HARARE – A sweet doughy treat from Britain has become a beloved part of Zimbabwe’s national cuisine, where despite the country’s colonial past, mothers and chefs alike now claim the pastry as their own.

The scone, which Brits normally enjoy with afternoon tea, is ubiquitous in Harare, the southern African country’s capital.

A breakfast favourite in these parts, it can be found everywhere from high-end eateries to the market stalls of impoverished townships.

“We love scones. They are not British, they are ours, our local scones,” Nyari Mashayamombe, a rights activist, says as she leaves an upmarket restaurant in Harare’s Belgravia district, its garden dotted with open umbrellas

Dense yet airy, Zimbabwean scones are the result of the intercultural mix that came with colonisation, says Mashayamombe, a red-haired 42-year-old who is also a singer and media personality.

In “fancy places like here… a beautiful scone goes as high as six bucks,” she said, referring to the American dollars that have become Zimbabwe’s parallel and preferred currency.

“It’s worth it.”

A few kilometres away at a market in Harare’s oldest township of Mbare, scones are impossible to find after midday.

“We sold them all this morning. They move quickly,” one vendor says.

The main communal bakery in Mbare, a bustling working-class district, opens at dawn.

Tawanda Mutyakureva, 26, arrives at around five in the morning to his work station, measuring two square metres, where he has to bend over to spread the dough on a knee-height countertop.

Every day he cranks out around 200 scones in an overheated room with cinder-block walls, lit by two bulbs hanging from a wire.

Brandishing a cookie cutter, he works quickly to whip out one batch after another, with each scone selling for 25 American cents.

In the hot, humid atmosphere redolent of yeast, his wife – with their baby strapped to her back – helps him with buttering the pastries and clearing plates.

Resellers come in to buy 10 or 20 pieces that will be sold at small grocery stores.

Memory Mutero, 46, was at the bakery to buy bread, since she makes her own scones at home.

“I make scones for my three kids. It takes about 45 minutes,” she tells AFP.

Her ingredients are simple: flour, salt, yeast, sugar, butter and milk.

But at the Bottom Drawer, an upscale tearoom in Harare, cook Veronica Makonese is unimpressed after tasting a scone brought back from the township.

“There is no milk in those, they used water!” the 46-year-old claims.

A white kerchief on her head, Makonese says she makes her own buttermilk for her scones, to control temperature and acidity levels, and uses only real butter to ensure the proper taste and softness.

Her boss, Sarah Macmillan, a 53-year-old Zimbabwean, says she longs for the scones she would eat as a child.

Back then, two shops in the centre of Harare, now closed, competed for the crown of best scone in the country, and Macmillan wanted her tearoom to make some that are “just as good”.

Macmillan says the secret of the little cake’s enduring success, in a country struggling with endemic poverty, is simple: “It’s very filling and affordable.” – AFP

BY LWANDLE MTHUNZI 

Victoria Falls based poet Obert Dube has left the country to Tanzania where he is set to perform at the Sauti za Busara Festival in Zanzibar.

The event is set for this Friday until Sunday.

Dube said he was invited to officiate as a master of ceremony at the opening session where he will also perform some of his poems.

“I was invited to the Sauti za Busara Music Festival from 10 to 12 February in Zanzibar and as we speak I am at the airport in Harare,” he said.

Dube had approached different stakeholders including the Victora Falls City Council seeking to be assisted with travel expenses.

The local authority management and councillors agreed to help him with half the money he was requesting and to make the artist the city’s ambassador.

“I propose that he be given US$380, but he should be told that he is now our ambassador so he should lead by example,” said Deputy Mayor councillor Patricia Mwale.

The council said Dube should be asked if he is up to date in terms of payment of his water bills and rates before being given the money.

Councillors said as an ambassador, Dube should stop attacking the local authority and other residents.

“When you give him the money, remind him to mind his language about the council. He should improve on public relations,” saif councillor Thuso Moyo.

They were speaking at a recent full council meeting.

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

A Nkayi man has set himself on a mission to revive the Ndebele language through storytelling which has seen one of his novels being selected as Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (Zimsec) setbooks. 

Born in 1982, Zibusiso Lima says he developed passion for story telling while doing his education at Dimpamiwa Primary School and Hlangabeza High School in Nkayi, Matabeleland North Province where he used to score good marks in fiction writing.

He says he began exploring his talent in 1998 when he was doing his form three. 

“I am a writer who aims to revive the Ndebele language,”Lima said in an interview with VicFallsLive 

“I write fiction  based on what’s happening  in the world around us today. 

“I used to score good marks in Ndebele compositions so this coupled with my passion for reading Ndebele novels by the time, compelled me to explore more about this industry.”

Lima recently published his first book titled, ‘Kodwa mama!’ being recognised by the Zimsec as a literature prose set book for November 2024 to November 2026.

“Other than Kodwa mama!, I have co-authored anthologies of poetry titled Sigiya ngolwethu, Izwi lezimbongi and short stories titled Izigigaba zakwaNdongaziyaduma,” Lima revealed. 

Lima says he drew his  inspiration from the late veteran author Ndabezinhle S. Sigogo and before his passing, he encouraged him to do more in preserving the Ndebele language. 

” I vividly remember the day I met him at his Tshabalala home in Bulawayo, he encouraged me to do more,” Lima said. 

“Ngiyajabula ukubona intsha isukuma iqedisa umsebenzi esawuqalayo. Ibambeni kanjalo, kithi selingomtsha wendoda. (I am happy to see the younger generation taking up what we started, even if our time is up, it is up to you to you continue with the work) those were his last  his words.”

Kodwa mama! brings a lesson about faithfulness and honesty, particularly required of women to their partners to avoid broken marriages. 

Lima says through his works, his wish is to inspire youths to utilize their  their leasure time doing something that is productive.

“For a living, I am employed by one of the companies in South Africa and doing most of my writing during my spare time,”

“Driven by the passion to revive our indigenous languages, it is my major aim to see more upcoming authors being assisted in realising their dream. In this regard i desire to own a publishing house which will play a major role in realising this dream.” 

Lima’s book will soon be found in Bulawayo and those intending to place orders can reach him on email at zibusisolima7@gmail.com and through phone on +263 77 685 3163/ +263713736072 for calls and +27731268684 for WhatsApp.