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Elliot Ziwira @ The Bookstore
Desires may be set ablaze, dreams float like tiny flotsams on shoreless expanses of water bodies, and living itself reduced to mere existence. Every nuance of life may seem to be appended to a humongous albatross that keeps on the wing; but with hope’s promises of a better tomorrow, one would

always be strong enough to hold on for a day longer.

Hope is what the wretched and downtrodden feed on, as its pledges are the panacea or passageway to Utopia. What happens, then gentle reader, friend, countryman, if that hope dies? Death, both literal and metaphorical, robs humanity of hope in the same way that it gives contours to life; for in life we live with death.

It is every parent’s dream that one day he or she will witness his or her child’s rise to the apex, and hearken his/her call down on those of his/her plumage to soar with the wings of the Bateleur eagle and enjoy the fruits of the paradise of their own blood’s creation. Yes, I may be toiling today, in the scorching sun; but my child shall cool me down and mend my burdened back! Do they not say that if you raise it well today, it will look after you in your advanced years? So dreams many a parent.

But as his/her dreams are pampered, so does death lurk like a silhouette in the vicinity. Callous and brutal death, usually stretches its cold fingers towards our horizons of hope, and strikes us where it hurts the most; and with it snatches our livelihoods, so it seems. It is against this backdrop that the reading of Colette Choto Mutangadura’s “Kusara Kunze Huona (2013) published by Zimbabwe Women Writers becomes apt.

The evocative, touching and revealing book explores the nature of death, not only as an end to life, but a beginning to it. It is true that death has a way of closing doors, but at the same time it opens others in such a profound way that we might not even have dreamt of. Having started publishing in 1983, Mutangadura is an accomplished pen in the Shona tradition.

She is not only inspired by the folkloric aspect of storytelling, where music, dance, mime and language can be used to ferry societal mores and values, but she is able to also tap into the journalistic aspects of literature, where the storyteller becomes the pulse of his/her community’s heart. The sharing of experiences authenticates the thematic concerns raised, which jolts the reader out of his or her cocoon.

“Kusara Kunze Huona” is the story of a poverty drenched grandmother, VaHazvinei, who loses all her six children to death, leaving her to eke out a squalid and mundane existence with her nigh dozen grandchildren , in the high density suburb of Mbare in Harare. Having been widowed before losing her children, VaHazvinei finds herself at the mercy of the usually unflinching patriarchal African family that gives no hoot to the suffering of widows.

The HIV/Aids pandemic exacerbates her predicament, as it plays havoc on her family like an appendage. Her six children and their spouses succumb to the scourge one after the other, in the fashion of sheep at an abattoir. The tiny four-roomed house that she inherits is inadequate, especially when she has to rent out the other two rooms in an attempt to contain the raging conflict between body and soul.

True to the role of the competent artiste who speaks for the voiceless , guides his/her community on what should be norm, Mutangadura chronicles the struggles that the common man faces in his attempt to keep body and soul together, in a world that seems to be hell bent on bleeding him out of his dreams.

Using realistic traits of modernism, the writer purveys the hardships that grips the Zimbabwean community as it grapples to hang on to sanity in the face of the Western onslaught culminating from the land question, which sees landless masses of people of colour; the rightful owners of the Motherland, take the Government to task over the unfair distribution of the land; a consequence of colonisation.

The issue of land becomes the bone of contention which eventually sees the nation crumbling to its knees, as the economic meltdown takes its toll. Issues come to a head when the powers that be decide to demolish illegal settlements in an operation that finds its niche in the history books as “Operation Murambatsvina”, or “Tsunami” in street lingo— in reference to one of Nature’s vagaries—which opens floodgates of tears in its wake.

It is in this potpourri of tears, frustration, despondence, hunger and death that VaHazvinei finds herself in. The diseased society which she is thrown into is so unfeeling that it sees neither future nor wisdom in old-age. However, as hunger gnaws at her family`s soul, fortune knocks at her door in the name of Mai Chishanu, a lawyer, who rescues her from the insults of the marketplace women who find her as a nuisance when she asks for handouts to secure another day for her grandchildren, one of whom is HIV positive.

The affluent and affable woman takes pity in her, and buys her large quantities of vegetables and groceries, much to the old woman’s surprise and the awe of the seemingly heartless marketplace women, who feel challenged, as she shames them. In the end they are all compelled to contribute in their own little way, for the Zimbabwean spirit of sharing in them is stirred by the angelic woman.

In a twist of fate, the Godsend lawyer turns out to be her late daughter’s friend and class mate at Law School. Meanwhile, her late lawyer daughter’s son Muchaona becomes a thorn in her flesh, as his wayward behaviour sharply contrasts with the good behaviour of his cousins, especially the seven-year-old Tineruvimbo whom he rapes. Because of poverty, lack of a male voice to rein him in, and no one to emulate, the 14-year-old Muchaona is caught up in the thick of ghetto delinquency, which eventually lands him in trouble.

He is arrested for rape, petty theft and robbery, but the good lawyer stands for him, at the same time representing Tineruvimbo. Because of his age and circumstantial folly as outlined in court, he gets three years corrective probation. True to the adage that says, “Good things come to those who wait”, VaHazvine’s star shines against the darkness that lurks around her. She has always believed that the land is the soul of the people of colour without which they are doomed, and the Government’s resettlement policies finds favour in her heart.

Through Mai Chishanu, she gets her own share of the land — the means of production that the alien gangsters from the West believe should not have been redistributed the way it was done. Through the land, the now released Muchaona is redeemed. He becomes a successful farmer whose advice is valued far and wide.

The family that once wallowed in abject poverty and neglect, is transformed into an opulent one as a result of a timely stroke of fortune; and in the core of it is the land. Tineruvimbo qualifies as a doctor, Muchaona marries, VaHazvinei assumes the Ladyship of the family and all past mishaps are forgiven.

Death, for once has been subdued as a harbinger of sorrow and poverty. However on the flip-side, there are notable factual inconsistencies that should have been avoided through careful editing. For instance, the book opens in 2008, at the height of the economic meltdown, yet in the preceding chapters the story turns to the battles for land and “Operation Murambatsvina” not as a flashback, but a continuation—which becomes problematic if one tries to put everything into perspective through the use of the time window.

It is also not clear how VaHazvinei inherits the Mbare house. Notwithstanding the time glitch, the book remains an outstanding chronicle of the problems that besot the nation in the years hard on the Government of Zimbabwe’s decision to resettle its people as enshrined in President Robert Mugabe’s vision of empowering his fellow countrymen through the land.

A great and informative read.