adminwas donning a staccato dress which swayed from side to side as she walked about while sucking her thumb aimlessly at the busy Queensdale Shopping Centre in Harare.
For a moment I thought there had been a tsunami in heaven because sweet-looking beings of her ilk are rare on this planet Earth.
But before I could position myself to crack a conversation with this embodiment of beauty, or so I thought, she thrust her hand into her handbag and drew a packet of ground chillies which she threw in the face of a girl who was on the passenger seat of a car that was parked next to mine.
Before the victim could react, she was all over her pumping fists into her tummy.
It was a lightning attack.
Blitzkrieg, the Russians would call it.
“Wakajaidzwa. Handitambwe iyoyo. Kwawakazviitira ikoko ziva zvakakwana,” she bellowed while being restrained by vendors who had rushed to the scene to perform the role of the United Nations.
From the way the restrainers fell over each other to perform the task, you could tell they were enjoying holding her.
The brother behind this big fight simply boarded a taxi and escaped with his life per chance someone in the crowd would recommend that he be assaulted.
Oh boy, I have never seen that level of violence.
There was a big mismatch between the woman’s fists of fury and the beauty she was enveloped in.
Word had it that she had come face-to-face with a woman who was threatening to thrust her back on the love market.
She had finally met the woman who wanted to condemn her to a single mother.
And women do not take kindly to love rivals. Nyaya yemurume ine nhoroondo kuvanhukadzi.
“If you are so into men, tsvaga waya ugadzire wako,” the woman charged.
Her reaction split public opinion with some saying she was wrong while others, especially married women, saying she was in the right.
“Mamugumbura mwana, kumotorera zai rake,” the creative within the crowd could be heard singing.
Violence, violence, violence.
The communities in which we live are so full of violence. It’s as if it makes the world go round.
Less than a fortnight ago, the Chronicle published a back page picture of a man who was being kicked by a mob. His crime: He was the only DeMbare supporter among Highlanders fans who had been angered by their club’s defeat. It does not end there.
Men and women are fighting relentlessly everyday.
It has become trite that commuters and kombi crews fight and hurl expletives at each other everyday.
Schoolmates are always on each other’s throat and so are churchmates.
At soccer matches, it is rare not to find people fighting. The fights take many forms .
While a good number of fights go unreported, some of them spill into court.
“Kana munhu anetsa, varume batai munhu. Sotai munhu,” goes Sulumani Chimbetu’s award-winning song called Sean Timba.
And true to this, the fickle-minded always fight whenever there is a difference in opinion.
“Ndinokuzhagadzira,” “Ndinokubeta,” “Ndinokubinha,” “Ndinokupesanisa hudyu” and “Ndinokudhonza-dhonza,” are common lines you hear whenever people are about to exchange blows.
Some people start crying before they beat up someone.
But is this the way to go?
Is violence a solution to problems?
Hanzi ndikagumbuka, ndinovharira bhawa rese,
Hanzi ndikagumbuka, Bhuruwayo vanondiziva,
Mari hauna, hembe hauna, unorara pasi, sang the legendary Fanuel System Tazvida and his Chazezesa Challengers in this song which denounces violence.
But people take no heed.
Violence makes the lion in some people roar and roar loud.
At school you even have some boys boasting that they can beat the whole school.
“Ndakaipirwa mudhara. Hapana anoti pwe-ee. Ndinorova chikoro chese,” my son once told me while we were relaxing at home one day.
My foot! Taking pride in being a destroyer? That is not what I pay fees for.
According to experts, violence is a language of the defeated.
A person armed with a hammer always thinks all problems need a hammer.
This is partly the reason why panel beaters are not included in parties to negotiate a marriage.
You would rather send a builder because the guy is used to building and the assumption is he is more inclined to be constructive.
Violence brings more pain and suffering to the people it purports to liberate hence the numerous times they are brought before the courts of law to answer for their misdeeds and get punished for it.
As I commit pen to paper gentle reader, the nation is preparing to go for harmonised elections and there are pockets of violence throughout the country because of the mistaken belief by certain people that anyone with a different opinion is an enemy.
Where there is oppression, revolutionaries believe violence is a necessary evil for stimulate change.
But this is no longer the case.
Unity, unity and more unity is the way to go.
Some ghettos have been turned into no-go areas by some misguided elements who take it upon themselves to want to know why someone new is in the area and when they will leave.
“Iwe blazo. Tisase kuti ndeipi yako ende futi unoita nezvei? Haikona kungouya kumabhawa ese-ese,” yours truly was told straight in the eye in Tafara recently before being sold warm beer.
It is not wrong for people to support political parties of their choice, the President has often said, but it is very wrong to try to sway public opinion through violence.
Violence should never have a place in these places we call home.
Let’s give it no chance and sow the seeds of development.
Inotambika mughetto.
Online Reporter