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NewsDay

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Zimbos find solace in comedy

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LAUGHTER is said to be the best medicine and it appears some Zimbabweans have found solace in comedy in the face of economic challenges, as the country’s economy continues to weaken.

LAUGHTER is said to be the best medicine and it appears some Zimbabweans have found solace in comedy in the face of economic challenges, as the country’s economy continues to weaken.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

Gonyeti
Gonyeti

While the art of comedy is believed to have the ability to uplift the low spirits, local comedians have mastered the art of packaging current affairs issues and taking them to the people in a humorous way.

Although there were a series of jokes that lightened up the comedy scene last year, NewsDay takes a look at some of the outstanding moments in comedy that left enthusiasts in stitches.

Some of the popular rib cracking jokes by the country’s finest comic performers were centred around the country’s failing economy characterised by biting cash shortages, the introduction of bond notes and the entry of the First Lady Grace Mugabe into the world of politics.

Samantha “Gonyeti” Kureva, who made her name through the social media platforms skits by Bustop TV, continued to leave many with sore ribs, as she took jibes at the bond notes.

“The American dollar is in short supply in the country. That currency only stays where there is peace. In America there is peace. The Zimbabwean government has no peace, that’s why the currency is in short supply. That’s why men take the currency to the Avenues (Harare’s red light district) to sex workers because there is a lot of peace and joy at the Avenues,” she said, sending her audience into fits of laughter.

Gonyeti also poked fun at Grace, saying since her entry into politics, the country’s economy went from bad to worse.

Award-winning comedian, Doc Vikela continues to be a crowd favourite, and he had the audience eating out of his hands, when he said countries that had their own currency were synonymous with dead presidents.

“Zimbabwe is not ready for its own currency. Look at the countries that have their own money. They need a dead president’s face to put on the notes. So, for Zimbabwe, whose face are we going to put on the notes?” he said sending the auditorium into laughter.

Another notable and hilarious joke that cannot be easily overlooked came from Bulawayo-based, Clive Chigubhu, as he took a jibe at Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko’s long hotel stay.

“How are you doing HICC, the home of the Vice-President? He is the only Ndebele guy to have lived luxuriously for two years,” he joked.

Comedian, Prosper Ngomashi, popularly known as Comic Pastor, also took a jibe at the bond notes in a one-minute 39-second skit in which he was being interrogated by police officers over a box of bond paper on which he said he wanted to print bond notes.

In another clip by #ThisFlag, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, John Mangudya is caricatured with a huge head on a tiny body, pleading with citizens to accept the bond notes.

The clip is labelled John Iscariot Mangudya: “Governor Reserve Bank of Mugabe Looters’ Association”.