There is very little space to move around and the air is filled with the hazy mist of cigarette smoke.
Batanai Mutasa OWN CORRESPONDENT
It’s only 6pm, but there is an ambience of drunkenness and loud music coupled with equally loud voices. The bar has not much distinction between a sports bar, night club or beer hall.
Patrons are dressed in very colourful attire, creative and in some cases scanty, but what draws the most attention is the age of the patrons at Café Baku.
Southern Eye visited the café to investigate complaints by people in Bulawayo that the bar accepts school going children who get excessively drunk and rowdy, a signal of substance abuse, as their customers.
Teenage- looking boys and girls are seated or standing in groups openly enjoying large glasses of draught beer, tots and assorted pints while sharing cigarettes and dancing to the music.
There are two men stationed at the door monitoring people entering, but none of them is checking identification cards — they seem more interested in forbidding hats and hoods.
The Liquor Act prohibits the sale of alcohol and cigarettes to minors under the age of 18 years, but the bar counter is crowded with youthful faces, customers who want to buy alcohol – again the bar attendants quietly accept money and take orders without questioning anyone.
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As the night wears on, the crowd becomes dense by the minute overspilling to the fenced backyard which faces the Bulawayo Centre.
One inebriated boy jumps onto an elevated palm tree stand and refuses to heed warning for him not to stand there from a male waiter.
The guard at the bar goes to intervene, an issue which irks the boy who starts hurling insults and threats at the two bar employees.
“You can’t do anything to me because I am very skilful, I know karate and can demolish you,” the boy threatens.
His friends sense danger and persuade him to understand, but he jumps down, landing on his back before catapulting himself up into a combat position.
Luckily the situation is rescued when his peers escort him out. Information gathered by Southern Eye suggests that such incidents are common in this bar and they unfortunately escalate into fights between patrons.
Zimbabwe United Nations Association Youth president Mcleo Mapfumo recently said about 65% of Zimbabwean youths suffer from mental problems due to drug and substance abuse and unemployment.
The law attempts to protect youths from the effects of teenage drinking and there is a need for work for law enforcers to block their access to harmful substances.
However, Café Baku manager Shadreck Mukaha denied allegations that they allow minors to the bar blaming competitors for engineering the allegations.
“You can check yourself, we follow strict policies to the book and as you can see there is a sign stating the age limit and we follow that,” Mukaha said.
“We have bouncers who check for everything from dress code to identity cards and they have 100% control so even if a person gets too drunk we don’t sell them beer but evict them.”
But, Tamsanqa Mdlongwa refused to accept the explanation saying the bouncers sometimes chased away younger boys, but always accepted girls because they attracted crowds.
“Come here on Saturday and you will see what I’m talking about. This is now the drinking high school where young people learn to drink. There are many fights here because this bar accepts immature people,” he added.
Another patron, Vusi Moyo, said the young people were usually found in the bars during holidays and blamed boarders who he said had the money to buy beer.
“I myself have had enough and I am seriously considering changing bars. Some of the children who come here are too big for their shoes and will torment us as long as they are out of their nest,” Moyo said.
Moyo, however, noted that this also happened in other drinking places, but Café Baku had more young customers because it had favourable prices and was situated at the trendiest mall in the city.
