Sundaymail Editor
HAVE you ever seen a whole family enjoying sadza with okra, eggs, pumpkin leaves or termites not out of choice, but because it is the only alternative they have?
Well, wait and see this month.
January, the month we have just entered, is not an easy one, folks.
It is a month in which it is considered evil to pay someone a visit empty-handed and expect to be served food.
Paying someone a visit this time of the year usually elicits cold shoulders or the prospect of finding the gate locked.
“Vepano havapo. Vakambofamba. Tozoti ndianiko ange auya?” maids will be assigned to tell whoever knocks on the door, only to be betrayed by wet towels drying on the laundry line.
It is not a one-size-fits-all affair, but the majority of people are having it rough, with little to eat and nothing to spare.
Those who go to church will tell you they are fasting to justify empty fridges and/or the lack of desire to welcome you with a meal.
We have come into a new year with the hope of excelling and making good where we erred in the previous season.
A new year comes with new challenges and we have to be prepared to face these head-on.
Each time we enter a new year, we have long lists of things we intend to achieve.
Like runners in a race, we all have great hopes of lasting the distance and emerging victorious at the end.
There are, however, things that we need to get right from the onset in order to excel. One of the things we obviously need to have is focus, determination and the willpower to achieve greatness.
Contrary to last week, when almost everyone seemed to have more than enough disposable income to enjoy Christmas, the year 2023 has brought with it a lot of demands and economic realities.This is the time when we all realise we just do not have enough money to pay rent, put food on the table and send children to school.
Places of merriment like beerhalls, bottle stores and braai spots that were teeming with people are now deserted.
Most of us are kicking ourselves in the foot and failing to come to terms with the reality that cash has deserted us.
We are in that period of the year when being broke and failing to put food on the table are now like little crosses we all have to carry.
The January disease is biting and people are tucking into queer types of vegetables that come with the rainy season.
This time around we are a bit unlucky because the rains have not been sound and these natural vegetables have not germinated.
There is virtually nothing left for the stewing pot and people have gone hyperactive borrowing.
This is the time of the year when employers and bosses are inundated with requests for soft loans, as people seek to survive the month of January.
It is not unusual during this time of the year to be lied to that so and so has died, as people seek to wring cash out of their well-heeled peers.
“Hie boss, I have been trying to reach you all day. My brother-in-law has died in a horrific road traffic accident. We really have nowhere to start from as I am the only family member who is gainfully employed, so I need a salary advance to meet the funeral expenses,” such are the kinds of phone calls people are making this time of the year.
Some scheming fellows get to the extent of taking their elderly relatives or acquaintances to their workplaces, all in the hope of using them to acquire cash.
This is the time of the year when one is sure to walk into a pub and find the cashier alone.
Demands for cash and sick notes are at their peak.
It is a veduwee, veduwee situation.
January is traditionally a tough month, but let us soldier on.
Inotambika mughetto.
rosenthal.mutakati
@zimpapers.co.zw
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter