WHEN CUTTING GRASS BECOMES A CRIME IN ZIMBABWE

Zimbabwe is not at peace. Our people are tired. We have lived under ZANU PF rule for 45 long years, and nothing has changed. Every day, life becomes harder. Prices rise, but salaries do not. Hospitals are empty, schools are broken, and families go to bed hungry. Our leaders travel the world, smiling in suits, while the people they rule live in pain and darkness. Instead of solving our problems, this government spends its time arresting those who care enough to act.

Last night, veteran journalist and Masvingo Mirror publisher, Matthew Takaona, was arrested. His crime? Cutting grass. Yes, you read that right. Cutting grass. He was not stealing, not protesting, not breaking any law. He was simply cleaning the roadside near Mushayavanhu Primary School in Gutu, trying to make it safer for children and cars to pass. It was an act of kindness, a community effort. But in Zimbabwe, good deeds now threaten the powerful.

The local ZANU PF councillor, Benson Dandira, felt embarrassed. He did not like that the people were solving problems without his permission. To him, this small act of service made ZANU PF look useless, and he could not allow that. So, he called the police—not ordinary officers, but the Ferret team, a joint force of police and intelligence agents known for hunting political activists and opposition members. Instead of chasing drug dealers or corrupt politicians, they came to arrest a man with a grass cutter. That is how far we have fallen as a nation.

Matthew was taken away like a dangerous criminal. His only weapon was a brush cutter, his only motive was safety. Yet, he was treated as if he had committed treason. The officers tried to find a crime to charge him with but could not. Because there was none. Cutting grass is not a crime. Helping your community is not a crime. So they had to release him.

This incident shows just how broken our system has become. Zimbabwe has turned into a country where doing good without political approval can get you arrested. Where leaders are afraid of citizens who take initiative. Where the ruling party is so insecure that it fears anyone who acts without its blessing. ZANU PF has made fear the law of the land. And yet, it is fear that will one day bring them down.

How can a nation move forward when its people must ask permission to clean a road? How can a country grow when service is seen as rebellion? This is not leadership; it is control. ZANU PF has turned government offices into weapons, using the police and intelligence units to silence ordinary citizens instead of protecting them.

I write this not just as an activist, but as a Zimbabwean who loves his country deeply. We cannot stay silent anymore. Silence has become dangerous. The moment we stop speaking, they win. The moment we stop acting, they destroy what little hope we have left. What happened to Matthew Takaona is a warning to us all—but also a reminder that courage is still alive.

We must continue to help each other, even when they threaten us. We must continue to speak, even when they silence us. The Zimbabwe we dream of will not come from ZANU PF—it will come from the people. It will come from those who are not afraid to pick up a brush cutter and make a difference, even when the police come knocking.

They can arrest us, insult us, and try to break us. But they cannot kill the truth. They cannot stop the people. The grass will grow again—and so will the spirit of freedom.