WHEN harvesting is completed in many parts of rural Zimbabwe, there are many rituals that take place. Villagers hold night vigils, sing and dance, but more importantly for those who love blood sports, it marks the beginning of the hunting season. Zimbabwe has mostly savanna woodlands, a lot of drying rivulets and generally people start controlled veld-fires as they prepare for the new season. The grass would be dry and brittle and small thickets would be leafless, creating a perfect setting to see wild game and less cover if preyed by hounds. In many villages, young boys form hunting groups — bring their hounds together and work as teams. Some boys have hounds, but no experience in reading game spoors. So, they rely on others who can track or who can make a perfect shot with a bow and arrow. The success of each hunting party is determined by the expertise assembled in the group, the fight in their dogs and more importantly some loose, but clearly defined roles each play and possibly what share they will get. Many a time, the hounds have to familiarise themselves with each other before the hunt starts. In some occasions they fight, testing each other with lots of growling and squealing to settle their own pecking order. Frequently, the hunters have to separate them and keep a close watch, but not before the natural order has been established. As the hunt progresses, the hunters have control over their hounds most of the time until a scent of the quarry is picked or worse still when the hounds smell blood and they become wild, uncontrollable and in the chaos that ensues, it’s the size of the fight in the dogs that determines the result. Many an experienced hunter is aware of the danger posed by prey such as warthogs. In a fight for survival, the warthog does everything to fight back using its pointed incisors to maximum damage, sometimes causing mortal wounds to one or two animals. That is expected and that is what real hunting is about — this is different from hunting defenceless rabbits or bucks or gazelles. Zimbabwe is set for one of the longest winters of discontent. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a perfect storm. Citizens have been under lockdown for more than three months now, some have lost their livelihoods and some even their hope, evoking the biblical scenario of the lepers who said “if we don’t get into the city we will die of hunger and if we stay, we will still die”. This is sad, but that is the reality Zimbabwe finds herself in. Many have lost their jobs. Some vendors will never reopen post COVID-19 and the economy has dollarised while salaries have remained stagnant and in local currency that is losing value against the greenback daily. Added to this is public sector corruption involving the political elites at the expense of the poor. A perfect recipe for anarchy. The main opposition has been unsure about organising protests and has relied and supported civil servants’ wildcat strikes. And enters Jacob Ngarivhume on the scene. Ngarivhume, the leader of Transform Zimbabwe, has called for #July31 prote