Zimbabweans are turning to humor as a form of solace in the face of a collapsing economy as the value of their currency drops daily. After all, the best medicine is a good chuckle.
Government employees’ pay soared by 300% this week, with a health worker earning ZW$1,000,000 (about R2,000).
When some of them went shopping, they were shocked to discover a pack of four toilet paper rolls priced at ZW$137 000. A health professional might therefore afford to purchase around seven packs of tissues.
Pick n Pay was given the nickname “Pick n Cry” after the outrageous pricing increases in a cartoon that was posted online on ZimDaily. The native currency has lost 80% of its worth since January.
“Once a millionaire, always a millionaire,” declared Simba Zinyengere in reference to the 2008 financial crisis and the present economic downturn.
Not shoot the messenger in this situation, the security business Fawcett advised its clients in a note sent earlier this month notifying them of price increases. We did not create this.
Two weeks later, Fawcett noted: “Back to the same old.”
“Here we are again, sinking deeper and deeper into this economic quagmire. It seems like we have turned the clock back.
“What you now spend on a large trolley of supermarket goods would have purchased 100 brand-new half-ton pickup trucks seven years ago. It is truly beyond understanding,” wrote Andy Laing, the company’s managing director. A Fawcett client who shared the letters saying he found their tone hilarious.
Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore Jonasi, who has performed at the Apollo Theatre in New York, was sure to seize every chance to make his countrymen laugh.
In one of his skits, he advertises a bank he calls “Mattress Bank Limited” that will help you “sleep like a baby knowing your money is safe and sound”
The joke is based on rising inflation rates and worries that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will raid accounts to withdraw foreign currency after the national clearing house cut daily withdrawal restrictions from R20,000 (US$1,000) in half.
“Don’t make inflation and corruption keep you awake at night. Trust Mattress Bank,” he said in jest. Mattress Bank refers to one keeping their money at home under a bed. Political commentator Professor Alexander Rusero said the jokes were a coping mechanism for Zimbabweans.
“Jokes are an escape route to the imagined fantasy, a way of easing pain and relief. For a people undergoing pain induced by a veritable economic meltdown manifesting through the havoc of the erosion of the Zimbabwean currency, there is this inexplicable pain which requires no sedatives like painkillers but laughter,” he said.
“Jokes and laughter in Zimbabwe are both a symptom of an upside down society and a cure to the same.”
This week, 145-pound soldier Arnold Zikhali, 35, piqued the interest of Zimbabweans by claiming to be the nation’s strongest man after pulling a 56-ton train for 100 metres.
His purported eating habits are what really got folks talking. According to him, his regular breakfast consists of 30 eggs (15 fried and 15 boiled), two breads, one litre of juice, bacon, beans, polony, and two litres of water.
He asserted that he consumed 2 kg of sadza (porridge), 2 kg of veggies, 3 l of fermented milk, 1 l of juice, and 2 l of water for lunch. 2 kilogrammes of rice, 2 kg of chicken, beans, 1 litre of juice, 3 litres of fermented milk, 2 litres of water, and several other foods make up his dinner.
He added that he also enjoys a massive midnight snack.
People questioned how a soldier on a pay could buy the quantity of food he detailed. To support his assertion on Tuesday, Zikhali would later consume lunch in real time on camera, but he had trouble finishing it.
Since then, he has been the target of jokes about the economy and his employment.
“Whatever you do, don’t vote for Zikhali. His diet is more expensive than what a politician can steal in a day,” joked Ntando Ncube, a local comedian.
Prior to the election, all of the Zanu PF candidates agreed that the economy was their main obstacle during a training session last week.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa attacked the opposition and foreign countries in his speech for the situation on the ground, saying they sought to depose Zanu PF. Not in jest, he said.
