THE South African Operation Dudula led by Lux Nhlanhla is an ideologically bankrupt vigilante group which is behaving like a terrorist organisation and causing alarm and despondency.

Investigations have shown that this group is being sponsored by a clique within the South African government. It is ridiculous in that this era, we still have people with an appetite to bar fellow Africans from crossing borders.

There is lawlessness in South Africa where civilians are empowered to demand identity cards from foreign nationals living in South Africa as if they are law enforcing agents. This is so pathetic and beyond imagination given that it is happening in a country which prides itself as rainbow nation.

It is apparent that Operation Dudula is not operating in a vacuum, but is getting support and sponsorship from the powers-that-be. At one time, its members were being escorted by the police while conducting their door-to-door threats to evict foreigners.

Surely such kind of behaviour was likely to spark xenophobic  attacks.

The gruesome murder of a Zimbabwean, Elvis Nyathi, last week is a good example of the rot in the South African society. It exposes how the African National Congress government has failed South Africans.

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Nyathi died a painful death but what he had were simple gardening skills which he used wholeheartedly  to feed and support his family.

Unfortunately, some people took the law into their own hands and acted in a barbaric and inhumane manner.

According to Operation Dudula, foreigners living in South Africa are only Zimbabweans.

Targeting Zimbabwean nationals only is foolhardy and unthinkable.

Most of these Zimbabweans are economic refugees who ran away from Zanu PF  misrule.

This operation is devoid of history where Zimbabwe marshalled Frontline States to isolate apartheid South Africa.

In other words, Zimbabwe stood by South Africa during its time of need, but why is South African not doing the same now? That is the spirit of Africanness, ubuntu.

The political and economic crises in Zimbabwe should be fixed soon.

The South African government should stop endorsing stolen elections in Zimbabwe for the sake of pleasing the incumbent. Will the killing of foreigners really create employment for unemployed South Africans?

We should respect the sanctity of life regardless of nationality, gender, race, sexual orientation, language, background or social status. Leonard Koni

Harare water chaos needs collective action

THE water situation in Harare has become a state of disaster and stakeholders must work together to stem the calamity that is threatening the lives of residents.

Council should do all it can to avert a disaster. There is need for collective action on the issue.

Harare is located on a watershed that feeds into Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame and if not treated at the sewage plants, pollution generated from the city’s industries, households and the small and medium enterprises will find its way into the city’s water bodies, thereby compromising and endangering the lives of residents.

Stakeholders must work together to avoid a calamity in greater Harare.

Central government should provide local authorities with adequate foreign currency to ensure a consistent supply of safe water to residents across the country’s towns and cities.

As a permanent solution to the water challenges in Harare, we urge government to speed up the construction of Kunzwi Dam.

The construction of Musami Dam, which has been on the cards for a long time with nothing tangible happening on the ground, should be prioritised.

Sloganeering around these key projects will only worsen the situation. Mai Ruru

Need for holistic approach to drug abuse

AN opinion in the NewsDay Weekender of April 9 titled Anti-drugs fight: Govt can’t do it alone refers.

I used to be one of those people who, while sympathetic, would look down on those who had “allowed” themselves to become addicted to alcohol and illicit drugs. However, upon learning that serious life trauma, notably adverse childhood experiences, are very often behind the debilitating addiction, I began to understand self-medication.

The greater the drug-induced euphoria or escape one attains from their use, the more one wants to repeat the experience and the more intolerable one finds their sober reality, the more pleasurable the escape should be perceived. By extension, the greater one’s mental pain or trauma while sober, the greater the need for escape from reality, thus the more addictive the euphoric escape will likely be.

Due to luck, I have not been personally affected by the opioid overdose crisis or other heavy substance abuse/addiction. I have, however, suffered enough unrelenting ACE-related hyper-anxiety to have known, enjoyed and appreciated the great release upon consuming alcohol and/or THC.

Emotional and/or psychological trauma from unhindered toxic substance abuse usually results in a helpless child’s brain improperly developing.

If allowed to continue for a prolonged period, it can act as a starting point into a life in which the brain uncontrollably releases potentially damaging levels of inflammation-promoting stress hormones and chemicals, even in non-stressful daily routines.

It’s like a form of non-physical-impact brain damage.

The lasting mental pain is very formidable yet invisibly confined to inside one’s head. It is solitarily suffered, unlike an openly visible physical disability or condition, which tends to elicit sympathy/empathy from others.

It can make everyday a mental ordeal, unless the turmoil is treated with some form of medication, either prescribed or illicit.

The misconception that addicts are simply weak-willed and/or have committed a moral crime is, fortunately, gradually diminishing.

Also, we now know that Western pharmaceutical corporations intentionally pushed their addictive and profitable opiates — I call it the real moral crime — for which they got off relatively lightly, considering the resulting immense suffering and overdose deaths. Frank Sterle Jr

IN response to Parties condemn Afrophobic attacks in SA, MATOME SPARX LETSOALO says: These are people who cannot handle issues in their own country, but want to voice out on human rights abuses in South Africa. Members of these political parties are brutalised by the police and army and they run to South Africa for refuge so this is nothing new.

ALBERT MUCHECHETERE says: Zimbabweans have since the turn of the millennium tried to liberate themselves from Zanu PF bondage in vain, but the South African ruling party, African National Congress (ANC) refused to play ball. ANC has blocked everything since 2000. The latest being its support for the 2017 coup. In other words, the ANC government is an accomplice in problems bedevilling Zimbabwe.

ZTSAM SIDULI says: When Zimbabwe goes to polls, South Africa and Sadc members should stop sidelining with Zanu PF because this is where the problem is coming from. Next year, there will be elections in Zimbabwe, South Africa should come out in the open and condemn electoral malpractices perpetrated by their fellow comrades in Zanu PF to avoid contested outcomes. Zimbabwe’s problem requires a political solution. Remember these people are not in South Africa because they want to be there.

IN response to Fireworks in CCC cockpit, MANDLA SIGOGO says: Where there is Thokozani Khupe somehow there is chaos. Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa should stay away from Khupe — she is up to no good.

PETER KIMANI says: All the best for CCC and its leader Nelson Chamisa. If Thokozani Khupe is to join CCC, she can join as an ordinary card-carrying member. Her hands are still dripping with blood. There are too many skeletons in her cupboard. Anyway, may God remember Zimbabweans in 2023 as they try to unyoke themselves from this mutating authoritarianism bedevilling the country for four decades after independence. Good luck from Kenya!

PERCY TAVONGA SOMERAI says: Khupe is a citizen and has every right to join any party of her choice. Nobody said she is challenging for CCC presidency. People must calm down.