LAST week, it was announced that at least 50 elephants are going to be killed in the Save Conservancy because these pachyderms have become just too many — according to a Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) statement.
As of last year, there were 2 250 of these elephants in Save, against the reserve’s ecological carrying capacity of just 800.
The statement said to the effect that the translocation option has tried over the past five years, but has not been very helpful.
Well, Muckraker is also made to understand that this option is not just costly, but the country is already said to be having more elephants that it can carry.
Last year, another 200 of the animals were killed, purportedly to feed starving villagers. Similarly, we are told that the meat from these latest jumbo harvests will go to local communities while the ivory will be locked in ZimParks' bloated vaults. Fine and dandy!
Anyone who has noticed that the recent appointments by our Owner can tell that ZimParks is just another department in our Owner’s office… and most of the information and data that come from that office has to be taken with — not just a pinch — but a whole shaker, of salt.
Muck’s sincere fear is that when you are dealing with people, who show such scant regard for integrity, it becomes too risky to entrust anything of any value to them.
This is the case when people with obvious criminal inclinations are exposed to such tempting stuff such as ivory and rhino horn, more so with the proximity that they enjoy to the Chinese whose rapacious appetite for these products is well known.
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Given the rate at which they have been looting, the motive for this mass-slaughter of the elephants could actually be a cover for something more sinister.
And knowing our Owners & Co as much as he does, Muck cannot vouch for them. It is not much different from the folly of entrusting groundnuts to rats.
Meanwhile, when the jumbos were killed last year, the meat distribution left a lot to be desired… in actual fact, it was highly-politicised to the extent that some villagers with appropriate political clouts reportedly carried scotch carts full of meat to their homes while those from “wrong parties” were going back to their homes empty-handed.
That is according to Muck’s reliable sources in the Chilonga area of Chiredzi. We hope this trend is not repeating itself this time around.
Meanwhile, the looting of prime land in Harare is already underway. We know a crime scene when we see one. Zimbabwe is one bloody such!
Bastards of War Vets!
Let us do something for these children of war veterans so that we finish off their poverty," crooned Paul Tungwarara, the spiv that masquerades as our Owner’s Special Investment Advisor at the launch of yet another Presidential heist, this time around for the purported benefit of children of veterans of the so-called liberation struggle.
“Let us not be afraid to defend our President and our party. Ours is to defend the President and the party. The President’s vision will only be fulfilled by the brave,” he said.
“Empowerment must be all-inclusive. We want a bottom-up approach. Start with the grassroots and later, those at the top. The President’s programmes are for everyone.”
Never mind the contradictions between the purpose of the event and the statements above, please don’t ask Muck why nearly half a century after a war, children of those who fought in it still need any special treatment.
When failure and hopelessness is everywhere, human beings try to survive by othering others — a way of making one appear special than everyone else in order to justify special treatment.
After realising that life is increasingly becoming tough in the country that their parents claim to have liberated, some goons came together to form the outfit Children of Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans Association, in order to elicit preferential treatment from the government under the excuse that their parents “died for the country”.
After them will come Grandchildren of War Veterans, then Great Grandchildren of War Veterans, the Great-Great Grandchildren… all the way to the proverbial 42nd generation.
Stranded
University of Zimbabwe lecturers, who are protesting over their measly US$230 wages, have been a strike for just over 60 days now, with no sign of anyone making any show of addressing their valid grievances. That is not unexpected given that we have a fraud for a government.
At first, the regime resorted to threats and blackmail and they failed. Then it tried deception, which also failed. Then finally, it made a show of replacing the striking lecturers with Border Gezi graduates, and this also failed. Now it is stranded.
This is the stage that tells citizens whether or not they have any government at all. We have seen it happening in all other sectors and now it has reached the tertiary education sub-sector.
Years ago, Muck got to know a certain Kenyan architect, who found himself in this country after becoming jobless for years after a similarly inept and corrupt government of Daniel arap Moi similarly got stranded when lecturers at the University of Nairobi went on an indefinite strike.
After being on strike for four years, the chap decided to leave the East African country. This could be the end of UZ as it has been known.
Yet one still hears someone having the boldness to shout the mantra “Nyika Inovakwa Nevene Vayo!” This week The Herald reported that two more TM Pick n Pay branches in Mutare had been closed — for obvious reasons. Can someone repeat the mantra that “Zimbabwe is open for business!”?
Nehanda Nyakasikana!
Our hilarious late Vice President Simon Muzenda is always remembered for popularising the poem "Nehanda Nyakasikana", that timeless piece of art from the late Solomon Mutsvairo’s novel Feso.
The poem is today as relevant as it was when it was written in 1956. There is goes:
“O Nehanda Nyakasikana! Kunozove riniko, Isu VaNyai tichitambudzika; Mweya Unoera!
Kunozove riniko, Isu VaNyai tichidzvinyirirwa? Ko, inga taneta wani nokunwa misodzi;
Ko, toshirira kudzamara kuve riniko? Ko, inga panguva yechando miti inozvizorodza,
Inokuhumuka mashizha yombowana rudekaro, Kwozoti nokuchena kwokunze yodombera; Mashizha yovawo nenhenhere inoyevedza; Shiri nemhuka nenyuchi dzokwezvwa nehwema, Ko, isu rugare ruchatisvika riniko?
Vana vacheche vatinobereka, vawakatipa Iwe Samasimba, vanova ndivo vadyi venhaka dzedu, nhasi vokura vakasunzumara munyika yavo, Voshaya nzvimbo dzokurarama nokuzvidekadza?
... Pfuma yenyika nhasi yakatorwa vakagovana paukama hwavo vepfumojena. Nhasi vari kudya mafuta ayo nyika, Isu tichidya nhoko dzezvironda…”
(The poem is essentially questioning how long the locals will endure the suffering while the country's wealth is expropriated and shared among the militant invaders.)
Meanwhile, it is important to remember that Muzenda went to jail for reciting this poem… hopefully it won’t happen to anyone who might have the chutzpah to repeat the mischief today!
