death by diamonds

From where I am (by the bananas), the noise from the street is deafening. Trucks race up and down the high street -- 10 of them, or is it 20? Youths hang out of the windows, shouting and gesticulating.

Shoppers move cautiously to the open front of the store to watch. Pedestrians stop. I wonder whose demonstration it is. Probably ZANU-PF. MDC marches are rarely allowed. Maybe this is something to do with indigenisation? I look for flags, banners -- anything that'll provide some sort of a clue. The BEE minister has been upping the I'll-grab-your-firm rhetoric recently, even taking on the (also ZANU-PF) central bank chief who's warned against his use of "verbal gunpowder." I know of at least one white businessman who skedaddled down South for an extended 'holiday' after ruling party stalwarts tried to test his 'patriotism' by ordering he attend -and contribute to - local celebrations to mark Heroes Day.

No-one in the store knows what the demo's for. I forget about it until I see this week's paper.

The demo is actually a funeral procession for a local diamond dealer named Bothy. A former street-kid, according to the lengthy obit (diamond dealers get star treatment here from the local press) who used to sleep in cardboard boxes, Bothy (/ie) was killed in a car crash (aren't they all?) and died at the local private clinic. "Police were just overwhelmed by the event," said the Manica Post. The rumour is that he'd duped gwejas (diggers) of their gems. The crash was his reward.