CUTTING GRASS IS NOW A CRIME IN ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe is not okay. Our people are tired. We are hungry, angry, and losing hope. We have been under the same ZANU PF government for 45 years. In all that time, nothing has changed. In fact, things are getting worse. Prices go up every week. Salaries stay the same. Hospitals have no medicine. Schools are broken. Life is hard. Very hard.

But instead of fixing these problems, the government is busy chasing and arresting people who are trying to help.

Last night, veteran journalist and now Masvingo Mirror publisher, Matthew Takaona, was arrested. What did he do? He cut grass. Yes, grass. He was working with other people in Gutu, near Mushayavanhu Primary School. The road there was overgrown. Children walk there. It was not safe. Many people had spoken about it before. But nothing was done by the government.

So Matthew and the local people decided to help. They cleared the grass to make the road safer. This was a good thing. It was a kind thing. It was for the children. But that upset ZANU PF councillor Benson Dandira. Why? Because they did not ask him for permission. Because it made him look like he was doing nothing. Because it showed that people can help themselves without ZANU PF.

So what did he do? He called the police. Not just any police. He called the Ferret team. This is a group of police and intelligence officers who normally go after dangerous criminals. They came to arrest a man for cutting grass. This is how low Zimbabwe has gone.

Matthew Takaona was taken away like a criminal. He was treated like a threat. But there was no crime. The police could not find anything wrong. Because there was nothing wrong. Helping your community is not a crime. So they let him go. But the damage was done.

This is the Zimbabwe we live in now. If you clean a road, they call it rebellion. If you speak out, they call you an enemy. ZANU PF is afraid of its own people. That is why I continue to speak. That is why I write. That is why I will not keep quiet. Silence will not save us.

How can we live in a country where you need political permission to cut grass? How can we grow when we are punished for doing good? How can we feel safe when helping others brings police to your door?

ZANU PF has turned the government into a weapon. A weapon against the people. If you are not one of them, you are seen as a problem—even when you are doing the right thing.

I write these words not just for myself. I write for all Zimbabweans. You are not alone. Many of us are tired. Many of us want change. And that change will not come from fear. It will come from action. From courage. From small acts of kindness—even when they try to stop us.

What happened to Matthew Takaona is not just about him. It is about all of us. It shows how broken this system is. But we will not stop. We will continue. We will do the work. We will speak the truth. We will cut the grass if we have to. And we will not be afraid.

ZANU PF can arrest us. They can scare us. But they cannot stop the truth. They cannot stop the people. The grass will grow again. And so will our hope. So will our courage. So will our freedom.