Mr Mnangagwa, take time to listen

TO you our Head of State Emmerson Mnangagwa, whether by design or default, I guess it's mandatory that we, as citizens of the land, address you as our beloved President.

With that as a show of respect I, however, do not know if by all means, it is within my reach to bother you with some "silly" questions, especially when you are being bothered by quite a number of expectations, most of which have remained unresolved since you came into office.

As a son of the republic, the schools that your country built, taught me that "a man is what he reads", so I equally want to know what you read.

I, therefore, ask if you ever set eyes during your youthful on the books that  I have read? I want to know the books that you have read; books that make one grow to hold the highest office in his motherland.

With that, maybe one day I will grow and become what I was forbidden to ever dream of; to be Mr President. What authors inform your leadership; Paulo Freire, Noam Chomsky, Peter Drucker, Ken Mufuka or none of the above?

Mr President, I ask if you have the time to read the books that come from all the corners of the world? Not only the world, but also from the country that you lead.

Mr President, are you by any means satisfied by what you see in books from your motherland; the quality, the content, the detachment and the cry?

After you read Mushava's Survivor's Cafe, if you ever did, did you witness how cornered citizens were?

And beyond the content, Mr President, have you also noticed that these books from our motherland are of poor production quality; that they cannot compare with those from neighbouring countries?

In some earlier days during the pre and post-independent Zimbabwe, my Excellency, I notice that there was an overflow of Zimbabwean literature, both in vernacular and in foreign lingua, but today that is no more.

What are you going to do about all this? I also hear that writers long for a conversation with their own man, you my esteemed President.

They say they want to cry aloud, straight into your ears and persuade you to allocate a ministry to one of their own, where issues about their welfare would be a priority.

Today, your citizens have a new curriculum, my dear President, and that means we need more textbooks for our children and dependents like never before.

Mr President, do you by any chance recognise that a complete set of a secondary schoolchildren's uniform gobbles all of my salary and that your cushion fund can hardly purchase two textbooks?

Your Excellency, this situation is not something that is beyond the reach of a solution. There is a loud cry from publishers who wish there was no value added tax and duty allotted to the book.

I wonder if all these matters do alarm you. In your reading of books like Animal Farm, do you still remember how Mr Jones got toppled from power by his own subjects? Is it the same trap that we will find ourselves in?

I know very well, Mr President, that you were present at the funeral of the late great musical legend, Oliver Mtukudzi, and witnessed how all the mourning did not translate to material gain for the legend's family.

I remember how Michael Jackson's funeral racked in millions of dollars and I've an answer that makes up for the difference.

In Jackson's case, he benefited from a well put system that discourages piracy; a situation that Zimbabwe has failed to create and to that end, has undermined all of us in the arts industry.

The answer, however, lies in the nauseating word: Piracy. I hear this issue of piracy is a baby that was nurtured by some of your own. Whoever the perpetrator is, may the long hands of thy law catch up with them. If not, dear Mr President, writers may die without tasting the fruits of their energy.

Could you also, Mr President, join them and be a writer for we await your memoir; something that tells us of your journey so far.

I hope, Mr President; that you will unravel all that bothers you day and night long. By your privilege, we will be able to get clarity on the fuel cartels, Gukurahundi, the economic saboteurs, the mystery of the bond note and the days of our former President.

With all my bothering you, Your Excellency Mr President, I thank you for your time. I hope the reply is on its way and will change our fate.

 It might not come in words, but action would still be alright.