By Thandekile Moyo – The Daily Maverick THE impact of Zimbabwe’s Gukurahundi massacres on different generations of Matabeleland residents. This series of three articles explores the cultural tensions between Shona and isiNdebele speakers and how, 40 years later, continued discrimination is giving rise to talk of Mthakwazi secession. One of the interviewees in my research
By Anotida Chikumbu – Daily Maverick SINCE Covid-19 reached Zimbabwe in March 2020, I have been conducting interviews with young Zimbabweans. My interviews pay particular attention to the interweaving of economic action and everyday life in high-density urban townships, the ‘ghettos’. The results were bleak. The impact of Covid-19 has been much more catastrophic on
By Nomazulu Thata Not long-ago last month, Sibangilizwe Nkomo announced his Zapu candidacy to replace late party leader Dumiso Dabengwa. I was excited about this, well as someone who grew up in Zapu and known the late Comrade Joshua Nkomo well. I was in Zambia together with Father Zimbabwe as leader of guerrilla movement. It
By Anotida Chikumbu and David Chikwaza – Daily Maverick AS the Zimbabwean crisis deepens, many in the media and academic fraternity castigate their countrymen as docile, unable to resolve their perennial economic woes due to a reluctance to speak out against corruption and State Capture. Young people have been on the receiving end of these
By Tundu Antiphas Mughwai JOHN Pmbe Magufuli, the fifth president of the United Republic of Tanzania, died this past week. He was 61 years old. Known to friends and foes alike by a welter of nicknames — with “Tinga tinga” (Bulldozer) or simply “Magu” beloved of his many supporters; and “Jiwe” (Stone) or “Magufool” the
By Nomazulu Thata Dear Professor Lumumba Comrade Energy Mutodi is having his last laugh, he was spot on. He told us the bare truth about the late President of Tanzania John Magufuli. The way he was handling the global pandemic in his country was laughable to say the least. When then Information deputy minister Mutodi
The Africa Report Zimbabwe’s inflation slowdown in February may reflect the impact of COVID-19 restrictions imposed in January rather than a genuine downward trend. But prospects of a good harvest and improving confidence from business leaders points to relief down the road. The overall annual February figure of 322% was a decline of 41 points
By Pride Mkono Zimbabwean society is characterised by high inequality, poverty, unemployment and an uncaring government. The masses, who I define as those alienated from means of production and income flows of the nation, engage in daily struggles just to survive. In this piece, I want to firstly describe – in some detail – the
The Africa Report Zimbabwe’s second Vice President Kembo Mohadi was caught in a kompromat trap. Recordings of phone calls full of lurid sexual banter, thanks to intercepts that were almost certainly the work of a state intelligence agency, were faithfully reproduced on the Zimlive online news site in a series of salacious stories over the
By Arthur Mutambara The Genesis Meanwhile, back in Zimbabwe, the struggle continues. The Save Zimbabwe Campaign (SZC) is a broad coalition of organisations spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (CA). Its members include the factions of the MDC, other opposition parties, church groups, civil rights groups and trade unions. The campaign’s aims include the restoration
By Mthuli Ncube IN NOVEMBER 1942, following the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stood to address the House of Commons. After three long years of war, characterised by difficulties and retreats, in which British forces were forced from continental Europe and from much of South-East Asia, Churchill was
By Ibbo Mandaza – Daily Maverick ZIMBABWE, a state increasingly based and surviving on the strength of military-security machinery, will not reform itself out of power. We need to acknowledge that the crisis has to be resolved through the agency of consultations. This process must be initiated at the national level, facilitated by South Africa,
By Tsepang Nare Respect for human rights is not social work, it is not an act of compassion. It is the first obligation of governance and the source of its legitimacy as alluded to by Ronald Reagan. This is also espoused in the country’s constitution where there is reaffirmation of commitment to upholding and defending
Zimbabwe is part of the movement of women and girls around the world who are demanding that their voices are heard and are at the core of decisions about their bodies. Zimbabwe is marking SheDecides Day, the global day of activism driving change for bodily autonomy on 2 March, by recording a digital conversation and
By Pride Mkono Recently I published a think paper which sort to interrogate why a refocus of the opposition is critical for Zimbabwe’s broader democratization agenda which is currently without political wheels to carry it forward. The call I made has been further amplified by other accomplished academics, with Alex Magaisa’s BSR being the most
New Frame THE African Union (AU) set a target to silence guns on the continent by the end of 2020. The failure to achieve this ambition can partly be attributed to its indifference to the aspirations of many people on the continent, especially the youth. Since the AU was officially founded on 9 July 2002
New Frame THE late Zimdancehall musician was part of a generation of originators who, from the Jamaican idiom and format, created a grammar of ghetto pain and resilience. In mapping out the legacy of Soul Jah Love, the Zimdancehall star who died last week at 31 of diabetes complications, one naturally has to go to
By Prof Arthur G.O. Mutambara – Visiting Professor, University of Johannesburg An Inspiration for African Unity THE US NASA Perseverance Rover safely landed on Mars on 18 February 2021 after a 470.7 million-kilometre-journey from Earth, which it began on 30 July 2020. The robotic vehicle landed itself flawlessly in Mars’s Jezero Crater. The Scientific Objectives
By Nomazulu Thata In part one I concentrated on Dr. Dambisa’s “Dead Aid” book she passionately wrote in 2009 highlighting the need for Africa to shift its focus away from foreign aid and instead, seeking solutions that are sustainable to the economy of Africa and other aspects of development: solutions that bring dignity to the
Tobacco contract farming in Zimbabwe does not benefit the ordinary farmer , as it turns farmers into slaves to enrich the Contracting Companies. Farmers are turned into disguised workers for the contracting companies and they are always in credit living them without surplus money to recapitalize and survive. The contracting companies do not give farmers
