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By Lovemore Chazingwa
In the month that we celebrate our heroes and heroines as a country, there stands out one living fire-fighter hero whom we very much celebrated at the beginning end of last year but whose reverence is fast fizzling into thin air.
When a Beta Bus collided with a Pandela Fuel tanker and caught fire on December 23 last year, Kadoma bred Sirizani Butau reacted with an unimaginable movie-style bravado to save the lives of a fellow tanker driver and eight bus passengers who could have lost their lives in the inferno.
Butau is a professional haulage truck driver who was traveling on duty. His duty-tied colleague, Rufu Zambezi was also trapped in the dreaded situation.
The brave heart instinctively swung into the thick of things and managed to miraculously rescue those other eight passengers from the burning Beta bus, beyond the imagination of all and sundry.
In no time, social media platforms started splashing news about his exploits. The mainstream media were not outdone, running instant stories on Butau who earned the moniker Spiderman due to his bloodcurdling exploits.
Front page images of the man and a burning image background stole the show for weeks inside the landlocked nation and beyond. The news got as far afield as the UK with plaudits pouring in for the hero of the festive season.
Diasporans and locals pledged with a sizable number walking the talk on those pledges by delivering tokens of appreciation in various forms.
Butau grabbed the attention of the general public, socialites, politicians, and corporates alike. Media personnel rode the tide.
Firebrand socialites, Mai Titi and Madam Boss took selfies that they used to send sympathy messages to the world on his exploits which simultaneously pushed their respective public stokes northwards.
Politicians, right up to the esteemed ilk of HE President Emmerson Mnangagwa acknowledged the display that deserves homage for the lad.
Local and national influential figures flocked to Spiderman at Queen Mary Private Hospital, which offered him free medication, to pay respect and deliver tangibles.
Radio presenter Tilda Moyo travelled to Kadoma for a program recording with the man of the moment, then. She was in the company of a real estate company official who brought groceries. The real estate company’s public relations manager claimed his employer to have donated a housing stand in Kadoma for the man who sacrificed his life and limb to save others.
The city of Kadoma community, under the auspices of The Star Bar, organized a highly subscribed tribute session in dedication to Butau at its pimped-up venue.
At least funds were raised from the tribute event, let alone electronic money transfers that were directly sent through to Butau’s personal money transfer agent, Ecocash number.
Luminaries in the city heaped praise on “Spiderman.”
“I dare not speak on behalf of the City but, my opinion is he is brave and selfless. He did not think of himself and the danger he was getting into but, focused on saving lives. Very few people around the world can sacrifice their lives for strangers. We need to recognize him not only for what he has done but, also as a way of inculcating such selflessness in the young Zimbabweans in this increasingly selfish environment,” commented Faustina Zhou, a City of Kadoma finance director.
Sadly, since that fateful day moving onto consequent acknowledgments, the euphoria around his name has taken a disparaging downward spin.
The socialites, corporates, and politicians who rode his shoulders have retreated to their shells. It now seems their clarion calls on the exploits were for personal mileage.
They all no longer speak of him even at the most opportune moments like Heroes and Defence Forces Holidays commemorated annually in the month of August in Zimbabwe.
However, the man remains hopeful at the same time capricious.
“I’m recovering brother. I’m only waiting for some things that were promised to be delivered before l grant an interview. Wait for a little so that I can follow what happens,” said a disinterested Butau.
Asked about his condition, the brave bundle said his leg is still in pain. He cannot stand on his own for long periods. A look at his leg shows an abnormally pale shade from flaking skin starting at the ankle to the knee area.
Siri, as he is affectionately known in the City of Gold, said he usually spends time at home. When he travels out, he opened up, and most of the time he sits in his grey sedan vehicle.
It’s eight months into the year since the man was first celebrated all over for bravery. That reverence is only turning out to be a farce. A springboard to the promised land for some and a chance to rant mere rhetoric for others.
A casual discussion during a May 31 journalists training workshop enquired on the fate of the son of the soil.
“What has happened to that guy from this city who, we understand, was brave enough to save those nine lives during that infamous Christmas Pass road accident in Mutare last year,” one curious journalist asked, to no concrete response.
Next month clocks nine months since the breathtaking life-saving plunge. Add eight trapped passengers and a stranded driver and you get the total number of nine lives saved.
We may be in the dark on the current status quo of those saved but, remain alive to the fact that Siri saved at least a life that was under threat to suffer excruciating injury or consequent death.
To utter public disgust and condemnation, the Passenger Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) roundly played down Spiderman’s reverence.
“Sirizani Butau is not a hero in Beta Bus and Pandela fuel tanker collision, Matongo Farm community are heroes,” said an update by Tafadzwa Goliati co-ordinated PAZ a few weeks after the incident.