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Rosenthal Mutakati Ghetto Blast
WIDOWHOOD presents one of the most difficult times in a woman’s life, especially when accompanied by diminished capacity to meet financial obligations. A lot of families that go without food and other basics, if the truth be told, are in nine times out of 10 headed by widows. Most widows rely on their children and houses to get by and the situation is compounded when the children and houses are taken away from them.
Such is the angle through which the Government’s decision to scrap outstanding water bills which had become huge crosses residents had to bear for a long period of time has to be viewed from.

As I commit pen to paper gentle reader, the decision brings relief to the courts of law and even the rent board which had backlogs of cases of landlords seeking to evict their tenants over late or non-payment of rent.

Debt collectors, even those of a dubious fly-by-night and “museyamwa” nature, had been engaged by some to recover the owed sums.
Those given to taking the law into their own hands had even confiscated property belonging to owing tenants to induce payment of the outstanding sums.

“Shasha waitofuma zvako wakadekara uchinyenama kunge chiny’ana chegondo chinoti mai vachauya nehonye usina kubhadhara dzimari idzi. Manje paunondipira mari yangu ndipo pauchawana rufiriji rwako,” hired neighbourhood thugs would tell the affected people straight in the face while flexing their muscles.

“The longer you take to raise this money plus the collection fees, the longer it will take you to recover your personal effects. Mind you we also charge storage and goods not collected within a reasonable time-frame would be sold to defray expenses,” you hear debt collectors saying.
Whether or not this was the correct way to do things is a case for another day.

You see, in the communities in which we live, some people fancy themselves above the law to  the point of throwing away the property of those who owe them cash.

“Pano pamba pangu, ndinoita zvandada mwanangu. Kana uchienda kumapurisa zvinova nani uende kunogara ikoko,” you will be told while being pocked with a finger in the head.

Dismissed by some quarters as a political gimmick, Government’s decision to scrap the bills is set to bring back smiles on the faces of the country’s ordinary citizens who for long have been struggling to put food on the table against the backdrop of the debt overhang.

It’s time to pop the champagne for millions of residents who had grown accustomed to having their water supplies cut off owing to non-payment of bills.

This, coming at a time when there is joblessness owing to the impact of the Western-inspired sanctions, gives people a reason to celebrate.
With the Government’s decision, we can now see some faces back at the shopping centres and watering holes.

“This is very good. This shows that Zanu-PF policies are pro-poor. Some people were now staying indoors choosing first to settle their bills for fear of losing their properties.

“Now they can have a bit of cash to even watch football matches. People now understand the true meaning of freedom because all they wanted was deliverance from the bondage of inflated bills.”

A photograph published by the paper’s Thursday issue showing an elderly woman embracing Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo for making that pronouncement shows the happiness with which the nation received the news.
To think of it, the water they were made to pay for is scarce while the treatment is questionable.

There is also a health dimension to the Government’s decision to scrap the debts.
Everyone will now have access to clean water because no one will be cut off.

This means people will no longer be relying on contaminated boreholes which no so long ago resulted in people dying of cholera and such diseases as scabies.

Daydreamers seeking to find votes through the suffering of the people are unashamedly selling all sorts of lies about the economic challenges of the Government’s decision without caring to assess that all this was at the bidding of MDC-T which invited the sanctions and above all which was running the councils.

Gentle reader, Christmas comes once a year, but not for Zimbabweans. The Government’s decision to scrap the debts ensures everyone begins on a new slate and alleviates the people’s suffering.

Gushungo vanemunyama kupiwa mhosva isiri yavo,
Gushungo vanopa, njere ndidzo dzatisina,
Mapurazi mashanu-mashanu wakange wapiwa nani?
Fetereza kupiwa wotengesa, wakange wapiwa nani?

Dhiziri kupiwa wongetengesa, wakange wapiwa nani? sang the self-proclaimed Hosiah Chipanga in this song called Gushungo off the album Gushungo, which is President Mugabe’s totem. True to the song, the President comes up with well-meaning policies which people put to waste through their failure to identify with that which means life to them.

Is he not the man who brought the free education policy that is earning Zimbabweans jobs across the length and breadth of the globe.
His pro-poor policies are there for everyone to see.

Days when a good number of people would keep their gates locked and dogs tethered to meter boxes to ward off the council’s disconnection teams are now a thing of the past and freedom is back to the ghetto.

Gone also are the days when the corrupt council guy who was meant to disconnect water would make all threats meant to have the resident loosen the purse.

“I have come to disconnect your meter and there is no negotiation on that,” the guy would bellow.
The poor woman fearing the worst when water is disconnected parts with the little she has for the family meal.

“Mwanangu zvakaoma hona vanin’ina vako haunzwe tsitsi uyu anoda mari yechikoro, baba havasikuenda kubasa vakamiswa kambani yavo yakavhara saka nzwisisa,” the old woman begs.

The Government’s decision is however, not without its fair share of drama.
Gentle reader, some  characters employed by council were in the habit of collecting cash from those swimming in debt to spare them disconnections.

Only God knows whether after this policy pronouncement they will remain the Daily Drinking Officers they had become or they will switch to opaque beer before vanishing for good.

It’s time to pop the champagne.
Inotambika mughetto.