HARARE – Local authorities in Zimbabwe have failed to address the continuing decline in service delivery due to misplaced priorities and a lack of strategic direction, chairperson of the parliamentary committee on Local Government Irene Zindi said. Speaking at a dialogue on service delivery organised by the Centre for Community Development Zimbabwe, (CCDZ) Zindi said…
HARARE – Zimbabwe is likely to face another drought in the coming farming season due to effects of an El Nino predicted to hit the country from October to December this year as well as an average to below-average rainfall forecast for parts of the southern African region. El Nino is an irregularly occurring and…
HARARE – A truck carrying scores of prisoners from Chikurubi Maximum Prison arrives at the Harare Magistrates Courts. The occupants peer through the meshed barricade looking to spot wives, husbands, brothers, sisters and friends, as they are brought to answer further charges. Prisoners tell of being crammed together in tiny cells amidst heavy beatings, torture…
HARARE – Government wants to legalise hundreds of thousands of small-scale miners, colloquially known as makorokoza, who scrape out tiny amounts of gold from abandoned mine shafts using dangerous and polluting techniques. This emerged in Masvingo last weekend at a national dialogue conference on artisinal miners, sugar cane cutters and farm workers organised by leading…
CAPE TOWN – “I always thought I would be the last one to leave Zimbabwe. But with the current situation, I had no choice but to come down here to fend for my family,” said 42-year-old Calvin Kavara. The skilled engineer and father of three feels betrayed by his Zanu PF party which has failed…
HARARE – First Lady Grace Mugabe celebrated her 50th birthday on July 23 with the climax being a “controversial” fundraising dinner in her honour which was held on Saturday at the First Family’s Blue Roof residence in Borrowdale, Harare. The dinner reportedly raised over $3 million and comprised an attendance of over 2 000 delegates…
HARARE – The trip to Harare’s Roadport to meet my cousin who was travelling from Namibia for the first time in 10 years was exasperating, given the day’s unusually high temperatures. It was mid-morning but the temperatures were already unbearably high. As we journeyed back home along Seke Road, the new houses just before Chinhamo…
HARARE – “DEAR God, I know that you will bring my father back,” is a prayer that Nenyasha, daughter of the missing journalist-cum-human rights activist Itai Dzamara recites every night before going to bed. The three-year-old, who has not seen her father for almost 100 days, is obviously affected psychologically and emotionally by her dad’s…
JOHANNESBURG – As we got out of the cars and looked around the village, it was the silence we noticed. It was as if a neutron bomb had struck, destroying all living creatures while leaving structures intact. Not a dog. Not a chicken. Not a laughing toddler. For a village in communal lands just 20km…
HARARE – Ashley Shamba (not real name) is due to graduate in December, she is the first to acquire a degree in her family and naturally she is expected to make a significant financial contribution soon but that dream may be shattered as she is now pregnant. Ashley’s family expects her to assist siblings with…
