Success not automatic, time to plan is now

Rosenthal Mutakati Ghetto Blast
Plates that a few hours earlier were heaped with food, cigarette stubs and half-empty liquor bottles were strewn all over, bearing testimony that people were indeed having the time of their lives.
Even dogs wished the merrymaking could have lasted longer for they too had an opportunity to tuck into meaty bones at places where people meet.

“Tapinda, tapinda,” people screamed, as others shouted, “Ndizvo, ndizvo” as they gulped the last of the mugs of opaque beer they had been helping themselves to while awaiting the advent of the New Year.
Both noble and obscene hugs and kisses were shared.

Cars, some so old you would think their components were being held together by rust, plied the country’s roads, giving police a torrid time to restore order and safety before calamity struck.

Businesspeople made a killing on New Year’s Eve by charging exorbitant prices to those who wished to welcome 2014 in their watering holes.

Musicians and dance groups were not to be outdone. They too had shows lined up to ensure they skimmed as much as possible from pleasure-seeking fans who strode to get into the New Year in style.

Tenda, tenda, tenda, tenda gore rapera/Tenda, tenda, tenda, tenda waripinda/Tenda, tenda, tenda, tenda wariona/Vakazorangana vana vemuvengi/Kuda kuparadza rudzi rwedzinza redu, sang the late Simon “Chopper” Chimbetu in “Tenda”, which rises to anthemic status as the year draws to an end and induces merrymakers to wiggle their waists as the nimble-footed go through their paces.

Gentle reader, such was the fun as people welcomed the New Year . . . and now reality is setting in.
Bars and braaing spots, which were hives of activity just a few days back, now resemble the Biblical hamlet in ruins, which is parallel to the prophet Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones.

There is nothing to celebrate anymore.
Those who made noise or approached the holidays with shut minds now have pregnancies to worry about, financial wounds and court cases to answer to. There is just danger in going too far.

Now that the New Year has began, landlords are being approached with all sorts of flimsy excuses by tenants seeking an extension of the deadline to pay rent.

“Sorry muchembere, parizvino zvakambonditi sungei asi mukandipa zvizuva zvishoma ndingazoona kuti ndingakurongerei zvipi; asi musatye zvenyu ndinomiramira semweya wetsvina kuti zviite,” you hear people saying while resting their heads on their shoulders, hoping for leniency.

General managers are also not having a good time in their places of work. People are approaching them with all sorts of lies to ensure they get a bit of cash to see it through this month.

“Sir, mukandirongera izvi munenge mandigonera. Imba yaamai vangu yakarohwa nemheni, chikafu chese chatainge tavatengera chikayeredzwa nemvura. Tinotori payowe-yowe chaipo,” you hear workers lying through their teeth.
The brazen will even lie that their late mother had died again.

“But John, do you remember we gave you a loan last time for your mother’s funeral,” the manager will ask, only to be told: “Kwete mambo, ava ndivo amai vakuru kudzinde remadzimai edu zvekuti ndikashayikwa ikoko rinove gombototo nemashura ezviratidzo.”
As the year begins, people are doing the unthinkable to keep their heads above water.

Women will fake loving you just to glean the little you have only to remind you later: “Changamire kana makazvitarisa munoona zvichiitawo here kuti nezviromo zvenyu zvitematema izvo mutsvodane neni? Mukawana nguva mundikwanire. Hamudi kunyarwa makambonyatsoita seiko-wo imi?”

Now that the year has just began, this is the time to either make or unmake ourselves through the choices we make. If at all we intend to wed later in the year, the time to plan is now to ensure when the time comes you will be ready.

Ladies wishing to get married should start planning and making their ways good now. This is the time to tell all time wasters to evaporate and condense elsewhere. It is the time to bond with the man you wish to be the father of your children and get to know him more clearly and perhaps get to love him more dearly.

Guys intending to buy either a car or a house should start planning now.
There is power in prayer and in the Word of God. Leaving the pleasures of the world and sticking to Godly affairs should be done now if ever we entertain the need for salvation.

There is nothing as good as planning.
Children in need of higher grades should also start preparing now because true education is not a matter of guess work, but requires sincere and systematic study.

Inotambika mughetto.