Returning to Zimbabwe

Raymond Mgadzah writes about his recent visits to Zimbabwe

by Raymond Mgadzah 21st March 2014

There is a joke doing the rounds in Zimbabwe. A tourist at the airport is asked: ‘Have you learnt any Shona during your holiday here?’ Shona is the majority language in the country. The tourist replies: ‘Yes. Magetsi ayenda’. This means ‘The electricity/power has gone’.  Joking aside, and perhaps the joke loses something in translation, endemic power cuts by the national supplier are just one of the indicators to the visitor that all is not well in Zimbabwe. Another is the police roadblocks and toll charges, which are as ubiquitous as the potholes on the once well-kept roads.