January 13 2011
''WHAT'S happening?
''Why is there a sudden influx of national flags on the streets with almost one in four cars proudly displaying the flag?
''Does this have anything to do with the coming elections?'' a friend of mine, who believes the media know everything that goes on in the country, asked me on the phone the other day with reference to the phenomenon that has gripped Harare in recent months where on almost every street corner you come across a vendor selling miniature versions of the National Flag at the ''BACOSSI price'' of a dollar for two.
Almost one in every 10 cars that you pass on the road will have the flag dangling from the rear view mirror or fluttering from the aerial aping the famous Zim 1, the pride of the Presidential motorcade.
Intrigued, I pulled over at one intersection yesterday and one vendor, who told me he answered to the name Amos Mzamba, ran over with a bunch of flags in either hand.
''How many do you want blaz,'' he asked relishing a good sale.
Was anyone sending them into the streets with the flags?
''No,'' was his reply, ''tinotohodha blaz (we buy in bulk for resale, my brother)''
Still curious, I asked him how the business was going and he said the little flags were moving fast.
And he said: ''Mudhara people were looking for these things but they could not find them, and now that they can, they are buying the flags like nobody's business. Those without cars buy them from the kombi windows to display at home. Displaying this flag shows everyone who sees you or visits that you love your country.
The vendor said he had been asked about the availability of lapel pins, tie clips, cuff links, even earrings in the national colours, and he wished he had the means to produce them on a large scale.
I asked him where the flags were coming from and like a true businessman keen to protect his business from competitors he looked at me warily and was non-committal only saying, ''a shop in town.''
Was anyone sending them into the streets with the flags?
''No,'' was his reply, ''tinotohodha blaz (we buy in bulk for resale, my brother)''
Still curious, I asked him how the business was going and he said the little flags were moving fast.
To what did he attribute the phenomenon?
And he said: ''Mudhara people were looking for these things but they could not find them, and now that they can, they are buying the flags like nobody's business. Those without cars buy them from the kombi windows to display at home. Displaying this flag shows everyone who sees you or visits that you love your country.
''I think it all started with the World Cup craze in South Africa. We saw a lot of cars coming here displaying the SA flag. Some had stickers, others had wing-mirror covers, yet others had seat covers in national colours. I believe many of our people admired that but they could not find Zimbabwean equivalents.''
The vendor said he had been asked about the availability of lapel pins, tie clips, cuff links, even earrings in the national colours, and he wished he had the means to produce them on a large scale.
Well, well, well, someone somewhere has not been doing his/her work to give citizens these symbols of national pride.
I do not know which ministry exactly should promote this, it could be David Coltart's ministry, it could be Walter Mzembi's; whichever ministry it is, must get off its laurels.
Judging by what's happening in the streets, ostensibly courtesy of some enterprising businessman, whom I hear is of Chinese extraction; Zimbabweans are mighty proud of their country and are keen to show it.
So what does that say of us as a people if we leave it, assuming it’s true, to an outsider to produce these national symbols for us?
Where are we getting it wrong?
What does this interest in the National Flag tell us about our people?
What else are we not giving them that they would rather have?
Last week I touched on the issue of recording the history of our struggle, and I hope that powers that be will do something about it lest we leave future generations at the mercy of any good storyteller.
Again, out of curiosity, I sauntered into Kingstons, the national bookseller, looking for serious books about our history as Africans and how our heritage was bastardised by European invaders in a bid to portray us as a hopeless, uncivilised people who should be thankful to Western conquest for putting clothes on our backs and food on our tables.
I came across a lot of works of fiction but nothing much educational by progressive writers like Amilcar Cabral, Ayi Kwei Armah, Franz Fanon, Cheikh Anta Diop or Walter Rodney. There are lots of romance novels by Danielle Steel, Barbra Bradford, etc, a lot of espionage work by Robert Ludlum, Jeffrey Archer, lots of Shakespeare; books that do not add value to the national psyche or consciousness.
In fact, Kingstons has since diversified to music and selling other paraphernalia. That, in a country with the highest literacy rate in Africa? There is definitely something wrong with us, and I hope that whatever it is, we will find an antidote soon lest we lose future generations to the reactionary who are spinning unbelievable yarns about Zimbabwe and its history.caesar.zvayi@zimpapers.co.zw
