SOCIAL media can be a very toxic place; it is not for the faint-hearted, and as Muck saw this week, it is also for the horrible and unbearable among us.
For some people, such as Muck’s favourite villain, George Charamba, it is difficult to hide their narcissistic character, even from behind the keyboard.
His antics in lashing out at perceived enemies of the state and his boss, our owner, illustrate why he is perhaps a befitting mouthpiece for a man whose choice of vocabulary at public gatherings is at odds with the etiquette expected of a head of state, and who often needs reminding that the war of liberation ended some 44 years ago.
Our owner regularly threatens his audiences and supposed enemies, usually with the phrase: Ndinokusvasvangai zvekuti heki! (I will beat the crap out of you!), a phrase that is associated with a farmer trying to bring a misbehaving cow into line in the vernacular.
To Charamba then.
Under his character, Dhonzamusoro007, he posted: “Priceless gift to a father: Makanakaishe, the Zimbabwean Olympian, sent this rare gift to me through his sister, Engineer Komborero, who represented the Charamba family at the Paris Olympics. I am not normally tearful, but this one drew me out!!! The Family souvenir will be preserved and kept for generations to come. Maita Nhuka!!!!!”
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Even Muck cannot begrudge a father celebrating the achievements of his son on the grand stage that is the Olympics.
The exchanges
Along with fellow sprinter, Tapiwanashe Makarawu, Makanakaishe Charamba made it into the finals for the 200 metre-dash at the recent 33rd Olympic Games in Paris, France.
This was the first time a Zimbabwean graced the global games in the final round since Brian Dzingai managed the feat at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, let alone two of them.
But some of the exchanges that followed simply showed the dislike some Zimbabweans have come to have of the information tsar’s Joseph Goebbels personality and his responses that showed a man devoid of class.
Joseph Kalimbwe: “So he flew back to his country, America, after the Olympics?”
Dhonzamusoro007: “Why do you think or deduce so????”
User: “It’s the quality of the blazer for me. What cheap material is that?”
Dhonzamosoro007: “Immaterial except to small thinkers like you.”
User: “So you couldn’t tag him? Or you lying as usually.”
Dhonzamusoro007: “I tag my son??? Dununu!!!! (Idiot!!!!)”
User: “You have been challenged kule (uncle). You didn’t go to support him.”
Dhonzamusoro007: “Really craving to be part of a winning family, huh? Sorry hako!!!!”
The comments didn’t stop, and eventually, Dhonzamusoro007 just gave up. The insults were not working and the Xers were unrelenting.
Jamwanda2’s faux pax
In his other persona, Jamwanda2, Charamba took issue with a report by the Information Development Trust, which posted on X titled Sadc diplomatic village in limbo.
“President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is unlikely to accommodate VVIPs and VIPs at the diplomatic village, which is still under construction three days before the main summit begins on Saturday, 17 August,” the report read.
“The 18 villas are located about a kilometre east of the New Parliament in Mount Hampden. Contractors are working 24/7 to complete the villas that are at various stages of development.
“The villas were projected to have been completed by mid-July, but they are yet to be painted while some are still being roofed. The way leading to the complex is dusty and no lights have been installed along the newly constructed road that leads from Mt Hampden to Bindura Road.
“The complex is being constructed by Swiss company, Mabetex Group, which is said to have deployed 500 of its nationals for the project, while 300 locals were employed to set up the pre-cast villas.”
Charamba fumed: “Failure voyeurs!!!! Which Sadc village? These are private villas meant to nucleate Mount Hampden City. The link you are trying so hard to forge is a forced one. It has no basis in our planning matrix. Take a chill!!!!”
So, failure has to be disowned? Both our owner and his deputy made reference to the villas as being part of the Sadc preparations. Last month, the generari told the broadcaster known as “Dead BC” that he had been assured by the constructors that construction would be completed on time after he urged them to put in an “extra hour!”
So Jamwanda2 tried the spin: “He was addressing the company building villas — their villas — which they hoped would be hired out to Sadc delegates. That was never a govt plan, although completion by the company would have added to the ambiance.
“The govt accommodation plan was well set and got completed on time, which is why all heads are catered for. The trouble is dealing with a psyche predisposed to failure. It looks for failure. Where none is forthcoming, it invents!”
In the mid-term budget, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube allocated ZiG795,7 million (about US$58 million), in part to the construction of the villas!
Wow George! Muck understands that you are employed to present the regime in the best possible light, but this is stretching the truth to the point of losing any shred of decency in you!
One user asked: “So, they are now ‘private’ villas, which the government has been funding and working flat out 24/7 to ensure they are ready for the Sadc Summit??? Who do these ‘private’ villas belong to, and how was the government contracted to build them?”
Muck is not holding his breath for a coherent response.
For fear of Mpox
as someone who has lived through our government’s slow response to the possible spread of diseases, Muck is worried about a lack of preparedness for the highly infectious disease, Mpox.
Mpox, which used to be called monkeypox, has been declared a public health emergency in Africa by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) as well as the World Health Organisation, who say they are alarmed by the speed at which a new strand of Mpox has been spreading.
According to the Africa CDC, as of last week, Mpox had been detected in at least 13 African countries, including South Africa, Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR), Kenya and Rwanda.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 13 700 cases and 450 deaths have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
How safe is Zimbabwe? The government needs to make more information available and the measures it is taking to prevent its spread. Our experience with Covid-19 and the recent cholera and flu outbreaks call for greater vigilance.