Submitted by John Bond (Complimentary crystal ball provided) I suggest we could adapt Scott Peck’s model on religious and spiritual views as a way of understanding our political views. Use a model that explains religion and spirituality to understand politics? Suggest that one can have an idea of a group’s political actions by using a […]
News/Politics
Anybody who is Somebody is telling Everybody about Mugabe but Nobody knows what he is thinking
It is almost impossible to know any Truth with a capital T about what President Robert Mugabe is thinking right now. Thus, every time Anybody who is Somebody talks or writes about what is happening in Zimbabwe, Everybody should understand clearly that Nobody knows what is going on in the big man’s head. In fact, […]
Let the Forum of Black Journalists be
An excellent editorial by political analyst Prince Mashele on the HRC ruling against the Forum for Black Journalists makes me sorry I didn’t post my position when the furore first broke. In my defence, I was swamped by a furore with white racists, not black racists, at the time.
Life expectancy in Zimbabwe
Life expectancy for a woman in Zimbabwe is 34 years. So, if I were a Zimbabwean woman/statistic, I would have been dead for 16 years by now. I’d be a very faded memory, a big grin in a yellowing photo tucked into the dusty pages of a novel that no one had picked up for […]
Denying the denial
Ours is not a nation in denial. Sure, much has been said — and denied — about the president’s views on HIV and its causal link to Aids. Comparable stuff has been written about his views, and those of the Cabinet collective, on crime, corruption, energy and Zimbabwe. And until very recently, I subscribed to […]
The racism is in the reading
The “firing” of David Bullard has kept my mind busy all weekend because I have an uncomfortable sense that something is very wrong with the situation and its various interpretations. Aside from these concerns, something that concerns me even more is that I don’t feel safe writing this post because I suspect the same mindset […]
Hey Bob! Don’t forget some other people who helped put you where you are
Dear Mr Mugabe Do you get the feeling you are running out of friends? Sure, Thabo and a few other leaders in the region who believe that friendship and old school ties are far more important than petty little considerations such as national interest and starvation are still holding your hand. It’s a friendship that […]
In defence of David Bullard …
(I must be out of my flippin’ tree! … Writing this particular blog, I mean. Might just as well swim out past the shark nets after acupuncture. Oh well, bring ’em on …) Let’s be perfectly clear on one thing. I do not particularly like David Bullard. I would not invite the man to dinner, […]
All aboard Shabangu’s Bang Bang Club
After the startling success of her president’s Native Club (the koeksisters at their Tuynhuys imbizos were reputed to have been a particular hit), a deputy minister has made a desperate escape from obscurity with the launch of the Bang Bang Club. At the launch last night, Susan Shabangu’s corpulent beam — previously only seen framed […]
Why Africa’s elections are becoming irrelevant
Events of the past months make it very difficult to defend the relevance of elections. The cases of Kenya and Zimbabwe point to the need for a new thinking around governance. In these two cases, elections have betrayed people’s wishes and subverted their democratic right to a leader of their choice. Such scenarios call for […]
A tribute to the ‘Judge’
There are many people who are probably more qualified than me to speak about Ronnie Morris, who died in his sleep early on Saturday evening. However, I have my memories of him that I feel I want to share. Ronnie was a legend in the newspaper industry and was hugely respected by just about every […]
Europe, it is time to lead
Something has clearly changed on the international political stage that gives the European Union an unprecedented opportunity to bring stability and an end to a violent conflict in the Middle East, without the need to have someone’s permission to act. Europe is capable of conducting an active foreign policy and has the ability to commit […]