Three Men on a Boat 
When Econet was trying to get a licence to operate in Zimbabwe, it was a story about bad vs good, weak vs strong. It fascinated most Zimbabweans because we all wanted the little guy to win, we wanted him to win because most of us at our core are little guys.
On the buses, Kombis and on bread lines people would debate in hushed voices on whether the Econet case like legal experts, and when the drama played out on the evening news it became the topic most debated while people ate sadza remanheru (evening meal). The Econet story was a story that had, a smaller less probable person fighting a much bigger foe.
Most supported Econet because they identified with that man who was striving to succeed. Most people no matter their color , political persausion seemed to look at the Econet case with a sober mind. Everyone knew the right thing that had to be done. There was a sense of unity amongst the people. When Econet was victorous despite a plethora of obstacles we all rejoiced in this victory, for it was a victory we all shared because the little guy had won. We all knew the benefits of having an alternative access to communication.
There were even stories of people paying subscriptions befor the network went live.Those people did so believed in the little guy and trusted him and wanted him to succeed because he was just like us and we all need a helping hand. When they went live we joined the excitment and despite Econet’s initial struggle in providing quality service, we forgave them because we wanted to give them a chance. We revelled in the new things they introduced and we were willing to pay a little extra for them even though we didnt need them at the time. After all this was a little guy doing big things. How could we not support him ?
Fast forward to 2011. The little guy is now a big guy and he gives us a crappy service just like the other two guys we didnt care for. In fact the behaviour of this once little guy is no different from all big guys. There is a sense of being taken for granted because of our desperation and lack of good alternatives . But whats new? Such is the behaviour of most humans.
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