HARARE – After the collapse of a certain local bank, Sekai (not real name) had to close her business and as if that was not enough, the single mother, who owned a small butchery, also lost property as creditors unleashed debt collectors on her. However, shareholders at her bank did not lose a dime after…
BULAWAYO – A government slum clearance campaign launched more than a decade ago purportedly to unclutter urban centres of illegal lean-tos and informal roadside kiosks has instead added dross than sanitize the urban environment. The internationally-condemned campaign has blown the lid off a flawed state housing programme often kept out of public scrutiny until disaster…
HARARE – Vivian Mapaike, 23, a cancer survivor, shudders as she recalls how the disease almost tore her family apart. To her the battle was more than just a fight for life or a financial bug; she emerged with a broken heart and scars difficult to erase. “I recall a certain holiday when I visited…
HARARE – Interest in Zimbabwe’s fast-food sector is reaching fever pitch level as international franchises such as KFC, Mugg & Bean and Ocean Basket battle for cash-strapped consumers with local outlets. With Zimbabwean consumers now taking a keen interest on how they spend their hard-earned money due to the on-going economic crisis, business observers are…
HARARE – As 2014 came to an end, it was easily in the affirmative that, in the aviation industry, at home and abroad, it has been a crazy ride. Just when it was safe to say that, only Malaysia Airlines had met with unprecedented misfortune and it was time to close the sad chapter, yet…
JOHANNESBURG – The bishop steps confidently onto a back staircase for a shortcut to the altar inside the Central Methodist Church. There are no lights in the stairwell, but the graffiti on the walls of the 1800s Wesleyan Building is easily captured in patches of light. Everywhere, there are scrawled words of affection for a…
GUTU – Bernard Masikati, 55, met his fate at around 8pm on Wednesday last week when he went into his thatched hut which serves as a bedroom to collect mealie-meal that he wanted to use to prepare his supper. Unbeknown to him, a black mamba, one of the most venomous snakes in Africa and one…
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s climate change has occurred at a faster rate than is normally expected over a 30-year period and this has affected the rainfall patterns in the country. Climate change is described as a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards…
HARARE – Talent Ndlovu, 16, is an orphaned Form Two drop-out and she is pregnant. Tucked in rural Manana, an arid and marginalised region in Matabeleland Province, Talent lives with her 79-year-old grandmother, Regina Banda, and three other siblings. Her father was a mine worker and his measly income was barely enough to save beyond…
HARARE – Titus Ndebele took out a loan with one of the local banks and bought a car; within four months he was retrenched from his job and was left with the nightmare of having to service the loan without a steady income. Ndebele’s predicament is not peculiar to him alone; most Zimbabweans are facing…
