HARARE – The president of Malawi, Joyce Banda, and vice president, Khumbo Kachali, announced a few days ago that they were both taking a 30 percent cut in their salaries with immediate effect as part of a broader effort to get their country’s budget under control. Banda’s salary will drop from $5 000 to $3…
HARARE – Is Africa a lost cause? Are Africans inherently and incorrigibly corrupt? Is Africa a forsaken continent? These are some of the questions that invariably cross my mind as I frequently ponder and agonise about the scourge of corruption in Zimbabwe. In my capacity as deputy minister of Justice and Legal Affairs and chair…
HARARE – Under normal circumstances, police resort to high speed chases only in hot pursuit of suspects in serious crimes such as murders, bank robberies and cash heists.This is true whether the chase is being staged in real life, in the movies or in television series such as MacGyver or the A-Team. Via the miracle…
HARARE – British deputy prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, hit the music charts recently. Not that Clegg is a singer of any note. Some clever music producer, using auto-tunes, manipulated his recent speech into a song. In that speech, Clegg uttered a word that has become so uncommon in politics:…
HARARE – Yesterday, the world marked World Habitat Day which is set globally to reflect on the state of our towns, cities and the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is sad that government which once promised houses for all by 2000 is now so silent — ignoring the plight of millions of…
HARARE – Given that the coalition government which came into being under the auspices of the Sadc – engineered Global Political Agreement (GPA) is towards its twilight, how will the future political scenario look like? Since attainment of Zimbabwe’s independence, Zanu PF has continued with the same campaigning thrust — the anti-colonial legacy and its…
HARARE – While there are many definitions of sustainable tourism, it is important for Zimbabweans to know what they all mean. One wonders then if it possible to have sustainable tourism without responsible tourism or can there be sustainability without responsibility? According to the World Tourism Organisation, sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation…
HARARE – The mayhem caused by touts, popularly known as Madimbadimba, exposed the incompetency of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the failing leadership of police commissioner general Augustine Chihuri. We do not celebrate the belated arrests of the touts because this action was not only late but prompted by the intervention of soldiers, not the…
HARARE – Finance minister Tendai Biti will soon commence his provincial consultative meetings for the 2013 national budget. The meetings, which include consultations with sectoral leaders and key stakeholders generally, solicit inputs and ideas that the minister can use as part of crafting his annual budget. How time flies! We are already thinking about another…
HARARE – A dark cloud hung over the rest of the world on November 10, 1995 with news that Nigerian activist Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other Ogoni people were executed in Port Harcourt by the late military hardman Sani Abacha. International human rights organisations condemned the killing of the leader of the Movement for…
