Muckraker is really thrilled that Cde Andrew Pasinawako and his Anti-Presidential Criticism (APC) goons have hit the ground running, like Saul, dragging people who choose to disagree with Owner to police stations. This is a real patriotic task that ought to be celebrated because it would quicken the realisation of Vision 2030 and make the lives of Zimbos a lot better.
Across the river, Zambia’s owner Cde Hakainde Hichilema, who was recently in Harare to take notes from the grandmaster himself, this week made a global name for himself by jailing American-based vlogger Ethel Chisono Edwards for refusing to sing praises for him.
Muck’s only gripe with the APC’s noble initiative is that its operatives are doing half the job, instead of just doing it to the hilt. Why dump the culprits at police stations? Why not deliver a full package by checking them straight into Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, especially in cases such as these where the crimes are so obvious?!
In this patriotic spirit of protecting our Owner from all forms of criticism (properly interpreted as insults), I think Muck has a duty to report failed opposition politician Nelson Chamisa to the dutiful APC. For a long time now, we have been noticing that Chamisa has a way of regularly insulting our Owner by inviting himself to funerals where he would stage (what the ZRP and those others refer to as “stage-managing”) his popularity by busing in rented crowds that would appear to fall into trance just by seeing him.
His latest “popularity” stunt was in Mbare this past week. When clips from these “stage-managed” popularity stunts start circulating on the social media, the impression that it gives is that his “popularity” is natural and spontaneous, unlike others that are enforced with threats, naked or implied.
For doing this, Chamisa is naturally guilty of insulting Owner by creating the false impression of being more popular than the only person who really matters in this country.
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Who doesn’t know that only Owner is the most popular person in these hereabouts, and no one else? So, Muck is unleashing Cde Pasinawako and his APC on Chamisa — hero basa vakomana ve-action!
The new ‘law of nature’
There is no question that the illegal white minority settler regime of Ian Smith was evil. But its evil pales when it is juxtaposed with the successive regimes that came after it in a “liberated” Zimbabwe.
Muck says this because it appears like the Smith regime at least struggled to temper its brutality with some vestiges of mercy, even when — as an occupation force — it had no moral obligation to be seen doing that, unlike those on this side of the aisle.
Once in a while, the Smith regime had a human face. Many nationalists were actually allowed to pursue their studies while in jail.
For today, the state's violence is not reserved for armed adversaries, but is precisely targeted at its most vulnerable citizens. Evictions, court-sanctioned or otherwise, are no longer acts of judicial or political policy alone; they follow a new “law of nature”, timed to inflict maximum suffering by awaiting the harshest winter or the rainy season.
Remember Operation Murambatsvina of 2005 coincided with the start of winter and ended with the end of that severe season?
Even Grace Mugabe would wait for the start of the wet season to remember that there were some squatters on “her” Manzou Farm in Mazowe.
This is something that even churches are now also doing: waiting for the most importunate of times such as the onset of bitter winter or the rains to remember to put evictions from their properties into action.
It was for this reason that Muckraker was not at all amused that brickmaker, Willdale, also waited until the first rains to also remember that there are some 7 000-plus families that need to be punished for being on its piece of land in Mt Hampden on the outskirts of Harare.
In societies where morality and conscience still exist, surely, the rains ought to be an adequate extenuating factor to postpone the evictions. Thankfully, we are not one such society. To us, actually the rains are the signal that we would be all waiting to kick off the evictions!
All Muck can do is to wish those haplessly poor souls the very best as they try to rebuild their lives from wet blankets on the side of that highway. The gleeful satisfaction that people within the management of that firm feel when they watch those children and the elderly quivering in the bitter cold rains is the same satisfied feeling that the owners of the country get whenever they see suffering Zimbos stampeding for handouts from them.
Smash-and-grab
The “feja-feja” economy is now necessitating another round of smash-and-grab. We are being told that the Salary Service Bureau (SSB) is making deductions from salaries of civil servants owing various banks and other money lenders, but not forwarding the money to the financial institutions. These bills, together with statutory deductions such as pensions, medical aid and what is owed to various suppliers of goods and services to the government, have continued to balloon. So, in his accustomed “wisdom”, Cde Mthuli “Zwinhu Zwacho” Ncube is now planning to convert the debts into five-year, non-tradable government securities payable over five years.
The Cde has also increased tax on cash withdrawals, saying this would stop Zimbos (not Cde Chivharo and Cde Tempter) from hoarding cash. These latest smash-and-grab tactics will only further informalise the economy as Zimbos, who are still smarting from previous heists, resort to pillow banking. Zimbos have no reason to trust their government and banks and these moves will not help matters. No one should say Muck did not warn them!
At your own risk
The listening Owner has invited Zimbos in need to approach him for help. Fine and dandy! It is, however, important to remind each other that not long ago some chap who had believed this mantra of listening ownership went to see Owner at his workplace and he got arrested for that. Again no one should ever say Muck did not warn them!