pan Africanism anti-colonialism. We read about the war of liberation in school. Our heroes were Robert Mugabe, Sam Nujoma, Samora Machel, Kenneth Kaunda, Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, Mikhail Gorbachev, Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Quett Masire, Daniel arap Moi etc. We revered Socialism but at the same time we were influenced by American pop culture through black American singers and actors. By the time we finished high school, my friends and I were critical of Zanu-PF policies even though the economy was not that bad. I joined public service in 1996 and left for the private sector a year later. The turning point for Zimbabwe was when war veterans arm twisted Robert Mugabe to award them un-budgeted gratuities of $50 000, that was the equivalence of two years salary for a teacher. On a Friday in November 1997, the became we later called Black Friday, Zimbabwean dollar tanked against major currencies and became worthless. Robert Mugabe tried to raise workers’ taxes to cover the deficit. ZCTU then led by Gibson Sibanda as president and Morgan Tsvangirai as Secretary General led demonstrations against this unwise move. In December 1997, I had just started my new job at Eagle Insurance Company Ltd at corner Jason Moyo Avenue and 4th street. ZCTU offices were not far away behind us at Chester House in Speke Avenue. War veterans attempted to throw out Morgan Tsvangirai through the window from his office on the 10th floor. We came to work as per normal about an hour or so later police started throwing teargas clearing people from Harare CBD. In my life I had never smelt teargas. I started coughing, we were running towards Breaside as there was no public transport around. I walked through Arcadia on my way home to Sunningdale. In 1998 stay aways organised by ZCTU continued. One Saturday in 1998, civil society convened a meeting at great hall at University of Zimbabwe campus. It was years before I had a car, I went to Zimbabwe Council of Churches offices in Harare and we boarded the ZCC Toyota Coaster minibuses to Mount Pleasant. In great hall, I saw Morgan Tsvangirai in person for the first time. I saw The Who is Who in the civil society. Speaker after speaker put the blame on the heavily amended Lancaster House Constitution as it concentrated power in one person Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe needed a new constitution. Morgan Tsvangirai was elected as first leader of National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). Civil society demanded a new constitution. Robert Mugabe set up the Constitutional Commission led by the Judge President Godfrey Chidyausiku. Most of the civil society members were not invited except the likes of Jonathan Moyo, Lupi Mushayakarara etc. All members of parliament who were mostly Zanu-PF were also members of the commission. The draft constitution was put to a vote in February 2000, the view of NCA was that the draft did not express the views of Zimbabweans. Mugabe had put in sweeteners such as the expropriation of land without compensation. As much as land reform is an emotive issue in Zimbabwe, I felt Robert Mugabe was not the man to take us forward. 55% of Zimbabweans voted against the draft constitution and this was the first time Zanu-PF was defeated. At that time tens of thousands of young Zimbabweans could see the writing on the wall and left for mainly for United Kingdom before a visa was introduced. I decided against leaving Zimbabwe a move I regretted a few years later. Despite the fact that we had rejected the draft constitution, Mugabe’s government immediately changed the constitution and introduced expropriation of land as well as taking away citizenship of those born out of Zimbabwe or had foreign parentage. The move was meant to take away the right to vote for the few whites and many farm workers many of whom had come from Malawi and Mozambique. Mugabe called African immigrants people without a totem. Millions became stateless overnight. As we went to the 2000 parliamentary elections there was so much violence in the country especially in small towns and on farms. Farmers, farm workers and opposition supporters were murdered. The police looked the other way. In April 2000 I had joined American Insurer AIG Zimbabwe in the farming claims department and I would have a front row seat in the chaos that happened in the farm occupation violence. The rule of law was tossed out, government disregarded investment protection agreements with many governments. Many farmers including South Africans lost their farms despite there being government to government investment guarantees. Thabo Mbeki one of the backers of Robert Mugabe continued supporting Mugabe despite his country men and women losing their properties in violation of international law. Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was forced out by then Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa when he told him he couldn’t guarantee his safety. The pliant Chidyausiku was appointed as the Chief Justice ahead of senior Supreme Court Judges such as Justice Wilson Sandura. The new court started reversing land rulings to favour Zanu-PF. Commonwealth, EU, USA and other western institutions rightly pronounced the elections were not free and fair. In 2002 we had the presidential election and Robert Mugabe faced defeat. Thabo Mbeki sent in then High Court Judges Sisi Khampepe and Dikgang Moseneke to also observe the elections. Thabo Mbeki and two successive ANC presidents refused to release The Khampepe report until the court ordered its release over a decade later. The report concluded the election was not free and fair. All those years Thabo Mbeki’s government kept on insisting that Zimbabwe elections were free and fair despite what he knew. EU and USA had been right to impose targeted sanctions against Zanu-PF leaders back in 2001. The Commonwealth was also right to suspend Zimbabwe. The last free vote we had in Zimbabwe was the 2000 Constitutional Referendum and anything after that has been a charade. Millions of Zimbabweans left Zimbabwe mainly for South Africa and United Kingdom, Zanu-PF refuses those Zimbabweans to vote from their new countries. Institutions in Zimbabwe such as the judiciary, electoral commission are clearly captured. I normally don’t agree with many policies of the west, however sanctioning Zanu-PF government officials is something I personally welcome. This year US added Kuda Tagwirei on targeted sanctions and this is a good move, they should go further and sanction the captured judiciary and the compromised electoral commission. African presidents especially in SADC region supports Zanu-PF to the hilt yet they don’t follow Zanu-PF disastrous policies such as chaotic land reform, sham elections and weakening of courts. These same presidents periodically round-up thousands of desperate Zimbabweans in their countries and deport them. In Botswana traditional courts impose harsh and inhuman sentences such as the canning of Zimbabwean border jumpers. South Africa is busy drafting measures to exclude Zimbabweans and other African migrants from township economies. In April 2020 South African Finance Minister Mr Tito Mboweni indicated there is need to regulate the percentage of African migrants employed in industries such as restaurants. Do these SADC leaders think that ordinary Zimbabweans are lesser human beings? Why would they back Zanu-PF to the hilt yet they would never tolerate the blatant election thefts and captured of democracy institutions as done by Zanu-PF in their own countries? The end result is that Zimbabwean now look up to EU and USA leaders as those looking up to their best interests. Targeted sanctions must be intensified to all those stifling democracy in Zimbabwe and must include enablers such as some members of judiciary, business leaders etc. The international community should insist on a transitional authority in Zimbabwe that should hold UN supervised elections which should allow millions in the diaspora to also vote. Zanu-PF will never reform the state institutions as they can never win a free and fair election🙏🏿

PEOPLE WHO WENT TO TOP SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES HAVE A CLEAR ADVANTAGE IN THE CORPORATE WORLD

Memory Nguwi shared an article on LinkedIn this week about hiring people from elite colleges, it reminded me of my career journey. After I completed A’Level in 1995, I didn’t make into any Bachelor of Sciences degree programs at the University of Zimbabwe(UZ) when my peers enrolled in early 1996. It was time to look for work. I always knew that students from top private schools and top former group A (model C)schools had an advantage in the career field. For example to become a Chartered Accountant there were two routes. Graduate with an Honours Accounting degree at UZ and then sign a 3 year articles training contract with one of the big 5 Accounting firms. Those from top schools would be able with low grades to sign a 5 year contract straight after high school then enroll for a BCompt degree with Unisa. Around 1996 when I was working as a temporary teacher I was visiting my aunt Mrs Maposa in Sunningdale, Harare I met Lloyd my former school mate from Marondera High School where we had been both day scholars. Lloyd like myself had gone to township schools up to O’Level. He had gone to Rakodzi High School and I went to Nyameni Secondary School. In 1994 when we both enrolled for A’Level there were only two formal schools that offered A’Level within the town of Marondera namely Nagle House a Catholic run high school for girls and Marondera High School that accommodated both girls and boys. Tragically I heard Lloyd succumbed to cancer in his early 20s. During the colonial era, Marondera highschool had been a whites only school but now it was open to all of us. Like all group A schools students at Marondera High School spoke with a private school accents, we called them maNose as they spoke like the British. Lloyd invited me to his home in Sunningdale and I could see he was doing very well, he was already married whilst many of us were still looking for a career. Lloyd was working as a shop manager for one of the well established fast food franchises in Zimbabwe. He told me he was earning around $3 600 per month, then as a temporary teacher I earned $2 000.00. He organised an interview for me and he assisted me with the preparations. He told me they were looking for candidates who went to group A schools. English was not my strength worse my accent as I spoke English the same way I spoke Shona. Even at O’Level at Nyameni Secondary school the three of us who where in top three we got distinctions in many subjects but we all only managed a C in English. I went for the interview at Hurudza house. The recruiter for the company was asking me about my high school years eg which sports I participated etc. I knew I did not fit and it was not surprising I was not recruited. At that time Shearwater also advertised attractive positions in Victoria Falls and they required you to be a swimmer, who swims? Eventually I got my break and I joined Eagle Insurance Company end of 1997. I became friends with Tonderai Masvosva who was working at Sedgwick Insurance Broker. Tonderai would become my best man at my wedding. Tonderai had grown up in Mufakose in the township like myself but he had gone to one of the top schools in Zimbabwe, St Georges College for boys. Tonderai invited me to join Round Table and in the group I connected with many of his former school mates. In the group I found confident young men who had each other’s back. Those young men treated each other like family despite the difference in tribe, race etc. Very few of them had university degrees but they were doing very well and were already managers. Louis who stayed close to me in Avondale had just came back from America and he helped his family to run large Supermarket Chains in Harare. During the tense period of land reform we mingled across racial barriers in the surbubs as well as on the farms along Domboshava road. In business networking is key, people who went to these top schools knows the value of networking whereas us from township schools view each other as competition. In 2003 after I passed my Associateship exams I was a junior manager at Zimbabwe Insurance Brokers and my ambition was to be appointed as a broking manager. I got a call from Tonderai to inform me that they were looking for an Underwriting Manager at Zimnat Lion Insurance company then the second biggest Insurance company in Zimbabwe and then listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. I laughed at Tonderai when he insisted that I apply as I considered myself not remotely qualified for such a senior position. I reluctantly applied and was interviewed by my future boss the late Willard Madanha who was the AGM and I would be his deputy. Mrs Lynn Mukonoweshuro our then Human Resources Director was part of the interview panel. The craziest thing happened, I got the job. My boss Willard was so impressed with my knowledge of insurance I just think people who work in claims know Insurance subject the most because everyday we have to ask is this covered? When Willard became Bulawayo branch manager he would ask me to sign off some of his big insurance quotations. I had seasoned insurance professionals to guide me namely my new AGM the legendary AZ Shoko and the MD Carlson Chiswo as well as our main reinsurers from Zimre Reinsurance namely Tarupiwa Tarupiwa and his boss Mufaro Chairuka. Whenever I got stuck I would pass by Mr Oscar Matingo at his office next to my biggest client Aon Zimbabwe in Borrowdale. Mr Matingo had handled most of those biggest accounts for years and so it made sense to go and get his advice. In management meetings it was clear who went to private school. People generally listen to the good English speakers and that is a fact. After the meeting I would joke with Manu Chikwanda our engineer about the big words that came out from the meeting from our peers who went to group A schools words such as “dovetail". When I came to South Africa in 2007 I was employed in the call centre imagine speaking English for 8 hours a day Eish. Many years later a client told me to slow down as I was speaking English like a white man. I am worried maybe I have now been converted from township English to Model C school English. We should help to prepare children in the township and rural schools the same way model C school kids are taught. In meetings they are not scared to speak and they are mostly confident and equipped for the corporate world.

I SALUTE ANYONE DOING BUSINESS IN ZIMBABWE

On 2 October 2017, I finished serving my 4 weeks notice after I resigned from my job in Centurion after 10 years with my employer. I boarded a bus in Pretoria that evening and arrived in Harare on 3 October 2017. The situation in Zimbabwe was gloomy. I was there to try and prop up my struggling piggery project, which I managed to do by buying cheap maize bran for my pigs. I managed to greatly lower my costs. I was very cautious about sending more money into Zimbabwe. Police corruption was at an all time high and they openly extorted money at roadblocks. After buying pig feed that would last me 3 months I escaped back to South Africa which is a normal functioning country when compared to Zimbabwe. I expanded my transport hustle by buying a 4 tonne truck. I constantly travelled to Zimbabwe midweek cheaply when the border is less congested as I was no longer working.

A month later Robert Mugabe was toppled, I even flew in to Harare on the day of the demonstration to participate. Zimbabweans from all walks of life looked to the future with much hope. We were so wrong the situation was set to get worse 😢 Because of my success in my piggery project I thought I should get back to work starting April 2018 for only 6 months, get a payslip to be able to access a personal loan to buy butchery equipment as well as finance tobacco farming, my target was 10 hectares. I should have been more patient. I realised by end of June I had made a mistake going back to work as 60 well fed pigs were sold in my absence and thousands of dollars were unaccounted for, in the process I lost momentum. My hustle in South Africa also started to suffer. In life you have learn from your failures, forgive yourself and move on. After the disputed 2018 election the situation in Zimbabwe got worse, the government abandoned US$ and I had 10 hectares of tobacco seedlings that I had to give away, you can’t spend Rands to grow tobacco then the government pockets US$ and they pay you worthless Zimbabwean dollar. Finally early this year, we stopped the piggery project as we encountered so many challenges and we no longer had the energy. I have learnt so many lessons doing business in Zimbabwe. The environment in Zimbabwe is very unpredictable, we always joke that government officials wake-up every morning and ask themselves, how can we make lives of ordinary people a living hell today😢 In Zimbabwe the government comes up with arbitrary policies with zero consultation and that can mean that your business can close down. If you have been based outside Zimbabwe for sometime the hardships have changed ordinary people, it’s very difficult to trust people in Zimbabwe with money especially your relatives. People always inflate costs and it has become a normal way of life . Many businesses have no problems taking months to pay you or not pay you at all. When you send money to Zimbabwe for projects people have no problems converting it for their own use. In my view it is important to constantly visit Zimbabwe and handle your finances on your own otherwise it will end up in tears. I am looking forward to going back to Zimbabwe once the restrictions are lifted although I no longer have the same energy I had given the deteriorating economic and political environment.

WE SHOULD KEEP ON LEARNING ABOUT MONEY & GET OUT OF DEBT PRISON

This article doesn’t constitute financial advice, it is based on my life experiences.

This morning when I woke up, I briefly checked on my phone before I left the room to go and study for one of my MBA modules, I am told looking at your phone first thing in the morning is a bad habit. On my Twitter time line there was a tweet with over 900 comments, it was a photo of a towing truck about to load a repossessed VW Polo and the guy wrote he was retrenched and could no longer afford to pay installments😢Many people who commented were saying they have also lost their jobs, it was scary just going through the comments. Things are bad guys. Because all these people being retrenched are customers of many businesses, there will be a domino effect.

As you go through life, you learn from your mistakes. Many of us we were taught about making money but not how to use money wisely and we are one paycheck from poverty. I remember in the late 90s back in Zimbabwe, I opened 5 store accounts and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe was forced to increase interests rates to defend the fast depreciating Zimbabwean dollars. It was a painful time for me and luckily I learnt a lesson for life. What I do every month I scrutinize my monthly statements, check on the interest I am paying as well as the fees.

Imagine if on all your debts you pay monthly interest and fees for a total of R10 000, that means R120 000 per year. If your monthly salary is R25 000, it means in a year you work 5 months just to pay interest and fees. The culprit is usually unsecured debts such as credit cards and personal loans. Currently the minimum lending rate in South Africa is 6.75% yet interest rates being charged on credit cards and personal loans is close to 20%. It makes sense that you must always try to clear your credit card debt first and personal loans.

A few months ago, I was fortunate to pay off some of my accounts but then I ended up closing one of the accounts because of high monthly fees charged. Imagine paying a monthly fee of R75 (R900 annually). For R900, I can get a return bus ticket from Pretoria to Harare, it is a lot of money. About 10 years ago, I was forced to close my Edgars account for the same reasons again. If you are not careful about debt, you end up working very hard in a job you hate in order to make just enough money to just be able to pay your installments. You become a prisoner of your debts. I believe as a person you should always have options and have the option to move somewhere even if it means going to sit at home, a person is not a tree and must have the freedom to move and try other things🙏🏿

Once you clear your debts, you need to start saving. Please try not to worry about what other people think of you, don’t live to impress people, because when your car is repossessed the same people will laugh at you. You need to constantly ask yourself, what will happen if I lose my job? Can I resign from my job and try a business without worrying about money for say one year? Another trajedy I see in South Africa many people pay so much for their medical aid and so little for their pension. The trajedy is that having contributed so much you won’t afford medical aid when you need it most i.e when you are old. I would recommend that you contribute as much as possible for your retirement. If you are retrenched tomorrow you will have a reasonable amount to carry you through.

I believe it’s very difficult to have standards when you are very indebted. I always give examples of Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma administrations. During Mbeki’s era when he he was pushing those dubious Aids treatment policies, how many comrades reigned him or even resigned in disgust, none? Also as we are hearing in the State Capture Commission many politicians and SOE executives had no problems following clearly unlawful orders, they saw what happened to people who dared challenge the president and were summarily fired. Many people followed unlawful orders just to avoid being fired😢

ARE WE SEEING LAND REFORM REVERSAL IN ZIMBABWE?

In April 2000, I joined American insurer, AIG Zimbabwe Ltd in the farming claims department, less than two months before Robert Mugabe’s government had lost the constitutional referendum by 45% to 55% votes. I would have a front row seat in the chaos that followed the chaotic land reform. Many people do not know that Mugabe was forced by civil society in Zimbabwe to even embark on the constitution making position as he was content with the amended Lancaster House Constitution. I was there on a Saturday in 1998 when civil society in Zimbabwe came together at the Great Hall at the University of Zimbabwe campus to launch National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).

I remember that day, some of us who didn’t have cars were given free transport by Zimbabwe Council of Churches from town to Mount Pleasant and back to Harare CBD in their Toyota Coaster Minibuses. Speaker after speaker bemoaned the heavily amended Lancaster House Constitution as the source of our problems. We breaked for lunch into the university dining to this scrumptious meal of mainly chicken and this was quite handy for me as I was still a bachelor. We were told that Dr Edison Zvobgo then Zanu-PF secretary for legal affairs would address us that afternoon and he did not come. Morgan Tsvangirai was unanimously elected as the first leader of NCA. The following year, I also attended the launch of MDC at Rufaro Stadium in September 1999 where Tsvangirai was elected as president and Gibson Sibanda as his deputy.

Mugabe would later constitute the Constitutional Commission of Zimbabwe led by the then Judge President of the high court, Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku. The commission comprised all members of parliament who were almost all Zanu-PF members as well as some of the civil society members such as Lupi Mushayakarara and Professor Jonathan Moyo among others. I remember Chidyausiku apologising for a “moment of weakness” involving a fellow female commissioner. Lupi would later resign from the commission, I used to attend seminars organised by Lupi at Oasis Cresta Hotel that lady was fearless. I always warn people about trusting Jonathan Moyo in my view the man doesn’t have principles.

The consensus from those of us in NCA and MDC was that the draft constitution didn’t reflect the views of people and we resolved to vote NO. Mugabe decided to put a sweetener on the draft constitution in the form of expropriation of land without compensation. Land is an emotional issue in Africa. Our villages of Bokwe and Mugomeza in Murehwa where my mother and father come from respectively bordered the white commercial farmer. I never liked the way farmers treated villagers and their farm workers. Less than 2kms from our house in Yellow City Township in Marondera we had the first farm. I would study in the bush next to the farm but I never dared cross into the farmer’s farm as I knew the consequences. A few white farmers were prosperous and owned all this land whilst the majority of us natives leaved in squalor. I still voted NO because I knew Robert Mugabe was not being sincere and we needed new leadership.

After Mugabe lost the referendum in February 2000, in June 2000 we were going to have parliamentary elections and Zanu-PF faced defeat. Mugabe’s government went ahead and amended the constitution to expropriate land without compensation even though we had voted NO. Another law was passed to take away citizenship and the right to vote for people with foreign parentage. What this move did was was to remove from voters roll whites and blacks most of whom had come from Malawi, Mozambique and a few from Zambia. Overnight hundred of thousands Zimbabweans became stateless😢 hey Zanu-PF is evil guys.

There was farm invasions throughout Zimbabwe and there was violence against white farmers, black farmers not sympathetic to government and farm workers. Some farmers were murdered as well as their farm workers. No one was prosecuted for all these murders. Property on the farms was stolen and a lot of farm houses were burnt. The police were powerless to do anything. Farm invasions became a political issue that was too hot to handle for the police. Farmers approached courts and the police refused to enforce the court orders. Eventually Patrick Chinamasa then Zimbabwe’s Minister of Justice forced Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay from office and his replacement was the pliant Justice Chidyausiku ahead of more experienced Supreme Court judges such as the fiercely independent Wilson Sandura. Chidyausiku’s Supreme Court eventually reversed these rulings in favour of the Zanu-PF government.

My mother informed me that her cousin sekuru Givemore Muwoni Katsande had been arrested for murder after he had led war veterans at a farm belonging to prominent farmer Mr Ian Kay who was also an MDC supporter. Sekuru Katsande died on death row waiting for Mugabe’s pardon. I would stumble on the assessment report in the office as we insured the farm. No one in the office knew that I was related to Sekuru Katsande. What happened is that the farmer had called in the police again after more violence at the farm. Mr Ian Kay was critically injured on that day. A police constable had responded and he came wearing his home clothes and tried to restrain war veterans. I don’t know if Sekuru Katsande didn’t know that he was a police officer and he had proceeded to shoot the police officer and he died. I am not sure if he had killed a farm worker or the farmer if he would have been arrested? Mugabe called farm invasions Chimurenga (war), my suspicion is that my uncle believed that he was following orders hence he was hopeful for a pardon from Mugabe, Mugabe had pardoned people for attempted murder against opposition figures. During the ensuing violence overseas managers at our company flew into Zimbabwe and they crunched the numbers and after a few days our company stopped insuring farmers altogether and about 40% of the staff was retrenched. Around 2005 AIG Zimbabwe closed their Zimbabwean offices.

I first met Sekuru Katsande in 1990 when my father was transferred to Marondera. My maternal grandmother vaSoko is from the Katsande family in Mutoko. Sekuru Givemore Katsande father is brother to my grandmother. Growing up around my grandmother vaSoko everytime there was a mishap she would say ,”baba vangu Muwoni iwe”(shame my father Muwoni). Sekuru Givemore Katsande was given his grandfather’s name Muwoni. Sekuru Katsande was a war veteran and walked with a limp and I gathered he was injured during the war. He was working in the Zimbabwe National Army as a captain, it seems by the time he took voluntary retrenchment he was now a major.

Around 1990, the Zimbabwean government embarked on the Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP) as part of accessing foreign currency and financing from IMF. It entailed the government bringing down its spending. This involved the government retrenching tens of thousands of workers. Sekuru Katsande was going to take that voluntary retrenchment package and he prepared for life as a civilian. By the time I started O’Level in 1992, we started studying together. The army was providing lessons to him and his fellow soldiers and he had a lot of books that he shared with me.

One of the set books we read in O’Level Shona was ‘Zvairwadza Vasara’ which documents the war experience during Zimbabwe’s war of liberation and I was curious to know more about the war. One day I asked him about his war experience, he never answered me and I could see it traumatized him. From that day onwards I never asked anyone about their war experience. I later learnt that Sekuru Givemore has resigned from the army and he had opened a supermarket in Mabvuku/Tafara Townships of Harare. In 1996 I also left home as I started working.

I would visit him at his new home less frequently. Many people especially in South Africa thinks the farm invasions in Zimbabwe were spontaneous and this is not correct. Farm invasions were planned and orchestrated by Zimbabwe National Army which most likely armed the war veterans. The department of war veterans in Zimbabwe falls directly under the ministry of defence. From 2001 to 2008, I ran 5 shops in former commercial farming areas of Virginia, Macheke at every farm people who called the shots were war veterans. Many of us still remember the bizarre press conference by senior military officers led by Defence forces Commander Gen Vitalis Zvinavashe to say they would not salute a person who didn’t fight in the war an indirect reference to Morgan Tsvangirai. Incidentally my late brother in law who was married to my cousin was the aide/bodyguard to General Zvinavashe.

Senior military personnel has always been involved in the management of elections in Zimbabwe and even as we speak the current chief elections officer is Major Utoile Silaigwana a military man. Many people believe the the 2002 election was engineered to deny victory to Morgan Tsvangirai, for an independent report on how flawed that election was you have to read the report compiled by South Africa’s justices Sisi Kamphepe and Dikgang Moseneke. The 2005 Operation Murambatsvina is most likely have been sanctioned by the army as an effort to decongest the urban population to rural areas in order to have more citizens in rural areas where people are easier to control to benefit Zanu-PF in future elections.

In 2008 after Mugabe lost the first round presidential election, it was the army which deployed senior officers to oversee the violence against ordinary citizens which saw the murder of over 200 MDC supporters and thousands more were raped, injured and displaced from their homes. The judge who sat on the March 2008 election results for more than a month and was the man in charge of that elections is Justice George Chiweshe himself a war veteran and also a military man. We saw it again in November 2017, the army intervened to save Zanu-PF. I am interested to know what many war veterans and army personnel including those who retired thinks about the latest moves to give back land to white farmers. I think we need proper land reform audits, we need to provide land to all deserving Zimbabweans regardless of race. I fear that this latest move will be opposed vigorously and we might be about to see another coup in Zimbabwe. Many of my relatives and friends are beneficiaries of land reform.

24 YEARS OF WORKING

September 2020 marks 24 years since I started working. When I was finishing A’Level in 1995, I started wondering again what career I would do. In my spare time I would walk from Dombotombo Township to Mutare road and walk all the way to Peterhouse College and back home looking at cars. I am fascinated with cars, I don’t hesitate buying cars. I would also go and see beautiful homes in Paradise Park Suburb. One day I went to buy chicken feed for my mother’s chicken project at Mascho Farmers’ shop, I saw a young man driving a brand new Nissan Sunny box. I was impressed by that young man 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

I asked what he did, he was working as a sales representative for manufacturing company in Harare. At that time I was also looking at vacancies trends in the Herald Newspapers. One job that was paying a lot was being a CA. I knew that for one to become a CA another route was to study BCompt with Unisa. I would cycle to town and teach Mathematics to Chipo Manhuwa for free she was going to rewrite O’Level Maths. Her father had these UNISA handbooks. I couldn’t afford UNISA fees.

When my results came early 1996, I first enrolled for IMM. Eventually by the time I got a job as a temporary teacher in September I then registered with CIMA and bought study materials and started studying. I was going to CIMA library along Nelson Mandela Avenue in Harare during school holidays and on weekends. I knew I needed to be in Harare. The clearest path for me was to go to Hillside teachers’ college in Bulawayo and train either as a science or maths teacher. I once considered it when I met a girl but when the relationship didn’t work out I was happy I had not applied to go to college.

In mid July 1997, I took a risk and left teaching where I earned about $2 600 and went to work in Harare as a printing apprentice earning $840 a months. In November 1997 the Zimbabwean dollar fell which meant I couldn’t afford to pay for my CIMA studies. Luckily I got a job as a Trainee Undewriter at Eagle Insurance Company then a Subsidiary of SA Eagle and it later became Zurich Financial services, we were all given our Swatch watches written Zurich after the merger 👌🏿My starting salary at Eagle was $3 000.00. I am so glad I took the risk to leave teaching and took that massive salary cut.

My employer paid for my insurance studies through Insurance Institute of South Africa. By mid 1999 I was at Diamond Insurance earning over $9 000.00 I was now bargaining🙈By April 2000 I was at AIG Zimbabwe earning $20 000, I could now afford to open a current account with Standard Chartered Bank 👌🏿2002 I became a manager at Zimbabwe Insurance Brokers. 2003 I completed my Associateship. 2004 I became an Underwriting Manager at Zimnat Lion Insurance. 2005 I completed my Fellowship exams. 2007 I left Zimbabwe and got a job on the 8th day of arriving in South Africa 👏🏿 In 2014, I eventually completed my BCompt degree with UNISA

STARTING A SPAZA SHOP OR A TUCKSHOP

Maybe someone is contemplating starting a spaza shop business. I hope this might help. If one is in South Africa, local authorities are very accommodating of small businesses, you can open a shop from the boundary wall of your house in the township and trade without much hinderance from authorities. From 2011 to 2012 during the US$ era we operated a tuckshop at our house in Zimre Park just outside Harare, Zimbabwe. Though it was very profitable unfortunately we had so many problems with our local authority. My wife and I we alternated visiting Zimbabwe frequently to manage the tuckshop.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

I was fortunate that my uncle and my cousins have been in retail industry for many years. I learnt that you need to listen to the customers. You stock products that customers prefer and not what you like. If you listen to your customers you see the stock flying off the shelf and increasing your profits. It’s alway important to treat customers with respect. I remember in the 80s during school holidays whenever I went to our village in Murehwa we would visit the store at the neighboring white commercial farm Paradise Farm which is in Virginia, Macheke to sell vegetables to farm workers and to crush our maize at the grinding mill owned by the farmer because that was the nearest place with electricity. We would visit the farm store to buy cool drinks etc. The store keeper was always rude to us. In 2001 during land reform, I took over that shop and ran it until 2003. All in all I operated 4 shops in Macheke former commercial farming areas until early 2008.

FINANCE

Starting a tuckshop you don’t need a lot of capital, you can start by buying stock that can last you say three days and once it’s finished you can go and replenish the stock. With the profit you get, you can reinvest into the business and eventually you can buy more stock that can last longer and a variety of stock. You need to build a shop that is strong and use part of your boundary wall as part of the shop. As a precaution, you only put a very few stock items on display in the tuckshop and lock away the rest safely in the main house.

In urban areas bakeries can deliver bread to your shop early in the morning and later in the afternoon they will come and collect their money. In practice they will be giving your short term finance. In our tuckshop in Zimre Park, three major bakeries in Harare competed delivering bread to us, obviously you have to listen to your customers as to which brand they preferred. You can also get short term finances from other small businesses eg people keeping layer chicken can supply you with eggs periodically on short term credit.

COSTS CONTAINMENT

For me this was the biggest issue, managing your costs in business is the one thing that is entirely within your control. Like any business, you need to lower your costs as much as possible and one skill, I learnt is to know prices very well, you must make it a point to keep abreast of pricing. When you buy your stock, you need to look for the lowest prices possible. I was never loyal to one wholesaler. At times I would buy stock in major supermarkets because at times because they would have the lowest prices. Because the lower the price you obtain the stock, the higher is your profit. It can also allow you to manage your competition better. I ran general dealer shops in rural areas in Zimbabwe from 2001 to 2008. For years it was a norm that bread in rural areas would be more expensive in rural areas. I managed to buy bread at a bakery at Makoni, Chitungwiza and sell it in Macheke and Mutoko at the same price that it was being sold in urban areas. During Christmas Day of 2004, we made two trips to supply almost 100 dozens of bread and still made a profit on bread alone.

The round trip from Harare to my shop was 300kms. At that time I had not read for my accounting degree but I was able to realise that I needed to open more than one shop along the way so that I could lower my distribution costs. By 2005 I had 10 shops along the way. I ended up going to the shops three times a week because my costs were much lower. My goal was always to sell my stock at the same price as shops in Harare. By 2006 I was traveling to as far as Gaborone, Botswana, Musina and Johannesburg monthly to buy stock.

INSURANCE
With the high levels of crime in South Africa it is essential to get insurance for your business. The major risks involves the handling of cash, handling cigarettes and airtime vouchers. With the high incidents of service delivery protests and other community protests you definitely need that cover provided by SASRIA, you need to talk to your insurance broker around a suitable cover for you. You should also consider buying a swiping machine after consulting with your bank to minimize the risks that come with handling cash. Also on airtime you can also an electronic airtime dispensing machine to manage the theft risk as well. Don’t forget to insure these machines as well.

EXPANSION
By operating a retail shop it can allow you to expand into other related businesses eg opening Spathlo business etc.

I welcome any comments, questions or suggestions🙏🏿

13 YEARS AS A FOREIGNER: I AM THANKFUL FOR EVERYONE WHO SAID NO TO ME, BECAUSE OF THEM I'M DOING IT MYSELF

I had never heard the word NO this much directed at me until I became a foreigner. The first few years it was depressing but years later, I realised it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It changed me forever. I learnt to rely on myself and it helped me to keep focused.

On the morning of 22 August 2007, I went to the South African embassy in Harare to check on the outcome of my work permit application. It was about six weeks after I had left my passport there. I badly needed the passport as I wanted to travel outside Zimbabwe to buy stock for my general dealer shops after my business had almost been decimated during the brutal price control blitz of 2007.

At the embassy I met a colleague, Ronald Dodo-Tabaziva who had worked at Zimre Reinsurance Company. We were very happy we had been given 5 year work permits instead of 3 year permits. I had officially left my job at the end of July 2007 as the Bulawayo branch manager for Zimnat Lion Insurance company. It no longer made sense for me to continue going to work as the salary I got was almost nothing due to the ravages of inflation in Zimbabwe. From around 2001, I had started a small retail shop and by 2007 a combination of market gardening in Kensington Bulawayo, my four retail shops, my 7 tonne truck, minibus taxi and tobacco farming now paid the bills.

Armed with a work permit I thought I will be able to restart my career in the South African insurance industry and rise in my career. Having completed my Associateship exams in 2003 and my fellowship exams in 2005, I had enrolled for an MBA with a UK university before dropping off as I couldn’t raise the forex required. I thought I would get a position that suited my qualifications and experience in South Africa and enroll for MBA again.

MaNyoni and I travelled home to Bulawayo that night to collect my certificates and our clothes. We left Bulawayo early on 23 August 2007 and arrived at my sister’s place in Sunnyside late that afternoon. I went to see Gerald as I was considering even working as a waiter just as a start. I started applying for jobs online from the Internet cafes. Within a few days I was going for interviews. I was not choosy, my idea was to first get my foot in and then start looking again for a position that matched my qualifications and experience. I thought we would go back home in Zimbabwe to wind down issues after applying submitting jobs applications.

On 31 August 2007, I signed an employment offer and started work as a call center claims advisor on the 1st of September. We rented a room and we were sharing the flat with other people. Life can change dramatically, a mere two months before I had been staying in the company house in the leafy suburb of Burnside Bulawayo, driving a company allocated Toyota double cab. Now I was starting at the bottom sharing accommodation sleeping on the floor and now using minibus taxis to travel around.

Within the first month I enquired about renting our own apartments and I was told as foreigners we were required to pay double deposit. I knew there and then we needed to buy our own apartment. I was applying for jobs, I realised many big commercial insurance companies that recognized qualifications I had were not employing foreigners. If you did not have an ID number you couldn’t even register or upload your CV on their job portals. Some of them you could register on the website, when the online questions asked if you qualified for employment equity and once you wrote no, you would get an automatic rejection.

The only place where my application would be considered was with employment agents. I would fill in huge application forms, go to Internet cafes scan and e-mail the application forms. I would be told sorry they are not taking foreigners. To be fair many black South Africans struggle to make it in their own country. I kept on trying. My work permit had the following conditions; report to Home affairs offices within 90 days of entering South Africa and confirm whether I had got employed and report again every twelve months to confirm if I was still employed. My experience with home affairs needs a blog on its own.

I asked for the employment letter from our payroll department and took a taxi to the Pretoria regional home affairs office then at Pretorius Street. I was served by an abrupt official. I told him I had come to report, gave him my letter of employment and my passport. He said he actually wanted a letter to confirm that my employer had failed to get a South African to occupy the position I was in. I pointed out to him that my work permit was a quota work permit all what was required is to be employed in the sector. He refused to serve me further. I demanded to see his supervisor and it turned out he was also the supervisor.

Fortunately on the walls of the corridors of the regional office they had advertised the cellphone number of the regional manager. I phoned the regional manager and explained the situation to her. She then phoned him and explained to the supervisor that for my work permit category that letter was not required. I later discovered that many times I visited the home affairs I would have problems. If you are coming from a stable country, I don’t see why one would leave their country and come to South Africa and put up with all that nonsense. I also met a Zimbabwean guy who had qualified as a CA in Zimbabwe and had worked for Innscor as a financial controller. He had come to report that he was failing to get a job, he was staying with a friend in Midrand. He gave me a lift to our office in Centurion. In 1996 when my peers went to University of Zimbabwe to start their degrees, only straight A students were being accept into the Bachelor of Accounting degree and here was one such person failing to make it in South Africa 😳

I was not coping very well, I started traveling to Zimbabwe every month. At times I would get to Harare on Saturday afternoon and that evening I would take another bus back to Pretoria. The situation in Zimbabwe was getting worse, seeing how bad the situation was in Zimbabwe helped me to cope with the challenges I had in South Africa. It did hurt me that I had very little career prospects in South Africa as compared to 10 years earlier when I had started my insurance career in Zimbabwe. The path in Zimbabwe was clear get your insurance qualifications and work hard at work you would rise through the rank in South Africa all that didn’t count for much. Some of my qualified peers came later in 2009, they failed to get jobs, I met a qualified Zimbabwean secondary school teacher working as bread delivery truck driver in Cape Town, a Zimbabwean guy with a master’s degree waiting as a waiter in Centurion etc 😢

I knew I had to go back home. Early 2008 we had the first xenophobic attacks in South Africa my family had gone back to Zimbabwe in January 2008 I was preparing to go back home for good in a few months once I paid off my Toyota Tazz. Clement whom I was sharing a room in Sunnyside and was working as a waiter at Wimpy described how his neighbours in the township had attacked him and took away all his belongings including the money he was saving. He was fortunate he managed to outrun them. A workmate Jean who is a white Afrikaner gentleman sent me frantic message to come and stay with him in Centurion for my safety. I assured him I was safe. Many South Africans were also killed in the violence because they looked foreign.

End of March 2008, I travelled to Harare to vote, Zanu-PF lost parliamentary majority. Things were promising in Zimbabwe. I had now reopened my retail business in Zimbabwe. We voted on Saturday. On the Sunday morning I left my in-laws’ house in Chitungwiza where MaNyoni and our kids were staying. As I looked for transport back to Pretoria people were happy that Zanu-PF had lost the elections. I got to Pretoria around 9pm that Sunday and all the dozen Zimbabweans I shared the flat with wanted to know about home. I told them Zanu-PF had lost. A month later we were told that there was going to be a presidential election run off. My wife later told me the election related violence was getting worse, even in urban areas they were now being forced to attend Zanu-PF rallies. She came back to South Africa. I went back to vote in the June 2008 runoff even though Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a few days before the vote after over 200 MDC supporters had been murdered, thousands more had been injured and displaced from their homes.

I kept on going to Zimbabwe, after one such visit I told MaNyoni how I envied my in laws and my cousin who were beneficiaries of land reform. My work permit was expiring in 2012 and with my experience at home affairs I doubted if it would be renewed. We started saving to build our home. Towards the end of November 2009 the day I finished writing my exams in the Accounting degree I had enrolled in that semester, I loaded four disassembled wheel barows, a tent I borrowed from my friend Evelyn Botha and other tools into my Toyota Tazz and drove to Harare.

My father in law had said I could get the steel house from my brother in law and when I enquired about the steel house it was not available. I pitched the tent at our stand in Zimre Park, Mereka slept in the car. The first heavy rains came in and I thought I was going to drown in my tent. The following morning we went to Mount Hamptden to buy the first 10 000 batch of bricks and hired a truck. I interviewed builders and explained to them I didn’t have much time. My first job in 1996-1997, I had worked also as a building teacher. I would buy a few bags of cement and carry them home with my Toyota Tazz. By the time my two weeks leave was up the 2 bedroom house was almost at roof level.

From 2008 when I realised how bad situation was in Zimbabwe, I started concentrating on earning as much salary as I could, I worked overtime. End of 2008, at work they advertised for aspiring team managers. I applied, we were asked to write a motivational letter, went for written assessments and finally a face to face interview with heads of department. I failed the face to face interview dismally. In 2009 one of the team managers resigned, I applied and went for interview. The feedback the HOD gave me was that I was not visible.

A few months later I went to see this movie, Invictus, I was inspired and I applied again when one of the team managers resigned. I went again to what I thought was going to be an interview. The only person who came was my HOD he started giving me feedback even before we had an interview, he said I was very quiet and not visible. I didn’t participate in events etc. He asked me who were my role models, I told him it was my previous two bosses Glen and Wayne who were great bosses in my view. He disagreed saying they were not, can’t I see they had now left the department for assessing. After that meeting I phoned Glen and told him what had happened. Wayne then phoned me days later.

I got the impression that his preferred people were outgoing people who stood on top of desks shouting, replying to chain e-mails. Some of the people people who made jokes or sang during monthly department meetings. Years later I worked with those people when they were demoted or when I briefly worked as an acting team manager in 2011 and I really felt sorry for them as he set them for failure and all of them eventually left the company😢Denise who is very smart a graduate from University of Pretoria with an Actuary degree one of my role models was an introvert like me, she had trained me when I joined the company and she told me that I would excel, she was right I have won the six months top performer 4 times and I have earned salaries beyond my imagination. Denise had also acted as my boss for many months. She also did not match his standards. She also left the department and later left the company.

I know there is nothing wrong with my personality, I will never pretend to be someone who I am not. I stopped applying to me it was like playing a game rigged against you or participating in Mugabe’s election at least with Mugabe you get screwed once in five years. I continued working as hard as I could to earn as much as possible and started imagining business ideas in South Africa and back home in Zimbabwe. I have built a home in Zimbabwe, invested in farming ventures and also my retail businesses. All my businesses in Zimbabwe have failed and I lost a lot of money and in the process I learnt valuable lessons. After high school I had wanted to be a chartered accountant but back then I couldn’t afford fees for the UNISA Bcompt degree. I decided to try and do something that was based on merit so I started studying for the Bcompt degree.

I wrote my first 5 modules in November 2009, took a break in 2012 because my work permit was expiring then so I concentrated on repaying my debts in case I had to go back home. My work permit was renewed for another five years and shortly after that we got permanent residence. In 2014 when I did my final year, I wrote six modules in the first semester when we are usually very busy at work. It was tough I continued working long hours. Whenever I came home too tired to study I would remember what had happened with my former HOD in 2009. I would wake-up and study. I finished my degree in 2014 and enrolled for CTA starting January 2015 before discontinuing after failing to get a position as an articled clerk. I owe that degree to my former HOD as his actions motivated me to do something else.

In 2009, we put an offer on a 3 bedroom townhouse in Centurion that was advertised on FNB quicksell website. Our offer was accepted and we proceeded to apply for homeloan at my bank FNB, the answer was sorry for foreigners we only give 50% finance. I am so grateful for that because had we got that finance we would never have sacrificed and built our home in Zimbabwe. Fortunately in 2010 Nedbank agreed to give us 90% finance for our home even though we did not bank with them🙏🏿

As humans we are meant to overcome adversity. Foreigners normally excel in the same countries were the locals complain about. Because you have so much stacked against you, any opportunity that comes your way you grab it with both hands. I knew if I lost my job chances of getting another job were very slim so each and every salary was put to good use. Being a foreigner helped me to be focused and every challenge I met along the way helped me to accomplish many things beyond my imagination. I leant that my future was within my control and for the first time I knew what I am going to do with the rest of my life🙏🏿 Also being a foreigner you don’t get too much into debt as many companies are scared of extending debt to foreigners. When you get car finance for example with 2 years left on your permit, it seems harsh that you have to repay that debt in two years. The flip side is you save on interest and you quickly own paid up assets.

When you have not much to lose it helps you to dig deeper within you. As much as I don’t like the politics in Israel, in my view because the situation they find themselves they are more likely to emerge victorious militarily, in science and technology and economically. There is nothing as strong as human spirit to overcome obstacles. If you have a chance live as a foreigner for a bit and see many things you took for granted in your home country. They say we all need friction in our lives to grow. I am very grateful for all the NO I got, it is because of that I did it myself🙏🏿

I remember in early 2017 driving from Pretoria to Beitbridge on Friday evening and not sleeping. After midnight cross the border on foot to Zimbabwe and get transport to Chivhu getting there around 10am on Saturday to buy pig feed travel to the farm to monitor the pigs, get transport to Mutoko, run about 30kms to my cousin’s place. Wake up early on Sunday morning to go to the tobacco fields. Then get transport to Harare arriving around 12midday arriving at Beitbridge around 8pm would normally leave the border around 10pm drive and sleep at the petrol stations for a few hours and kept on driving. I would be in the office by 7:30am on Monday morning as I couldn’t afford to miss Monday out busiest day and lose money. I discovered that I had so much in me in having to travel about 2300kms during a normal weekend🙏🏿

13 YEARS AS A FOREIGNER

2007 started very promising for us in Zimbabwe. We had no plans of leaving Zimbabwe. MaNyoni decided to resign from her job as a bank teller. She had been working for years in the back office at CABS head office in Borrowdale Harare. After I became Bulawayo branch manager for Zimnat Lion Insurance Company from 1 April 2006, MaNyoni requested a transfer to Bulawayo and she became a bank teller. She now worked on weekends and stayed late to balance books like all bank tellers do. During public holidays she was required to come to work and load the ATM with cash. She was not happy as a bank teller.

Our personal businesses were doing well, we had scaled back on our general dealer shops from 10 the previous year and now only remained with 4 profitable shops in Macheke and Mutoko resettlement areas. That year we grew tobacco for the first time although it was on a small scale I got a very good grade of tobacco, I remember feeling very proud when I attended the tobacco auction floor in Willowvale Harare, people commended me for such a nice crop of tobacco. The previous year, I had started operating a Toyota minibus taxi(I will never run a taxi business again)from Macheke to my shop just after Virginia. My 7 tonne Bedford truck was carrying cotton around Mutoko. We were also renting a 6 acre plot in Kensington, Bulawayo where we did market gardening. I employed more than a dozen people. I had a very capable manager in Macheke🙏🏿

I had a stroke of luck one Sunday morning. On the previous Friday afternoon I had driven to Francistown Botswana to buy clothes and shoes stock from Chinese traders and on Saturday morning I had driven to Musina South Africa to buy groceries such as boxes of cooking oil, washing soap, petroleum jelly etc. I woke up around 3am at home to drive almost 600kms to my shops. I gave a lift to a number of people from Bulawayo. Before I dropped off this guy in Gweru he asked if I could get sugar beans in Mutoko as they were in demand in Bulawayo due to the drought that year from the traditional source in Masvingo irrigation schemes.

I got to Mutoko that morning and bought 4 x 50kg bags of sugar beans from farmers from my shop. The following day was a Monday, I phoned the guy and he did not have money, I started researching the market in Bulawayo. I eventually sold the sugar beans for a huge profit to this wholesaler owned by an Indian gentleman close to Rainbow hotel. I took a week leave from work and started buying sugar beans from farmers door to door in Mutoko close to Corner Store Mutoko. I went through hills and bad roads, my company allocated Toyota Hilux came in handy.

I hired a trailer and carried two tonnes per trip from Macheke to Bulawayo. After MaNyoni resigned we no longer had helpers at home. The two of us loaded and offloaded those 50kg bags alone💪🏿 I eventually negotiated a good price with this company that supplied OK and TM supermarkets. There were cash shortages at that time but the guy paid me in cash. I supplied about 5 tonnes. We made around R100 000.00, this other guy in the Insurance industry his father was selling an Isuzu bakkie for around R30 000.00, I paid cash and I didn’t even test drive it, I asked him to drop it at home. I started using it after I resigned and handed over the company car I had.

MaNyoni suggested that we save the money, I did not agree so I invested the rest in the shops. I would drive to Johannesburg Crown Mines to Africa Cash and Carry and bought radios, TVs, solar panels, batteries, groceries etc and filled up my shops. I bought more stock in Francistown. Cotton farmers were being paid cash right there at our shopping center at my main shop at Janhi in Mutoko and would come and buy. Zimbabwean dollar was fast losing value but we were tracking the black market rate. Every week I would convert the money to over R20 000.00. After Easter I decided to resign from my job inflation made my salary worthless. Being at work hindered me from making more money.

Then American Ambassador Christopher Dell was quoted saying, Mugabe risked being toppled due to the high inflation. Over night Mugabe launched the price control blitz. Scores of executives from manufacturing and retail companies were arrested. Government officials came to my shops and forced my workers to sell stock for a fraction of what we had imported it for. My manager was also arrested as she recounted to me, there was a police officer, army, intelligence operative etc, they accused her of trying to bring down the government due to high prices.

We lost a lot of money. Up to that point, I had never seriously considered leaving Zimbabwe, I had always believed through hard work we could live a decent life in Zimbabwe. Many villagers don’t have cash so I always bartered maize for groceries. After the price control blitz there was shortages of food in the country. I started carrying a tonne of maize every night from Virginia, Macheke I would avoid police roadblocks In Marondera ( I grew up in Marondera so I know all the back roads) I would sell the maize in Mayambara, Chitungwiza and got paid in Rands.

Villagers started buying goods with forex due to the shortages. My problem was that my passport was at the South African embassy for 6 weeks awaiting the outcome on the work permit application so I couldn’t travel to Botswana or South Africa to buy stock. In Zimbabwe almost every manufacturer had stopped production. We were now looking to rebuild our business with the expensive stock we were buying in Harare. I collected my work permit on 22 August 2007, that morning whilst driving to my shop in Macheke the Isuzu bakkie broke down by the farm belonging to former Finance Minister Simba Makoni. MaNyoni and I travelled overnight home to Bulawayo and we left for South Africa the next morning hoping to go and apply for jobs and come back to Zimbabwe to rebuild. On 31 August 2007, I signed an employment offer and started working on 1 September 2007.

I bought parts for the Isuzu and it was repaired and I learnt that in my absence my driver was now ferrying passengers to and from Mutoko and pocketing the money. The next time the bakkie broke down I didn’t send parts. At that time I was using taxis in South Africa whilst my driver was abusing my vehicle. Within a few months in South Africa I realised that my qualifications and experience didn’t count for much. Many companies didn’t employ foreigners, I saw no future in South Africa. I was planning to go back home for good as soon as I paid my Toyota Tazz of which I owed the bank less than R50 000,00.

I started restocking my shops from end of 2007. I loaded as much goods I could fit into the Tazz and drove to Zimbabwe. Around February 2008, I took leave and went to Zimbabwe. I travelled to Musina and bought cartons of cooking oil and carried using haulage trucks coming from South Africa. I went to Zimbabwe for the March 2008 elections which was won by MDC. We were planning to go back home for good until the election violence started 😢 inflation became even worse in 2008. I was traveling to Zimbabwe every month and the situation was very hopeless, it was even more difficult to run any business from South Africa, I had no option but to close.

GROWING UP IN TOWNSHIP, THE STRUGGLE WAS REAL- DATING AS A TEEN

Some of my Twitter friends were commenting on having heartbreak 🥰in your teens. So at the end of 1993 after writing national O’Level exams I got an embarrassing job selling bread in the township from a hoarder bicycle 7 days a week, some of the girls I knew pretended like they no longer knew me. I had two shifts from 5:30am to around 10am and from 5pm to 6:30pm and in between I went to hang out with my friend.

In one of those days in the company of my friends we met this new girl and we debated on who would approach her and I approached her (I will not say her name because her cousin is a friend of mine here on Facebook). It turned out that she was a border and was a grade behind me and was going to Marondera High School a local model C School or former group A school as it is called in Zimbabwe. Her parents were both teachers and she stayed in the middle income section of the township. I was going to a school in a township Secondary school or St Nyoka school a derogatory term for such schools. I rarely saw her after that firs encounter as she barely went out of her house and I decided to write her a letter. I went to Kingstone bookshop bought coloured paper. There was a lady in Yellow City who designed the papers for a fee. I then wrote a love letter in my best English to her🙈🤣 I even included a self-addressed stamped envelope.

After a week I came home and my two sisters who come after me Rosemary and Phillipa were laughing at me🙈🤣 The girl had marked my english with a red pen and returned the letter and wrote, “next time fly a kite don’t ever write to me”. For months my sisters reminded me about flying a kite 🪁. My mum had opened the letter and she was cross with me saying instead of concentrating on school I was busy chasing girls. Three years later when I was now working as a temporary teacher another girl wrote a love letter to me and my mum opened it again. When she wanted to give me the letter, I didn’t read it and i proceeded to burn it and from that day my mum never opened any of my letters again. So early 94 O’Level results came out. It was not surprising I got a C in English, 4As & 3Bs in the rest of the subjects.

Weeks later my A’Level acceptance letter came from Mutambara High School my 3rd choice. My 1st and 2nd choice on the sixth form selection form was Fletcher High School and Gokomere High School. The day the letter came, I boarded the overnight train to Mutare and took the B&C bus to Chimanimani. I arrived at the school around lunch time and went to the office, I had been given the combination I wanted Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry and I was happy. Later we went to see the dormitories. I was not impressed, it reminded of Nhowe Mission nearer to our village in Murehwa (my uncle my mother’s elder brother Mr Teddy Kagoro had for years taught at the nearby Waterloo Primary School). I decided there and then that I would not come to this school, got a lift to Mutare road and the another to city of Mutare and got there in time for the train to Harare. I got home and told my mother about my decision and she never argued with me.

I started looking for a place went to Bernard Mizeki College, Marondera High School, Allan Wilson High School, Goromonzi High School (at Goromonzi I was given arts subjects and I refused , I was not going to do Mutauro (Shona), Bhaibheri (Divinity) and Ngano (History) at A’Level🤣🙈 Eventually I was enrolled at Marondera High School. In 1994 there were only two day schools offering A’Level in the town of Marondera, the other one being Nagle House Catholic Girls High School. A few weeks after starting school, I bumped into the fly a kite🪁 girl at school when my class was going from the maths class going to the lab. I greeted her cheerfully and for the rest of the two years we were civil to each other but I never asked her out again. My best friends Osten and James were now going to Allan Wilson High School in Harare and they considered any girl who played netball as not so cool. She played netball and was in the school team. I last saw her in September 2002 at Murehwa Growth point she said she was waiting for a bus to a school around Mutawatawa, she became a teacher like her parents.

WHY I NO LONGER HAVE SYMPATHY FOR ZIMBABWEANS

These photos were taken in 2013 outside Avondale Primary school voting station and at Kumbudzi looking for transport back to South Africa. That was the worst election I attended in terms of voter apathy. Vendors and minibus taxi drivers (maHwindi) were going on with their business in Harare and were not bothered with voting. Last night I saw videos of thousands of Zimbabweans running from Harare CBD to avoid the unjust 6pm to 6am curfew yet minibus taxis are banned and ZUPCO doesn’t have enough buses to ferry all passengers.

As Zimbabweans we are docile and that includes cowards like me who ran away from home. When I saw those videos last night I didn’t feel any sympathy, I am sorry, kusiri kufa ndekupi. Instead of a hungry person walking 30kilometers home isn’t it better to peacefully demonstrate to free ourselves. The regime is able to do divide and rule us because we are paralyzed with fear.

This reminds me of an incident in 2005 after work in Harare on my way home to Marlborough I passed by Borne Marche’ supermarket along The Chase in Mount Pleasant. That time we had shortage of bread in the country, the instore bakery happened to be be baking bread at that moment and I joined the queue, behind me came my senior our Human Resources Director. People in front of us in true Zimbabwean style were saying, “zvichanaka chete” (things will be alright one day). I chatted with my boss how hopeless we were as Zimbabweans.

I just imagine if it was in South Africa were minibus taxis were banned and citizens were subjected to such inhuman conditions, no gun or threat of jail would save the government. What is it with us Zimbabweans that cause us to be this docile as if we were chicken. Tiri huku. There is a saying, “mwari anobatsira anozvibatsira”. Let’s unite whether you are in or out of the country to free ourselves🙏🏿

Why I am very grateful

Last night before I went to bed I was reading an article from Susie Moore my favourite life coach, she recommends one must practice gratitude everyday. From form 3 up to form 6, I visited this municipality owned library six days a week. When in 1991 my mother bought a new house in the new township of Rujeko (Yellow City) next to Dombotombo Township, a 2bedroom house after my father died, the house did not have electricity for the first two years so going to library after school until it closed at 7pm was a good idea.

Most times she would rent out the other half of the house leaving two rooms for the 6 of us and cousins who came from the village looking for work as domestic workers in Marondera, it made sense to go to the library everyday it was open from Monday to Saturday. The librarians were very strict but they allowed us to bring our textbooks in. We would occupy the second room that didn’t have many books. During school holidays, we met students from some of the top schools such as Kutama college, Goromonzi High School, Marist Brothers Nyanga Boys High school etc and I realised they were not more bright than those of us going to township schools.

The last time I went to that library was in September 1998, I had joined the insurance industry in December 1997 and I was writing my second insurance exams. I took study leave and went to my mother’s home in Marondera. I would go to the library to study. I had already passed the first local insurance exams in March 1998 and now I had enrolled for two subjects with Insurance Institute of South Africa. It was very expensive raising the forex but I was determined to get the qualifications. That decision paid off, in 2002 I became a manager and in 2007 when the economic environment deteriorated in Zimbabwe, I and hundreds of my peers applied for work permits at the South African embassy in Harare and came to South Africa and joined the insurance industry and it was very easy to fit in.

I remember in September 1998 Zimbabwe was fighting in the DRC civil war, I could have become a soldier. From 1996, I had been a temporary teacher. Beginning of 1997 I was teaching at Kambarami Secondary School close to Murehwa Growth Point, my aunt Mrs Maposa asked me to come Sunningdale during the April school holidays so that I could help teach mathematics to my cousins. One day we visited my uncle Mr Farai Tsiga at his flat in Avondale very close to King George road, a walking day from Avondale Shopping Centre. Years later I would stay in Avondale for 4 years.

My uncle a war veteran was a Captain in the Zimbabwe National Army and he suggested that it would be a good idea for me to join the army and he would inform me when the officers’ recruitment commenced. I had no intention of joining the army, in my culture my uncle is considered my father and one doesn’t argue with his father. A contrast, in 1996 when the Airforce of Zimbabwe advertised for Cadet Pilots, becoming a pilot was enticing. I did apply and went for the interview at Manyame Airbase next to Harare International Airport and did the written tests in various subjects including general knowledge. I came unstuck in the Physics paper as I had studied Biology instead of Physics and I did not return the next day. Luckily we didn’t have cellphones then, my uncle phoned my school about twice around May/June 1997 and I never bothered to return his calls.

In July 1997, I left my teaching post as I desperately needed to be in Harare. At that time I was studying with Chartered Institute of Management Accountant and I would visit CIMA library in Harare at Michael House along Baker Avenue which was now renamed Nelson Mandela Avenue every weekend to compare notes with fellow CIMA students. After teaching for almost a year, I knew teaching was not for me. If I had finished school a year or two earlier, I could have qualified for the Cuba teacher training program I am sure I would have taken the offer as going to Cuba was enticing. In all my working life, I have never seen professional who are as demolarised as teachers. I joined NCR Zimbabwe as an apprentice in their printing division in the Southerton Harare, I took a 65% percent salary when I left teaching to go to Harare. I was staying with Maposa family in Sunningdale and I walked to and Southerton Industrialist site via Mbare Township and back home.

Eventually I got a big break in December 1997 when I was employed by Eagle Insurance as a Trainee Underwriter. A few days before Christmas my uncle Mr Tsiga was involved in a vehicle accident next to Mazoe Dam and died on the spot. I took unpaid leave to attend his funeral which was held at his parent’s home in Mufakose very close to Machembere bar. Sekuru Gibson my eldest cousin from my mother’s side also a war veterans and a former soldier then an aide to Vice President Simon Muzenda had also bought a house in the new government housing development next to Machembere bar. We boarded the bus to our village in Jekwa, Murehwa. My mum was already at the village. My uncle was buried at the top of the hill where all his clan is buried.

In February 2002, I would visit a funeral parlor very close to Dombotombo Library to choose a casket for my mother. Once I had selected the casket, MaNyoni’s uncle Mr Vhori brought a similar casket all the way from Harare. My mother always told me that hardwork and education would get me places and I had no choice but to believe her as she repeated this to us daily. I am so grateful for the journey I have travelled so far. I know of many of my peers some of them brighter than me but never made it 🙏🏿

WHY I FIND THE VIOLENT TRUCK STRIKE IN SOUTH AFRICA AGAINST FOREIGN DRIVERS TO BE ABSURD

I know one or two things about the trucking industry given my over 22 years experience in the insurance sector in both South Africa and Zimbabwe. 17 years ago when I completed my Associateship I majored in Motor Insurance, Business Interruption, Marine Insurance and Reinsurance. Zimbabwe used to be the transport hub of Southern Africa linking many SADC countries. As a result of the economic crisis and bad forex policies Zimbabwe slowly started losing its strategic position.

We started noticing trucking companies as well as bus companies relocating to Botswana and South Africa due to their stable business policies. For my first 10 years in South Africa from 2007 to 2017 I did mainly commercial insurance claims and I found out that many Zimbabweans own small South African registered businesses operating a few trucks. Some Zimbabweans based overseas bought trucks and set-up trucking businesses in South Africa. They transport goods mainly between South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia & DRC. There are press reports that Barloworld Logistics which owns companies such as Avis Car hire and Manline Freight is restructuring, which means leaner small companies will buy their current fleet and fill the gap.

Being a cross border truck driver is not a 9am to 5pm job, it is mostly a 24 hours, 7 days a week job, it is a tough job, you can spend up to 4 days trying to cross a border. Truck drivers confess that driving into countries such as DRC is very challenging. Given the level of de-industrialization in many SADC countries, citizens in those countries rely on those trucks to ferry goods from South Africa. This benefits South Africa in that its companies get a market for their products thereby boosting manufacturing capacity and employment and South African banks gets huge inflows of foreign currency making sure South Africa realises a positive balance of payment support that helps to stabilize the Rand. South African financial sector including insurance companies and banks benefit immensely from this. Current figures shows that around 1 000 trucks cross Beitbridge everyday during this lockdown period. On the return journey to South Africa trucks can carry unprocessed tobacco and minerals such as copper, platinum ore and chrome to Durban harbour. SA risks losing out to Port of Beira, Walvis Bay, Dar El Salaam, Luanda etc more so that the massive Kazungula bridge at the border of Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe over Zambezi river is nearing completion cutting the distance to Walvis Bay and Luanda.

Some years ago there was a crippling strike at the Durban harbour that lasted many weeks and the then Botswana President complained bitterly about this. I find it not surprising that the only road that was resurfaced by Group Five in Zimbabwe is the one from Plumtree to Mutare towards Port of Beira via Harare and Bulawayo. I suspect Botswana helped to finance that project. The distance from Port of Beira to Zimbabwe is less than 300kms. That route won’t be affected by the instability in Mozambique, I remember in the 80s during Mozambique civil war, Zimbabwean soldiers successfully secured the Beira Corridor route. If the violence continues unabated South Africa will lose big time as Botswana will mostly avoid South Africa. Trucks are movable property, they can move borders overnight and be registered in neighbouring countries. Eswatini may start utilizing Port of Maputo.

Given that most of the minerals coming from DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe going via port of Durban are going to China. If Mozambique negotiates with China to upgrade Port of Beira, I see countries such as DRC, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe shifting their exports and imports to the nearby Port of Beira. As we speak right now Zambia and Zimbabwe source their petroleum products almost exclusively from Beira via Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe the government has made it mandatory for platinum companies to start processing platinum ore which means there won’t be any need to transport the mineral via South Africa which already has a huge theft risk as compared to other SADC countries.

South Africa must wake-up and realise that rule of law means also maintaining law and order, there is no point in the trucking industry getting a high court order to interdict the illegal strike but then the police is powerless to stop the illegal strike and fail to protect property from vandalism. No country is an island, the violent strike will erode South Africa’s competitive advantage. It is absurd that thugs want to stop thousands of foreign workers with the requisite permits from working in South Africa.

WHAT I LEARNT FROM MY FATHER

My father had been ill for over a year, the day he died, it was early November 1990. I dreamt about his death the previous night. When I woke up, I told my mother about my dream and she just told me to go to school. I arrived home around 5pm from school and I learnt an ambulance had just taken him to Marondera Provincial Hospital where he died early that evening. He was 36 and I was 14. My father had suffered for over a year.

That evening, his colleagues in the police force wanted to inform my grandmother about his death. My mother was in no condition to travel  to our village in Murehwa. I volunteered to show police the way to our village and we went via Macheke and Nhowe Mission. We arrived around midnight. The police officers informed my grandmother about the death and she started crying. My grandfather whom I am named after had married a second wife and moved to Chikore with his new wife a few years after I was born. I only saw my grandfather a few times. My grandmother wanted to inform her older brother Mr Johane Mukoko so we drove to village 36 to inform him.

In 1990 death was not very common like now. Then the Zimbabwean government was not broke. I remember my father’s casket in the brand new police Landrover Defender pick-up. There were many lorries that fetched mourners from Marondera to Murehwa. At the graveside police did the mandatory gun salute and a lot of villagers were really scared. We viewed the casket for the last time and my father appeared as if he was sleeping. His death hit my mother and my grandmother really hard. My maternal grandmother had died a few weeks before and my mother didn’t go to the funeral as my father was seriously ill.

As the first born, my father’s death made me grow up quickly. My father was a man of few words. He was a very patient man, he rarely disciplined me as that was left to my mother. Like all policemen he dealt with facts, he wanted direct to the point answers. When he asked you to do something you listened carefully as he didn’t like repeating himself. He taught me to iron clothes as he always ironed his own clothes. He liked reading everyday from Herald or Chronicle Newspapers and Newsweek and Time magazines. After he was done reading I would read. Even in primary school I knew about Cold War and Nuclear Weapons. He was a lousy cook, when mum was away he cooked sadza(pap) with lumps, I would struggle to eat the sadza as lumps made me want to vomit.

Like many men in my extended family who fought during the liberation war, he  suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. After the war ended, he related very well with his uncle, cousins, nephews and nieces who had fought on the side of Zanu-PF. Most of 1990 he was on sick leave and so I spent a lot of time with him. In 1990 there was not much information or therapy for HIV or AIDS. At times he could not see, so I would accompany him to the loo. At Dombotombo Police Station we used a communal toilet and it was a tricky situation.

When he felt a bit better, I would talk to him. Everyone I met from his cousins and school mates told me how intelligent he was. After finishing the grades available at the nearby Jekwa School in the late 60s he had to cycle to Dombwe school about 14kms in order to continue with his education. He passed his Standard 6 education. Then there was no nearby secondary schools in the villages. To go for high school he had to go to boarding schools such as Murewa Mission.

As recounted by my father my grandfather wanted to sell cows so that he could continue with his education and the younger wife refused. My father told me never to have more than one wife as that would bring misery to yourself, your spouse and your children. My father had to look for work armed with a standard 6 education. Then in Rhodesia there was very few options for Africans, he started as a game ranger in the Kariba area and later joined the hated Rhodesia Police. He fought the war on the wrong side. As an African, he had a glass ceiling. After independence he continued in the police but it was obvious that there was bias towards war veterans. My father aced the police examinations but he was never promoted for among other things indiscipline.

Another important lesson from my father, the lesson came too late in his life. He told me that your spouse must be your best friend and not your siblings or your own friends. He had seen that when he became seriously sick all his friends who influenced him to do the wrong thing where nowhere to be seen, the only person who stuck with him was my mother. When his will was read, it was clear he had seen the light. He also told me a hilarious story to show why you must always listen to opinions of other people. He said there was a woman who never wanted to hear the opinion of her husband and one day she didn’t dress properly and her undergarments were exposed. The husband was really scared to say anything, when she went outside neighbours told her.

The reason why I don’t smoke nor drink that much alcohol is what I witnessed from my father in the 80s. I didn’t like it when he was drunk nor smoke. About two years before his death, my father took out a life insurance policy with Zimnat Life Insurance and nominated myself and my mother as co-beneficiaries. That money paid for my education and it only ran out in my final A’Level year and my school fees and examination fees were paid by the department of social welfare. In January 2004,  I would join Zimnat Group as a middle level manager.