26 April 2008
column
IT'S supposed to be a weekend to savour -- for Harare anyway -- but not every sector of society is sharing the same "feel-good" sentiments with the capital city, judging by events of the past week.
That is because Highlanders, who faced Sudanese outfit El Merrikh at Gwanzura Stadium yesterday, believe there is a conspiracy against them after being forced to play both their second round matches of the CAF Confederation Cup away from home.
I understand the case has been filed safely away for when the Truth and Retribution Commission starts its work when payback time arrives, which some people believe could be anytime soon.
The Bosso case is tricky -- if not very sensitive -- as all sorts of theories are being advanced to explain why the Bulawayo giants are meekly being led by the leash, with just token resistance if previous outbursts are anything to go by.
One school of thought says Highlanders opted for Harare because of skyrocketing airfares which would have seen them fork out in excess of $450 billion to fly the El Merrikh delegation to Bulawayo and back if the tie had been played at Barbourfields, which the Bulawayo giants could ill afford.
However, some Bosso detractors argue Highlanders would want to avoid playing before their demanding fans, who have not been too impressed by the team's poor form in recent months.
Yet there are others who allege Bosso were forced to play in Harare because of the spin-offs involved.
Some "street-businessmen" are supposed to have made quite some killing by way of hiring out their vehicles to the visitors -- in hard currency -- by the time both the Sudanese and Etoile du Sahel delegations, as well as the two sets of match officials, would have left Harare tomorrow.
Or so was the line of reasoning -- or scheming, rather -- until we came face-to-face with the ghost on Thursday afternoon.
It was quite amusing to realise Zimbabwe has become such a sorry place.
Tunisia's Etoile Sportive du Sahel did not even want to be put on record they had been to Harare following their spirited initial refusal to have their passports marked with our immigration stamp.
Furthermore, the team wants to have as little contact with Zimbabwe as possible, which explains why they would rather stay quietly in their rooms, then travel straight to the match venue, back, and away, without sampling our vast natural resources and the little that is still left of social life in Harare.
Zimbabwean teams travelling outside the country are well known for their shopping sprees and "socialising", but not our guests this particular weekend.
And one could understand the outrage of one particular hotel, but doesn't it happen in life that one hardly "feels" the passing of time and is quite aggrieved to be called an "old man" or "old woman?"
I don't like to think there could have been anything racist about the Etoile du Sahel contingent behaviour, but to visit Zimbabwe at this particular time, given events on the ground and the field day the international media is having capturing the unprecedented happenings in our country, takes a lot of guts.
In fact, I hear there were some concerns within CAF about having any of their matches played in Zimbabwe at this particular time: what guarantee was there they would get their passports back after handing them over to immigration?
This is one place where the bizarre is certainly to be expected, and accepted.
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