BULAWAYO – At the turn of the millennium, informal education centres offering academic and tertiary studies sprung up particularly in the major urban centres. Though initially despised as last resort options, private colleges gained acceptance primarily because of their laxity on entry qualifications. They gave youths a second chance and solace to hordes of repeaters,…
HARARE – Damned if he does not, damned if he does. President Robert Mugabe finds himself in the most unusual position of being criticised — pilloried, in fact, as being unconstitutional, undemocratic and tyrannical — simply because he wants to hold elections. Yes, you heard that right, as absurd as it sounds on the surface:…
HARARE – If you want to know about the health of South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela there is really only one person to call — and it is not some junior spokesperson in the presidential bureaucracy. Instead, it is one of Mandela’s oldest, closest friends a silver-haired, razor-sharp, 78-year-old South African called Mac…
JOHANNESBURG – Having been deprived of seeing his own children grow up during his years in jail, Mandela has shown a commitment to improving the lives of youngsters, drumming up money from businesses to build schools in remote areas. At 83, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and successfully underwent treatment. In May 2004, Mandela…
CHIPINGE – Their labour is frowned upon by grown men, yet the children picking tea here are earning as little as $7 for a 25-day month. With heavily scarred legs as cutback tea stumps slash their naked legs and their sweat irrigate the crop, these children’s destitute labour help this agricultural sector remain profitable. While…
HARARE – Standing on a 7 438m2 plot, Golden Peacock Hotel dwarfs the local environs. Owned by Chinese firm, Anjin Investments, which is mining diamond in Marange, the hotel is like a giant monster located just off the Mutare-Masvingo highway, which also leads to the diamond fields. Many local residents seem to have no idea…
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe recently caught many unaware when he travelled to Addis, Ababa, Ethiopia for the African Golden Jubilee celebrations accompanied by his daughter, Bona. Mugabe’s wife, Grace did not travel with the president. Bona, 24 who resembles her mother, looked at ease as she walked the red carpet and greeted Zanu PF…
MUTARE – It is often referred to as the diamond city. But nothing glitters here. Only one traffic light works in Mutare — Zimbabwe’s fourth largest city sitting at the heart of rich diamond, gold and timber resources. The traffic light at the corner of Herbert Chitepo Street and Robert Mugabe Avenue at least represents…
HARARE – President Robert Mugabe is in the Far East in the latest in a series of whirlwind international trips, raising questions about what the 89-year-old leader seeks to achieve with this gruelling diplomatic schedule. He is visiting Japan to attend the fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad), and flew out hardly a…
CHIWESHE – Working as a medical doctor is not something easy in a country like Zimbabwe. Despite the high regard with which the job is held in other parts of the world, here it is treated just like any other thankless profession characterised by low pay, long working hours and above all poor working conditions….
