Best Oranges, once the pride of Zimbabwe
The Standard, Sunday 14 August 2011
For a couple of years now I have not tasted a really sweet orange. I have passed through Chegutu on my way to and from Bulawayo on several occasions and have bought tasteless oranges. Those which have a taste are sour and I have not been impressed. I am sure this is the experience of many a traveller. The same has been my experience as I ply the Mazoe-Bindura road. What has become of the pride of Zimbabwe? Yet our relatives in Diaspora always ask those who visit them to bring them Mazoe drink without fail.
At one time I actually asked a vendor to let me peel one before buying a packet. Those who were travelling with me could not continue eating the oranges but throw them away. I feel pity for those who spend day in day out selling these fruits which are no longer oranges. The unsuspecting travellers buy these oranges, only to throw them away on their journey. One may ask: is this how oranges now taste like?
No! A big no! I had a present surprise this time around last week when I travelled to Swereki, 690 km from Harare. Matabeleland South is home to this beautiful but dry land. Just before Swereki, there are estates which produce the best oranges I have ever eaten. I lost count of the oranges I consumed. The following day I had a brief number of “pleasant” stomach shakeup because of the nice tasty oranges I had enjoyed.
Upon asking who was doing this miracle, I was told that most of the guys who left the erstwhile famous Mazoe Orange Estates had migrated to this place. We passed through a highly mechanised plant that was producing juice, which was being exported to Harare to make orange juice. On noticing that we were priests on a mission, workers at the plant showered us with oranges and wished us pleasant and safe journey enjoying real oranges, the pride of Zimbabwe a couple of years ago.
A couple of lessons from this experience are worth pondering upon. It is one thing owning a farm and putting it to best use is another. Orange trees still adorn the many farms along the two highways I have mentioned above but the crops being grown there hardly meet the acceptable standards.
My best advice to the new farm owners is to try other crops other than oranges.
Rev Dr Levee Kadenge
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Farm workers, the wretched of our lot
The Standard, 31 July 2011
My work as a pastor takes me to different parts of the country, marrying, burying and attending to several church meetings. I use these visits to talk to all and sundry who are prepared to share with me. Let me share with you on my latest findings on the farming communities. The lot of those who live and work on farms have become the wretched of our country.
One would hope some of the stories one hears are not true. We recently gave a lift to a woman who was carrying a heavy bag. As I shared with her, she went on to tell my wife and I that on the farm they stay they had not been paid for the last three months. We then asked her why she was then carrying a heavy sack full of groceries. She told us that with her husband they did piece-work on an adjacent farm where they were paid some money to survive on.
A short distance along the way we picked up a pregnant woman carrying a baby. As if what we had been told was not enough, she went on to repeat the same story, that her husband had not been paid for the last three months too.
When we asked the reason, they all said the owner just said, “zvinhu zvakaoma”, (things are difficult). But they went on to say the owner of the farm went to South Africa recently and bought himself a new car.
They have been brought up on farms and they agreed that during the olden days they did not get much but at least they were paid their dues on time. The saddest thing is that when they are finally given money the owner does not pay them for the past unpaid months. This has happened on several occasions. Those who complain are fired.
As we continued with the journey we passed through another farm and our two friends had nothing but praises for the owner of this farm. He paid his workers regularly and they agreed that he was a very kind man. They lamented that he was only one among so many in that area.
When we asked them why people continued to stay on farms yet they were not paid, they responded by saying two things. One, they looked for work elsewhere to make ends meet. The second reason was that they just wanted accommodation and a number would just resort to stealing from the farmer. “Because they do not pay us those who are not afraid among us just steal from the farmer and they survive that way,” responded one woman.
Rev Dr Levee Kadenge
COMMENT
GIVE THE GOOD PASTOR HIS DUE
REGARDLESS of the fact that I am a lamb that is shepherded by the good Dr Rev Levee Kadenge I feel it is time you gave him an article slot in your paper.
I did not study journalism and neither did he (I think) but from a social perspective I enjoy his flexibility and wide range of subjects, which is not dampened by the fact that he is a man of the cloth.
By Impressed
My work as a pastor takes me to different parts of the country, marrying, burying and attending to several church meetings. I use these visits to talk to all and sundry who are prepared to share with me. Let me share with you on my latest findings on the farming communities. The lot of those who live and work on farms have become the wretched of our country.
One would hope some of the stories one hears are not true. We recently gave a lift to a woman who was carrying a heavy bag. As I shared with her, she went on to tell my wife and I that on the farm they stay they had not been paid for the last three months. We then asked her why she was then carrying a heavy sack full of groceries. She told us that with her husband they did piece-work on an adjacent farm where they were paid some money to survive on.
A short distance along the way we picked up a pregnant woman carrying a baby. As if what we had been told was not enough, she went on to repeat the same story, that her husband had not been paid for the last three months too.
When we asked the reason, they all said the owner just said, “zvinhu zvakaoma”, (things are difficult). But they went on to say the owner of the farm went to South Africa recently and bought himself a new car.
They have been brought up on farms and they agreed that during the olden days they did not get much but at least they were paid their dues on time. The saddest thing is that when they are finally given money the owner does not pay them for the past unpaid months. This has happened on several occasions. Those who complain are fired.
As we continued with the journey we passed through another farm and our two friends had nothing but praises for the owner of this farm. He paid his workers regularly and they agreed that he was a very kind man. They lamented that he was only one among so many in that area.
When we asked them why people continued to stay on farms yet they were not paid, they responded by saying two things. One, they looked for work elsewhere to make ends meet. The second reason was that they just wanted accommodation and a number would just resort to stealing from the farmer. “Because they do not pay us those who are not afraid among us just steal from the farmer and they survive that way,” responded one woman.
Rev Dr Levee Kadenge
COMMENT
GIVE THE GOOD PASTOR HIS DUE
REGARDLESS of the fact that I am a lamb that is shepherded by the good Dr Rev Levee Kadenge I feel it is time you gave him an article slot in your paper.
I did not study journalism and neither did he (I think) but from a social perspective I enjoy his flexibility and wide range of subjects, which is not dampened by the fact that he is a man of the cloth.
By Impressed
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