We Need Some Psychiatric Therapy – Biti

via We Need Some Psychiatric Therapy:Biti | The Zimbabwe Mirror By Tendai Biti MP

Wananchi , It appears that the surreal has a natural affinity to Zimbabwe.

It does not matter whether its a super rigged election,a recycled cabinet ,witches caught in Budiriro, diesel that oozes from rocks , the slashing of rates and water bills,churches that get hijacked by bandits or drama in local authority elections.

There is always drama,an overload of it.Things do not happen in half measures.There is always the measure of exaggeration,of excess ,of drama and of the surreal.

A bit like Oscar Wilde s Dorian Gray,maybe The Great Gatsby.

I would say much much more like Shimmer Chinodya s Chairman of Fools.

This is a book about uncertainty and restlessness.A very educated but very alienated man ,based in a diaspora,which could be metaphorical ,who must find reconciliation with his surrounding.

So there is religion,binge drinking and eventually break down and incarceration in a mental institute .

There he is elected by the mentally challenged inmates as their chairman.Of course all the drama of these institutions is captured.Surreal happenings which can not be taken seriously.

We are clearly a restless nation,uncertain ,and chaotic .We are into the church,but many have also sunk into alcoholism and all kinds of vice.

But most importantly we are big fools .Don’t you sometimes wake up and really feel ,that empty feeling of nothingness.The absence of a center of gravity.

The teal feeling that we are idiots.And like Shimmer s fools we also elect a chairman.

Think of Comrade Chinotimba in parliament for instance,or comrade Mavhaire as Minister of Energy.

Speaking about parliament think of 280 men and women squashed in this little old colonial chamber that was originally designed to carry 80 people ,pretending to represent the people s will,making speeches no one listens too,making laws no one respects.

What a shame.

Our mad world is captured most dramatically by this thing called the Ministry of Psychomotor Monitoring .

Now if you needed any proof beyond reasonable doubt that we are a nation of idiots ,therein lies it.Quad Erranta Demonstratum.(QED)

Quite honestly to have a full ministry ,with a permanent secretary ,directors and senior management ,and then call it the Psycho motor ministry ,is sclerotic.

Indeed an absurd theatre of the absurd.Pretty much reminds of Petinah s stories in Elegy to Easterly.

Remember the one about the MDC.Not that MDC ,but the Mupandawana Dancing Champion.

A day is a very long period in Zimbabwe .There is always drama unfolding quietly or viciously .

There is always a tale to be told.There is always mirth ,myths ,satire and cynisms.

Just know how to scan it ,analyze it and decimate the same.

So today the big story was that of diamonds and US $ 6 million dollars.

I would like to say ,this is what we have been saying for years,or that this is just a tip of the ice berg.But I won’t state it today.

I am just concerned about the mental landscape of a nation.

The whole story reads like a poorly written novel.But the plot and sub plot are unambiguous and need no unpacking.

It’s story of brazen arrogant looting.But it’s a story with many characters and many extras,depicting the moral hubris of a nation .

I took my family to a healing dinner one night so soon after the election.When we came out of the particular Chinese restaurant a man was squatting in front of our car relieving himself.

We suffocated in disgust but the comrade remained unfazed and did not run away.When he was through he quietly raised up his trousers ,to cover his unclean bum and walked away ,whistling as if he was coming from a synagogue.

So that is the state of our beautiful country .

We need to return to legitimacy ,have sustainable elections and reconstruction of our economy and moral rearmament .Well and good.

Above all I suspect ,we need some psychiatric therapy.

We can only take so much.After all we are just tiny fragile human beings.

Zikomo.