"Fadza Customer Above: Mandishona (2nd from left) and son Tererai (12) selling a bagful of mealie-cobs to a customer at Oxord yesterday 

David Mwanaka, the London farmer we recently reported as pioneering growing of white maize in the UK, has got some competition.

Make way for Bernhard Mandishona-Svosve who has started flogging his first crop of mealie-cobs at any Zimbabwean gathering he can find in the UK.

Mandishona goes to church-gatherings, weddings club meetings or any gathering which brings together Zimbabweans whose appetite for the cobs is well known.

Like most Zimbabwean he grew up on subsistence farming, but he says his family was particularly successful at it.

So when he had to think of a sideline besides his Monday to Friday job in the UK, farming came to mind, but without land, he thought he might not be able to do it.

But soon enough he discovered he could lease land, then he had to start worrying about what varieties of maize he could grow in the British climate.

Without wanting to divulge too much he said the variety produces smaller grains but it can rippen to a "good solid cob which you can cook and enjoy."

BUDIRIRO - Residents here today expressed their anger at the commission running the City of Harare and took to the streets armed with bucketfuls of raw sewerage and litter which they poured at the District Office.

Police in the area were caught unawares and failed to stop the angry residents numbering about 200 who demanded the immediate holding of elections, the quick repair of burst sewer and pipes, and the regular collection of refuse.

The demonstration, dubbed Save Budiriro, Let the D.O. Taste It, started at Budiriro One Shopping Centre. The demonstrators went around the shopping centre carrying their buckets full of sewer and held up placards denouncing the commission running the affairs of Harare.

Some of the placards read: Repair Burst Sewer Pipes, We Want Elections Now! And Let the District Officer Taste It while others demanded the immediate sacking of the Sekesai Makwavarara-led commission.

When the residents got to the Budiriro District Office, they littered the place with the garbage and the raw sewerage and left dozens of fliers that read: "As residents we are disgusted by the continued presence of raw sewage in our community as a result of a non-functional sewerage system. It is a health hazard which cannot be allowed to continue.

"We therefore as ratepayers demand v (very) immediate repair of burst sewage pipes, v immediate cleaning and collection of refuse, v immediate provision of rubbish bins at each household, v regular collection of refuse bins. Our children cannot continue to swim in and to drink raw sewerage. Let the District Officer taste it."

The demonstrators chanted, shouted and sang revolutionary songs denouncing Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and his puppet commission running the affairs of Harare.
Harare commissioners are Professor Jameson Kurasha, Sekesai Makwavarara, Tendai Savanhu, a Zanu PF central Committee member, Prisca Mupfumira, Zanu PF Central Committee member, Musavaya Reza, the Provincial Administrator, Engineer Noel Muzuva, and Richard Mahachi.