[IOL News.za] Agovernment minister in Zim-bob-we says work has stopped on new reservoirs because workers have been scared off by mermaids, a report has said."Yeah! Mermaids! Big 'uns!"
According to orangenews.com, Minister of Water Resources Samuel Sipepa Nkomo reportedly told a parliamentary committee that terrified workers were refusing to return to the sites, near the towns of Gokwe and Mutare.
"I thought mermaids were supposed to be good-looking?"
"They are! But they smell like fish!"
He said the only way to solve the problem was to brew traditional beer and carry out rites to appease the spirits.
"See? First I get 'em liquored up! Then you show up with the deodorant!"
"All the officers I have sent have vowed not to go back there," Zim-bob-we's state-approved Herald newspaper quoted him as saying.
"I mean, they can't get rid of the smell by taking a bath, can they?"
The senior politician allegedly said mermaids were also present in other reservoirs around the country.
"Yeah. You can smell 'em a mile away on a hot day!"