HARARE – Since the 1960s when it entered the Zimbabwean market, South African retailer and wholesaler Spar had become a dominant group, getting a lot of attention across the country for being a good trader, probably the best in class. A long-time supermarket chain here, it was more aligned with everyday, working class neighbourhoods and…
HARARE – Petros Mauri pokes through piles of smoldering garbage — the remains of a fierce fire that engulfed Pomona dumpsite and raged on for the better part of a week. The Epworth resident, who is one of the plus 200 people who work in this makeshift community, has made the 46-kilometre journey from his…
HARARE – As the water crisis seems to have no possible solution in sight and rationing regimes have been introduced in cities and towns across the country, women and girls are most affected due to gender roles placed on them by society and culture. Care giving, a role mostly given to women has become a…
HARARE – The devastating effects of the El Nino-induced drought are now being felt across the country with residents and officials warning of a potential national disaster if the critical water situation is not dealt with. There are fears that Zimbabwe could slide back to the 2008/2009 period when a cholera outbreak killed more than…
CHIMANIMANI – Illegal artisanal gold miners who have retained a stranglehold on government-owned Allied Timber’s Tarka Forest Reserve — a commercial pine tree plantation in Chimanimani — may just have become overly aggressive. With the area having been worked and reworked for nearly two decades, the illegal gold miners have evolved their mining engineering from…
HARARE – Zimbabwe is still in danger of losing the war on HIV/Aids despite major medical advances and more than 25 years of effort, if latest statistics are anything to go by. According to the United Nations, Zimbabwe ranks fifth among countries with the highest HIV/Aids prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. About 1,4 million people —…
HARARE – As Zimbabwe moves from El Nino to La Nina, the number of food insecure Zimbabweans will rise to nearly six million by January 2017 from 4,1 million. El Nino, a climatic condition characterised by droughts which ravaged the country in the 2015/2016 agricultural season, is likely to be replaced by La Nina which…
HARARE – Deep in the arid Masvingo Province lies the remote district of Mwenezi where villagers have resorted to feeding on baboons, shockingly claiming its not out of hunger. The area, which falls under the country’s natural farming region five — characterised by high temperatures and low rainfall throughout the year— last experienced reasonable harvests…
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe is in a fix, despite controlling the security sector, he is faced with an enemy much bigger and one that he swore ever to protect when he was re-elected — the Constitution. On one hand, the police are hell-bent on thwarting dissenting voices, on the other hand the courts say…
HARARE – He walks with a limp and his hand is still in an arm sling, but despite the scars that are still fresh, anti-President Robert Mugabe activist Stendrick Zvorwadza is not scared, at least that is what he says. Now Zvorwadza, 47, is planning to dress up in protective clothing whenever he confronts his…
