KUALA LUMPUR – The last communication received from a Malaysia Airlines plane suggests everything was normal on board minutes before it went missing over the South China Sea, Malaysian authorities say. Flight MH370 replied “All right, roger that” to a radio message from Malaysian air control, authorities said. The search has been widened to waters…
JOHANNESBURG – Johannesburg is the most active city on Twitter in Africa, according to a new study released on Wednesday, which analyses activity on the microblogging site on the continent. The How Africa Tweets study was conducted by international strategic communications agency Portland and tracked tweets during the final three months of 2013. The study…
HARARE – Zimbabwe is descending into economic and social chaos and the government’s only response has been to shout populist slogans and people are now questioning where the current Cabinet is taking the nation to. The response by President Robert Mugabe’s government to revive the country’s stuttering economy was in part familiar: more bluster by…
MUTARE – Controversial sungura musician Hosiah Chipanga says President Robert Mugabe is a divine appointee who will only vacate the presidency when God identifies a suitable successor. The Mutare-based musician, who is also the leader of little-known Messianic Apostolic Prophetic Inspired People’s Institute (Mapipi), makes the assertion in the song Zimbabwe Ndeye Mweya off his…
HARARE – Simuka Comedy Club and Umahlekisa Comedy Club will hold shows in several Zimbabwean towns and cities with the aim of identifying new talented comedians. Victor “Doc Vikela” Mpofu, one of the founding members of Simuka, said that the nationwide tour will kick off in Masvingo at Charles Austin Theatre on March 14 and 15….
BULAWAYO – Amabooks have translated a short story collection Where to Now? Short Stories from Zimbabwe from English to Ndebele. The Ndebele version of the short story collection, originally published three years ago by the Bulawayo-based publisher, has been titled Siqondephi Manje? Indatshana zaseZimbabwe. Thabisani Ndlovu, who holds a doctorate in African Literature from Witwatersrand…
HARARE – Tendai Biti, MDC secretary-general, on Thursday last week touched off a storm when he admitted that his party lost to Zanu PF in the watershed July 31 elections due to poor electoral messages. Biti, who was addressing a meeting of civic groups and academic leaders in Harare, had previously alleged that they lost…
HARARE – Zimbabwean banks are in negotiations with China and India for supply of the countries’ currencies. This comes on the back of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s addition of four new currencies — Chinese yuan, Indian rupee, Japanese yen and Australian dollar — to the country’s multi-currency basket. In 2009, the country abandoned…
HARARE – Parliament on Monday grilled bankers over increased bank charges following the expiry of an agreement putting a cap on interest rates and fees banks could levy. Legislators accused local financial institutions of pushing the majority of depositors out of the banking sector through exorbitant bank charges and high interest rates. Around $2 billion…
HARARE – Edgars Stores Limited (Edgars)’ South African-themed Jet stores performed below expectation as the unit’s profit slumped 40 percent to $522 527 in the 52 weeks to January 4, 2014 from $869 224 recorded in prior comparable period. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed clothing retailer partly attributed the depressed performance to start up costs associated…
