There is a Zim On My Stoep.

(From Mmegi / The Reporter (Botswana) - AAGM)

Byline: Gordon Kembley

Some Zimbabweans have been living in my house without my permission, and this week I caught one of them and called in the police. I am still kicking myself for not tying him hand-and-foot to a tree while waiting for the police, who by the way, only arrived after a good one hour and 30 minutes.

I had for sometime suspected that some people were illegally occupying my house at night and I have lost count of the number of times I had been to the Gaborone West Police to report the matter. Every time I was courteously treated by the officers and each time the officers would promise that they would act.

"Act" meant ambushing the illegal occupants in the middle of the night. And ever so trusting the police, I would give them my details and go home. But they never kept their promise. Then two months later, the whole electrical wiring in the house, worth about P10 000, disappeared. It was clear that whoever removed the cables and other gadgets had ample time to do it. I suspect it was the same hoodlums who earlier on stole 50 bags of cement and 10 plumbing copper pipes from my "secure" corrugated sheet storeroom.

No sir, I had a guard who also doubled as my builder. He appears …