Mahachi-Harper’s view from the Kombi

The author captures different voices of people, their emotional and historical baggage as well as the state of the nation. The stories cover a wide span of time, from the liberation struggle of the 1970s to the contemporary, exploring the challenges of accidental fatherhood, the pitfalls of the “prosperity gospel”, the pains of long-distance relationships. Setting the tone for the collection of short stories is the preface and the story, The Remembered Paths of Previous Journeys in which the author explores an uncomfortable homecoming.

In the preface, Mahachi-Harper recounts an incident during which she offered two scruffily dressed strangers — who turned out to be gold panners — a lift. This afforded her a chance to eavesdrop and steal glimpses into the world of gold panning and the panners’ lives. The first short story unfolds as the narrator describes what commuters have to put up with in a Kombi, from being squashed in fours on small, squeaky seats to the rowdy behaviour of Kombi crews.

To the author, the Kombi is an expression of a state of the nation, filled with the whole state of affairs and attitudes in a country. What is of interest to me, is the way in which the author makes the stories, paying particular attention to her narrative voice.

The stories are told from multiple voices of the different characters in the short stories. In the unfolding Kombi experience. She looks down upon certain characters, especially male, making sharp condescending comments and allusions to their flaws, some of which are openly inspired by their experiences or the place at which they are located by history and time against their will and merit.

The relationship between the narrator and the other characters is narcissist in nature. It always goes back to the narrator as the other characters seek counsel, or to confess, or to seek affirmation.

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There is something that is in words, “This is the state of things here, you know. This cancer seems to be everywhere. It is real,” from the first short story that tells that, the “here” refers to a story not being told to a local but to someone else.

The language is that of detachment in selected parts of the anthology. A closer look at the following statement, “A Kombi — My sharp mind registers the fact. Rough hands grab my wrists and pull me up with an urgency that borders on roughness. I am being abducted,” shows not just a probable reality, but a world that has traumatised the narrative voice.

Literature is fiction, but is said to have an ability of being mistaken to an accorded everyday reality. But is it always the case in our everyday escapades as we board our faithful Kombis?

Reaching at that critical point, takes us to a point where we look at ourselves as who we are, outside, beyond our authored and captured versions, we will question the voices of those who tend to speak on our behalf about our lived experiences which they are not part of. I guess in a “new” Zimbabwe, all these shattered stories shall be plastered to make a beautiful sculpture, thanks to Mahachi-Harper, we now know of where the fault lines are at.

 Beniah Takunda Munengwa can be contacted via e-mail on [email protected]. He writes in his personal capacity.