HARARE – Although opinion polls can sometimes be misleading, both Zanu PF and the MDC Alliance are being naive by completely ignoring the results of recent surveys suggesting Zimbabweans are hoping for a coalition government. According to a poll conducted by the online data analysis organisation, Afrobarometer, there will be no clear winner in next…
HARARE – On March 4, 1980, Prime Minister-elect Robert Mugabe gave his first ever speech to an independent Zimbabwe which captured the attention of the world as he promised to bury the country’s past after years of conflict with the then Rhodesian government and its forces. Zimbabwe had just come out of a bitter and…
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s presidential race looked tighter than it has all year on Friday, a week before voting begins, as an Afrobarometer poll put the two frontrunners Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa in a statistical dead heat. The latest voter survey may raise concerns about the outside possibility of a second round that pits Mnangagwa…
HARARE – When the 2018 general election campaigns started, it was generally thought that the main contenders for the top office would create time for live television debates to give voters an opportunity to make informed decisions after comparing and contrasting their policies. This has not happened and it doesn’t seem like the debates will…
HARARE – Africa has been through a series of momentous changes. First came decolonisation. Then came a second wave, too often marked by tyranny and economic stagnation. I believe that a new era is now in prospect, Africa’s third wave. Let us make this third wave one of lasting peace, based on democracy, human rights,…
HARARE – The Church has for years played a crucial role in governance issues, brokering in conflict situations and also taking part in several ceasefire negotiations. On Thursday, the Jesuit-run Arupe College in Mt Pleasant, Harare hosted an interface meeting of all presidential candidates convened by the civic society to foster peace ahead of the…
HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s “new dispensation” rhetoric in Zimbabwe has been exposed as just a small public relations stunt to sanitise the 2018 post-military intervention harmonised elections, which have been subjected to a rigging plot. Do not even imagine me throwing another bogeyman story into your crib. With elections less than two weeks away,…
HARARE – The recent threats by both the MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti, who leads the People’s Democratic Party, one of the fringe parties in an alliance with the MDC, of announcing the results of this month national elections ahead of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), are unhelpful. Being top lawyers…
HARARE – The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) is right to agree to participate in talks with Nelson Chamisa over how to resolve the serious threat posed by failure to iron out a raft of administrative electoral reforms the opposition leader has said are vital for a credible vote on July 30. It may not sound…
HARARE – On Wednesday, we commemorated World Population Day. This day has been commemorated globally each year since 1989. It’s a day that focuses our attention on the importance of population issues and is therefore quite central to our work as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The theme for this year’s commemorations is “Family…
