eDIToRS CoMMeNT
BY aNDY FeNWICK
As I write this, it’s nearing four o-clock in the afternoon. A massive storm is brewing over
Harare’s skyline - a brooding, dark, moisture-laden mass of leaden cloud enshrouds the
landscape. Little compares with the awesome power and spectacle of a good old-fashioned
southern African thunderstorm.
W
e have witnessed this build-up
every afternoon for several
weeks now - but there has
been very little, if any, rainfall. But today
it is different. You can sense it in the air.
The atmosphere is electric, and there is a
steady, strong breeze kicking up the dust
and leaves of a hot and dry November.
Today it will rain. My anticipation is
further bolstered by a long, rolling rumble
of thunder. It rattles the windows.
The experts reckon that all the
elements are in place for an ‘El-Nino’
event - basically a change in the earth’s
ocean currents. In layman’s terms, we are
heading for a drought. I certainly pray that
they are wrong.
However, if reports coming in from
friends in Lusaka, Zambia are anything
to go by, they have had non-stop rain for
the past week. The ITCZ (Inter Tropical
Convergence Zone) - the weather pattern
that produces central Africa’s seasonal
rainfall cycle - by all accounts is