Chronicle Editor
Stephen Mpofu
Some present-generation Zimbabweans have no doubt had accounts about which survivors of old Rhodesian generations are familiar regarding persuasive actions for rain that took place when droughts hit this country.
Driven by a belief that drought was the laughter at them by the god of rain for whatever displeased that deity, traditional healers and other people known to be possessed by spirits/amadlozi/ mashavi formed delegations which made beelines to Zame, a cave or caves at the Matopo Hills in Matabeleland South province, where they believed the god of rain dwelt, so they could plead for reprieve for whatever wrong they committed in order to have rain released once more for their survival.
The ritual ceremonies over the delegates sang praises on their way back home, if a rain cloud or clouds were seen scudding in the sky above them as the ritualists believed that their pleas for rain had been positively answered.
But right up to post-modernity no validation is known of the existence of a god that the old timers believed had the power to cause droughts or rainfall.
Thus a drought-and-rain-maker god at Zame remains a mystery to Zimbabweans as well as to other people around the global village.
Worse still, the mystery above is deepened by some political and some traditional leaders who lamentably skirt, or shy away from telling the public at large the exact cause or causes of droughts similar to the one caused by El Nino and under which we in Southern Africa are reeling right now.
The brutal truth happens to be that instead of kissing the earth the sun scorches dead dry its trees and grass, all the while evaporating water stored in rivers, lakes and dams during droughts, thus endangering human and wildlife that depend on it with the former needing rain water for both food production and drinking.
The above demises are the results of irresponsible human activities such as smoke from veld fires, unmodified factory chimneys, as well as smoke from coal plants and all of which bellow into the sky all the while releasing toxic gases which erode and render wafer thin ozone, the layer that God created to protect humanity from the dangerous rays of the sun which must never be allowed to destroy the earth and life on it, as is being experienced right now.
But is the optimism being expressed by some leaders regarding the good rain season ahead in the 2024/25 summer cropping season courtesy of La-Nina really justified when activities known to be responsible for current droughts and food scarcities have not been addressed?
At public meetings by political leaders or at those between traditional leaders and their followers, are discussions of the wanton destructions of trees that absorb and sink dangerous gases contained in smoke from veld fires and factory chimneys ever heard in a bid to end climate change along with its effects on human beings and wildlife since trees are also known to draw rain water from clouds, with their non-existence known to result in deserts?
In this communicologist’s humble belief the expected favourable La-Nina rain season will be a pipe dream unless this country’s leaders with the support of the patriotic general public get on a war path against deforestation and veld fires.
The ball is now in the court of every proud owner of Zimbabwe who must help develop the country they own as exhorted by our national dictum which says “a country is built by its owners”.
Those with ears have heard and must act accordingly for our proud Zimbabwe to acquire the status of an advanced state developmentally.
Online Reporter