One says he constantly talks to the cash machine he guards – never mind that it can´t answer back. Another whiles away the time by staring at pictures of semi-nude women on the walls of a closed nightclub as he waits for rats and cats to come out and entertain him. Security guards in Zimbabwe, often a derided and underpaid lot, are counting themselves as some of the few lucky ones to still hold jobs in a country where most economic activity has been shut down by a lockdown that started in March. But many say they are now fearing for their mental stability, as the loneliness that comes with guarding empty, eerily quiet building complexes is taking its toll. By 6 p.m., the time Patrick Runde starts his night shift, Harare is almost deserted and for the next 12 hours he has no-one to talk to. In the past he would count on the nightclub’s loud music and noisy patrons for company, but now it is closed. “The cats and rats are coming out more than before to search the empty bins for food. They have become my friends who keep me company at night,” he said. “This is one of the loneliest jobs in the world,” said Patson Chimire, a guard at a shopping complex on the outskirts of the capital city. “We hardly hear any sounds of either traffic or some music coming from a nightclub. I end up talking to myself, or to things such as the ATM,” he said.
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