Zebras Never Die

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© Copyright 2013 Sam Mphuthi.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

This book is a fictitious story, based on imaginary characters, events, processes and objects. Any resemblance of persons or other elements of the story to those in real life is purely coincidental and completely unintended

ISBN: 978-1-4907-1299-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-1298-7 (e)

Trafford rev. 08/21/2013

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1

Leaving Johannesburg

Chapter 2

Story Time

Chapter 3

Freedom Fever

Chapter 4

Ever Living

Chapter 5

Ominous Signs In The City

Chapter 6

The Protocol Is Reborn

Chapter 7

Rhodesia Replaces Paradise

Chapter 8

Zebra

Chapter 9

Deepening Tolerance

Chapter 10

Masechaba, The New Matriarch

Chapter 11

Prison And Casino Economics, The New Reality

Chapter 12

Gridlock, Learning To Keep Watch

Chapter 13

Mourning And Celebration, Zebra Never Dies

Chapter 14

Footprints Of The Liberation Vanish

Chapter 15

Lungile Rising

Chapter 16

Bhuti, Zimbabwe’s Third Reich

Chapter 17

Return Of The Native, Rejuvenation

Chapter 18

Sting In The Tale

Chapter 19

Achilles’ Tendon, Vigilance Of The Future

About The Book, Zebras Never Die

DEDICATION

The book is dedicated to all the Africans at home who continue to uphold values that have made it possible for family cohesion and social proximity to survive colonial and post-colonial oppression. And also to those African Africans in the diaspora who continue to support the home defenders.

PREFACE

This story was inspired by ordinary people who have retained their sense of humanity, tenacity and generosity in the face of great adversity. The cultural values that sustain social cohesion and dignity of society under colonial and post-colonial misrule and oppression constitute the true footprint of liberation. This is the unassailable strength of a people to withstand all that the oppressive regimes throw at them. In some instances, people have taken up arms to fight for basic human rights. In other instances, people have escaped into exile to seek a better quality of life for their families and communities. Most writings about pre- and post-colonial rule revolve around events and activities that mark organisation, execution and outcomes of resistance or the struggle. This is a crucial part of the history of liberation and post-colonial struggles that has embedded in it defining moments of a people which must be captured for us to extract critical lessons, in our time and for posterity to strive for greater and lasting prosperity of our nations. However, the cultural values of the people are not only the substrate of survival and the basis of their ultimate triumph over historical oppressors and former liberators alike, but also the very source of the universal welfare of mankind. It is imperative that the culture of the people be recognised as pivotal to the discourse on liberation. Whilst it is understandable from a certain purview that leadership may be studied as a means of gaining insight into the scope and complexity of the struggle, thus justifying the rationale for the course of action taken and conclusion of the struggle, the role or successes of the leaders are often embellished and romanticised, their failures being obfuscated through gross blame attribution targeted at the enemy and, both intentionally and unintentionally, mask the significance of the people’s culture as the fundamental basis of the liberation of the people. In particular, the commitment of the people to the common good has made it impossible for corrupt and ruthless regimes to break the resolve of the people to uphold their dignity and altruism.

Personal stories, many of them told with a sense of humour that defies the suffering that people have experienced progressively with plundering of the wealth of the nation by a cohort of erstwhile freedom activists, puts many of us to shame, who, at the slightest provocation, threaten to leave the country and go elsewhere, to become part of the diaspora, self-imposed economic exiles. The people who have endured untold subjugation but stayed the course, having even last ditch attempts to regain human rights being denied through blatant stealth of their vote at sham elections and violent re-education camps enforced by militias of the ruling party, stand for the humanness of our ancestors and the determination that will sustain future generations on our continent and beyond.

The story of Gura and his family epitomises the resilience, family cohesion and social proximity of a people in post-colonial misrule. Having been subject to monumental misrule by former liberators, along with the rest of the masses, Gura and his kith and kin demonstrate that Zebras, the totem denoting the omnipresence of their ancestors, never die.

CHAPTER 1

LEAVING JOHANNESBURG

Gura Dube was now in his early forties. He was a much leaner and hungry-looking man than days gone by. He dragged the two large grocery bags on either side of his six-foot frame to edge nearer the check-in counter for cross-border buses leaving Johannesburg, the psychedelic commercial capital of Azania. He had the return stub of the ticket purchased in Harare, a peaceful town and the capital city of the Republic of Zimbabwe, one thousand miles to the north of Azania, where he lived with his wife, their two small children, his late brother’s teenage son and his youngest sister who had just finished school in their rural home and was seeking employment in Harare’s continually declining opportunity environment.

To the uninitiated observer, that much grocery, belonging as it did to one passenger, would certainly portray an impression of someone erring on the side of overabundance of caution in stocking for a rainy day.

Going back home to Zimbabwe from Azania was always a relief, having gone through the tribulations of the inbound journey, especially the harassment by Azania immigration and customs officials who extort bribes from the struggling Bajwe. Parting with one’s hard earned foreign currency for no value whatsoever was always a distressful experience that Bajwe, the people of Zimbabwe, appeared not to be able to escape from. Irrespective of the legal status of an individual’s official documentation, the Azania immigration and customs officers squeezed an entry bribe from all foreigners making their way through the border with the Zimbabwe Republic. This irregular and shadow tolling is well known to the government authorities of Azania. They have deployed and redeployed officials on a rotational basis in different border posts around the country and, within each border post, redeployed officials across different departments in order to diffuse practices of extortion. This has failed dismally on account of the sense of entitlement being an integral part of the pervasive culture of corruption in Azania. The impunity with which the immigration officials abuse African visitors to the country defies any attempts at institution of best practices in corporate governance and managerial controls.

Most officials in Azania (including high ranking politicians) and a significant proportion of the general population find little intrinsic value in rules and regulations. People abide by the law in order to avoid trouble. Where there is little likelihood of being caught or, alternatively, where there are minimal adverse consequences in breaking the law, Azanians will take route 1. The latter is colloquial for short cut. In order to reverse the morass, the government of Azania has, over the years, introduced progressively tougher enforcement tactics and penalties. These will likely yield modest success in the reduction corrupt practices and, even less success, in internalisation of social values and norms that cherish universal welfare of mankind as an end that is desirable in its own right. The lack of a moral compass at the top contributes in no small measure to the situation.

It is against this backdrop of dissipation and increasingly belligerent shadow excises by officials that makes going back home to Zimbabwe a most welcome relief for shoppers like Gura. Given a choice, none of the Bajwe in Gura’s queue would have travelled to Azania. This is not the life they would have chosen for themselves. The curse of chronic shortage of food and other essential goods for sustenance in Zimbabwe has been foisted upon them by a bankrupt regime back home.

Everyone in the queue knew that there was light at the end of the tunnel with the imminent ascendancy of Tumelo Bhuti to power, this following the demise of Batho Mokaba. However, for now, it was still necessary to travel to Azania and bring back those grocery bags across the border to feed the family and the wider community. The impending new dispensation in Zimbabwe was not guaranteed. Even though Mokaba had died a few days gone by and Bhuti was supposed to assume office, the people of Zimbabwe were weary of the threat of residual rogue elements in the army and the police force that might attempt to subvert Bhuti’s exercise of the powers and functions of the presidency. There were many people with vested interests that could attempt to destabilise the country such that there would be a prolonged period of peace keeping by the World Extended Council of Affiliated Nations (WECAN). For now, many Bajwe, the people of Zimbabwe, continued to suffer humiliation at the hands of the Azanians, the people of Azania.

Gura had bought tinned and bottled foods as well as other durable supplies that would last his family in Harare and relatives in the rural home up to two months. He had traversed the streets of Johannesburg, a city that is geographically expansive, with an unusual mix of affluent suburbs and sprawling, impoverished informal settlements, and a large population that is a microcosm of the continent of Africa and other parts of the world. Gura usually travelled alone and only occasionally with a member of his immediate family, this in order to save on transport costs. Bus fare on the cross-border buses operating between the central stations in Johannesburg and Harare tended to be much higher than what one paid on the chicken buses. The latter are old buses operated by informal sector (so called developmental) entrepreneurs and normally just make the cut for a road worthiness certificate hours before departure for long distance journeys. Gura determined over the past few years that the amount of time lost because of breakdowns among chicken buses constituted greater opportunity cost than the loss suffered from the additional amount one paid on mainstream buses. At times, it takes up to two days for the chicken bus to get back on the road once it stops due to a technical malfunction. The drivers like to use this jargon to mask the mundane fact that the bus has broken down.

Gura was not always the athletic cut he now was. During his late twenties, he was a burly and jovial socialite known simply as Goods among friends and family. The nickname came from Gura’s ability to source and supply a wide range of imported goods at short notice. He was an import-export dynamo of sorts. As Goods, he was known for good living. He changed cars at least once every two years and had accumulated several properties in the northern suburbs of Harare. All this was now history, the sort of thing that Gura generally avoided discussing, especially with those among his acquaintances who have long settled in Azania and have made it in that environment. For now, it is important to negotiate with the clerk at the counter not to make him pay extra fare for excess weight of his personal luggage. Gura had two suitcases that he had already strategically positioned next to the check-in counter