HARARE – We join the rest of the world in celebrating the World Press Freedom Day. Indeed, Zimbabwean journalists have every reason to celebrate but a celebration which could have been sweeter had our government been consistent in implementing reforms that promote free speech and expression. This year’s theme: Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of…
HARARE – World Press Freedom Day gives us a chance to pay tribute to media professionals within Zimbabwe and beyond who risk their lives and that of their families in their line of duty. It is an opportune time to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom, assess the state of press freedom in our…
HARARE – Holding periodic free and fair elections is one of the characteristics of both liberal and electoral democracies in the world. The question that most of the so-called learned people in Africa and Zimbabwe have consistently evaded and with some becoming emotional is “What is the benefit of elections to the ordinary man?” Some…
HARARE – The US Cato Institute recently described Zimbabwe as a country with “one of the world’s worst business environments,” saying our economy is like an athlete on steroids, propped up by artificial injections of loans and aid from China and the West. With this shocking knowledge in mind, instead of bending over backwards to…
HARARE – It is lamentable that our politicians and other senior State bureaucrats have now resorted to blaming sanctions for almost anything that goes wrong without examining the real cause of societal challenges. That form of scurrilous pitch, while it sounds plausible to the elite, has lost traction with the majority of the people who…
HARARE – We commend government’s efforts in scaling up the HIV/Aids fight. The fact that 600 000 people living with HIV are now accessing ARVs is a reason for much celebration. Aids is responsible for killing at least six million Zimbabweans ever since it was discovered in the early 1980s. The country has reached…
HARARE – Political leadership requires certain qualities. Among the attributes of good political leaders are consistency and firmness. Consistency shows unwavering conviction to principles. Firm leaders withstand challenge of adversaries without wilting. Leaders do, occasionally, fall short on these or for very good reasons, change course. But frequent deviations can be politically deleterious. MDC leader…
HARARE – It is becoming common knowledge that any desperate politician in Zimbabwe’s political discourse seeking cheap mileage can only do so by attacking the MDC precisely its leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. This explains why Tsvangirai matters, perhaps at this critical juncture. The heavy doses of propaganda invested to attack Tsvangirai’s image; personality and…
HARARE – Zanu PF officials are once again clearly misdirecting members of the public by falsely claiming and insisting that elections must be held before the midnight of June 29, 2013 as there are no conditions warranting an extension as required in the current Constitution of Zimbabwe. With all due respect, it is now clear…
HARARE – The MDC became part of an inclusive government in 2009 after trouncing Zanu PF in the election of 2008 and since then, the party has exhibited a huge qualitative difference from Zanu PF. Only recently, the print and the social media were awash with a misleading story by the New York Times’ Lydia…
