I don’t know whether to be angry or what. This seeming ambivalence, mixed emotions or whatever, is based on that this is the beginning of a New Year when the general expectation is to start on a fairly positive life experience outlook, what with that very mortal obsession of making “New Year’s resolutions.”

So it was that the South African government decided to have Zimbabweans regularise their stay in what is considered the biggest economy continent. Come on, you cannot fault these poor Zimbabweans who have been forced to make choices they would otherwise not have made all things being fair. I believe I am one of many, many Zimbabweans who stayed on despite all the crap, and this based on personal reasons. However, all my siblings left and the oldest – “a very sweet girl”- left with her family to “settle” in SA. Well, are they settled? You bet not!

Thus it was that she sent back her 15 year-old to “organise” a passport on 12 December 2010. Naturally she sought an emergency passport as she has to return to school, and believe me she has aced all the “tests” the South Africans can offer at her level. So I’m elated that she’s got a future she can never get in Zim. Having paid USD250 for an “emergency passport” which we had been told would be issued after two days; she is still wallowing here – today on the 6th of January! She might as well have applied for the snail-pace passport that we are told takes forever to be issued and saved the USD250 for lunch on her way back to SA! And she is supposed to be in class on the 11th of January 2011.

Ever wondered why so many people have so much bitterness about the so-called founding fathers [and I'm not talking about the Ndebele!]; how they have messed up the lives of innocent millions; how they still claim relevance with clowns like that Matebele Prof exhibiting traits that border on the fatalistic cocking a snook at the intelligence of the very people they claim to represent? Religious fundamentalist would no doubt say these folks are cursed, yet this is African politics where dead consciences abound.

And then we read about the KGVI fire and the statement from the MDC-T Home Affairs clown-princess that there was nothing suspicious about the pyromaniac work, as if we had suspected a link with the rush for passports by Zimbabweans domiciled in South Africa!

We sure have a long way to go.

This entry was posted on January 6th, 2011 at 9:50 am by Marko Phiri and is filed under Governance, Reflections, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.