LEAVING A TOXIC JOB

#LeavingAToxicJob As an individual you get to decide whether the environment is toxic or not as you are the one who gets to experience it. My concern is about not sabotaging your future once you decide this place is not for me. Remember you are not a tree, you can move away from an environment you deem undesirable for a number of reasons. Around March 2000 I joined American insurer AIG Zimbabwe in the farming claims department in Harare, my claims manager was Ms Tendai Chingovo, she was the most transformational leader in my career. I learnt two important concepts from her, you don’t work for a company but you work for yourself and if you do a good job someone will notice. That someone can be a client, a competitor or a manager from another section. In Shona we have a saying, ukapinda basa chasara kubuda, loosely translated it means once you get employed the last thing is to exit. A few signs will show when you are not happy at a job, Sundays you are usually unhappy on the prospect of returning to work on Monday and when you go on leave, you don’t look forward to coming back to work. You can’t just simply quit and go and sit at home but it’s about trying to hang on as much as possible. After I left Zimbabwe in 2007, I got a job in Centurion as a clerk, I had been a middle manager in Zimbabwe. I thought I was going to be gone in less than a year and instead I spent a cumulative period of 13 years, here is how I did it. By end of 2007, I discovered it was not easy to get another job as many established insurance companies won’t employ foreigners. For the first two years I tried to seek promotions and the feedback I got from my HOD was that I needed to change my personality. I stopped applying for promotions, I was not going to be who I am not because there is nothing wrong with who I am. Each interview was denting my confidence further, I stopped applying for promotions. Luckily we got paid a performance based salary and I started concentrating on my personal goals. By mid 2008 after the disputed elections in Zimbabwe my family decided we were going to stay longer in South Africa and I started concentrating on earning as much as possible. I took each day as it came. I had multiple personal goals including building our home in Zimbabwe and changing a career. I had passed my insurance fellowship exams back in 2005, end of 2009 I started an accounting degree. Even though I was working a demanding schedule, the desire to transition into something else really motivated me to study even when I came back exhausted. By 2011 the HOD was transferred but the culture he had fostered still remained. I was asked by my manager to act as a supervisor for two months and I agreed, I got very good feedback from management and staff I managed. My manager suggested that I continue acting and start applying for management positions again, I decided against that and never applied for promotions again. At one time I got interviewed at a competitor and before they sent me an offer, they requested for my payslip, they sent me an offer with around R10 000 less what I was earning, I decided to stay. For me the lesson I learnt is not being bitter each day but being hopeful for something by having a clear goal and taking each day as it came. My message is don’t focus your energy on the negative because that will consume you and turn you into a bitter person. My suggestion is set up quitting targets, maybe you want to go stay home or downgrade to a job that pays less. Between now and then concentrate on paying off as much debt as possible. Maybe you want to start a side hustle concentrate on that. Always be pleasant to your co-workers as they become your family, chances are a lot of them will become your customers if you start a business or you might meet them in the industry as you move from one company to another. I have also discovered that you can learn many things even in a job or environment where you are not happy. Good luck,God Bless🙏🏿

MY SELF EMPLOYMENT JOURNEY

#mentorshipmatters #selfemployment #entrepreneurship

THE JOURNEY TO SELF EMPLOYMENT Around this time 2 years ago, I was busy serving my 4 weeks notice with my former employer. I have quit my job to go work into self employment 3 times so far, the first time was in Zimbabwe around May/June 2007 and a few weeks later Robert Mugabe announced a crippling prize control blitz that left my retail business almost bankrupt. Fortunately I had applied for a work visa to South Africa. The second time was in October 2017 after 10 years with my employer in Centurion. I was to go back to work 6 months later not because I was struggling but due to my success especially with my Zimbabwean piggery project I needed a payslip in order to access a personal loan to open one or two butcheries. I went back to work in April 2018 and that decision directly led to the demise of my Zimbabwean venture, I realised that it was a costly mistake, I should have been more patient and gave myself more time to expand. Finally beginning of May 2021, I quit for the third time. Leaving a guaranteed salary is scary but fortunately for me I had earned a performance based salary for the last 13 years, so essentially I had been self employed for the last 15 years. I told myself, “Why are you scared, you are self employed anyway”. Another important thing is not to over consult. I only told my uncle a year later that by the way, I was no longer employed, he said it was mistake. I almost told him that dude you have been a security guard for almost 32 years I wouldn’t have come for advice to you to go into self-employment. For me starting a hustle has two motivations being pull factors and push factors. If I trace my journey, I started my very first hustle in 1999. After I joined the insurance industry in 1997 I had a goal to buy a house early on and I took an investment policy to build up a homeloan deposit with Old Mutual and when they demutualised I was awarded 200 shares around 1998/1999. Growing up at home my mother ran a tuckshop from our kitchen window and as the first born I was in charge of that business. She also raised broiler chicken, I was involved in that also. It’s no coincidence that my first 2 hustles were broiler chicken farming from early 1999 and then general dealer shops from 2001 onwards. When I sold my demutualisation shares early 1999 I had capital to buy asbestos roofing sheets and timber to expand my fowl runs. From the time I started working in 1996 I became a bread winner so doing side hustles was important to earn extra income. Then in Zimbabwe I had very good career opportunities. By the time I passed my Associateship exams in 2003, I had been a manager since end of 2002. I rose through the rank, the benefits I got from my job such as the use of company vehicles helped me in my hustles. From around 2004 when we entered a hyper inflation environment in Zimbabwe having side hustles made sense and eventually from 2005 I started thinking of quitting my job to go into self employment. After coming to South Africa, I realised quickly that I would have very limited career prospects and I started experimenting with a few side hustles. Whilst in Zimbabwe doing side hustles was a pull factor, in SA it was going to be push factors. By around 2008/2009 I took a decision not to apply for promotion anymore when I concluded that unlike in Zimbabwe, the promotion here was not based on merit. I got to study for an accounting degree in SA hoping to change careers. In hindsight getting an accounting degree is the best qualification I ever got as I don’t need to be employed to utilise it.

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.