Africa-Press – Lesotho. Muckraker could just frown Majoro General Ramanka Mokaloba told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that Basotho soldiers deployed in Mozambique are starving and feel neglected.
Mokaloba moaned about the lack of nutritious rations. This was old news but the politicians pretended to be shocked as if this was a major revelation.
‘Mamarame Matela, that irritable and garrulous sister who wanted all of us to register our Facebook and WhatsApp accounts, chimed in with some silly dietary advice to the effect that feeding soldiers phuzamandla was “cruel and selfish”.
Hear, hear, hear! Notice her outrageous choice of words: cruel and selfish. You would think phuzamandla is some toxic food that makes the soldiers have running tummies.
Someone should have told her that phuzamandla has always been the army’s food of choice on patrols. A good life or some spirit must have caused her memory loss because nearly everyone above 30 in Lesotho was raised on phuzamandla.
Our fathers, uncles and brothers working in South African mines would bring it in buckets. To say phuzamandla is “cruel and selfish” is an insult to those men and their wives who would recite their praise poems for that energy-giving meal.
Matela knows this because her little tummy (she was once a little girl) was always excited to receive that porridge, either at her house or her neighbour’s.
Muckraker knows dozens of patrolling soldiers who earned the mokhoenyana title in villages after generously sharing their phuzamandla with potential in-laws.
That powder is liable for some marriages. Matela knows there is nothing inferior about phuzamandla. It’s the high-energy food most practical for soldiers because it doesn’t rot fast and is easy to prepare.
Matela should just admit that she now thinks phuzamandla is mediocre because she is now too special for it and she can afford to pamper herself with some a la carte.
Either that or she was just trying to show off after earning by the wheelbarrow at the Lesotho Communications Authority. She is the nauseatingly privileged but ill-informed kind that thinks mabele are inferior to refined White Star phoofo.
Instead of crying about what soldiers are being fed, Matela should take time to check the rubbish that our primary school students are being fed under the government’s school feeding programme.
Those children are the future of this country but they are being fed tosh. Matela should also see what poor families in Lesotho are eating. Those families and primary students will take phuzamandla anytime.
But don’t expect Matela to see this anytime soon. She doesn’t have a constituency and doesn’t have to worry about speaking so forcefully about feeding soldiers when voters are starving.
Remember she entered parliament through air vents. That is why she cries for soldiers when the masses are suffering. In any case, what is the big deal about soldiers in a war zone not having enough to eat? It’s a war, not a vacation.
After all, soldiers are trained specifically to prepare them to deal with hunger and pain. Yes, soldiers should be well fed but there is no reason to shed crimson tears when they are not getting enough to fill their tummies.
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
