Is Chipangano getting out of hand?
Robert Jr, Chatunga and yours truly Tonde Makombe have only one thing in common we don’t venture into Mbare without reason, though secretly I have wished we had more in common it could have improved my chances of scoring with their gorgeous sister Bona. Like Bob’s youngins I do not venture into Mbare without proper planning, reasoning and the company of a few people who know their way around. I know Chatunga and co. can’t be that dumb as to attend Caps United soccer matches without proper cover, just in case the natives down there decide to get violent. You never know, I know people who have been robbed just for looking at a “hwindi” the wrong way in Mbare.
Still when I do decide to venture into Mbare to watch Dynamos play which is the reason I go there more often than not, I make sure I am in the sharpest of my senses. Being at the sharpest of my senses invariably means abstaining from Shake Shakes 3 days in advance of my visit and hiring a gas mask just in case tear-gas comes into the mix. Even then when I get to the stadium I fork out ridiculous amounts of money to sit in the relatively “safe” Upper Grand Stand side of the stadium. Sometimes when zimbabwemetro.com cuts me one of their paltry cheques I can even afford V.I.P right next to Chatunga (baaaalllliiing!!). Ok I am exaggerating about sitting next to him but you get my point. I make it a point to leave 10 minutes before the official end of match, again I know people who have been robbed of their underwear on their way out of the stadium.
That Mbare residents went ape like and rioted this week against municipal police is thus hardly surprising to me, after all that is Chipangano territory. I had long planned to do a post on Chipangano way before the proverbial human excrement hit the fan in Mbare this week, I had this plan to do an epic post of the “Pius Ncube sex scandal” proportions albeit without maC-Ten’s help and what do you know events played right into my lap. It just goes to shows that my claims as the leading intellectual-cum-blogger on all things Zimbabwean are not as baseless as some readers will have you believe in the comments section!
Being the astute and perceptive Zimbo that I am I have always thought Chipangano will one day rise and strike back at its creators, and I am tempted to believe that these riots are the warning shots. Never mind the fact that an apparently innocent rioter who has been officially rebranded a “vendor” has already lost their life in the chaos. I do not know about you but when I was at the UZ some years ago the only thing I learnt there is – if black people look like they are about to start a riot the only sensible thing to do is …..run. With all due respect to the deceased I have no idea what “vending” someone has to do during a Chipangano riot.
From controlling the prostitution, drugs and extortion industry in Mbare and providing Zanu with one of their few urban parliamentary seats, Chipangano that vile Mafia that runs the township has grown into a virtual government on its own. It’s political connection with Zanu PF probably explains why the organization has been treated with kiddie gloves by the government over the years – despite evidence of its growing untamed power and its silent transformation into the Zim equivalent of the Kenyan Mungiki sect! This is one of the few moments in which I have seen rioting Zimbabweans getting full attention from the government.
Ignatius Chombo was at pains to explain why the “vendors” should be allowed to flout city by-laws since they “are quite compliant and willing to work with the council”. What he probably meant was they are quite compliant with Zanu, Roy Bennett must be wishing he was a vendor, he would probably be sworn in as deputy minister by now. Anyone who has witnessed females in short skirts and trousers being harassed by these “vendors” at Mbare Musika will tell you they are far from the civilised people The Herald will have you believe. What happened to that heavy-handed response the police and army are known for during moments of civil disturbances?
Conciliatory words from Chombo who oversaw the destruction of homes in Mbare under Murambatsvina are surprising in the very least if not downright anti-Zanu. A few years ago a few overzealous women tried to hand out roses to the public during a peaceful Valentine’s day march and ended up with broken ribs. Only if they had “vended” these roses and sought Chipangano’s assent before engaging in subversive rose distributing activities.
The Mungiki collective already runs the Kenyan transport system and – I kid you not – public toilets and apparently has representatives right in the top echelons of government. Chipangano has the Mupedzanhamo market, extorts cash from hapless Mbare flats residents and runs the prostitution rings. I swear some of these Mbare prostitutes will wear Zanu t-shirts to work in a few years, if they do not already! That these organisations are a product of poverty and dissatisfaction with how their respective governments have shoddily addressed their valid economic problems is undeniable. What is interesting is how they have their “ruling” parties by the testicles!!
Posted by Tonderayi Makombe
on November 17, 2009. Filed under Music.
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