The generation of 1976, which shook the word with its grassroots education and mobilisation, has grown up. This generation’s mass movements can learn from its elders
Robert Mugabe
Posted inEquality
Democracy and open society in Zimbabwe 41 years after independence
A full 41 years after ‘freedom’, many Zimbabweans still strive for what they sought then – the enjoyment of their fundamental human rights and freedoms
Posted inNews/Politics
An African perspective on the US elections chaos
Africans are much more familiar with post-election problems than are Americans. The difference is Donald Trump pulled every trick in the book to remain president, but failed
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics
On politicians without humour
In John Fowles’s novel, Daniel Martin (Triad Grafton, 1978), there is a wonderfully revealing passage as far as humourless politicians are concerned – the type that justifiably comprises the butt of comedians’ jokes. Dan and Jane (an old friend and one-time lover who accompanies him on a work-related trip to Egypt) are at a dinner-party […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Mugabe’s only path to true statesmanship is his death
Robert Mugabe came to power as president of Zimbabwe in 1987. Next year, if Southern Africa’s Methuselah lives until then, will mark his thirtieth year in office and what has become a pathetic downward spiral into the abuse of state power and the obliteration of his nation’s fortunes. President Mugabe is famed as having said […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zimbabwe: The triumph of hope over experience
Southern African politics is a rambunctious affair. It’s far removed from the predictable and safe parameters of the established Anglophone democracies against which we surreptitiously measure ourselves. It’s a bit like being slung into a tumble dryer with a sack of razor blades. One accepts that one is going to incur nicks and cuts, with […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tsvangirai, it’s time to step up or step down
To anyone who has been paying close attention to developments in Zimbabwe since 2009 – after the formation of the government of national unity (GNU) – the 2013 election result was almost a forgone conclusion. Governments of national unity, as I have written elsewhere, create a false sense of security and unity in deeply polarised […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Zimbabwe elections: A conspiracy theory
While Egypt became the first example of expedience over democracy being openly accepted, if not actively promoted, by Western democracies it is going to find its match in Zimbabwe during the course of this week albeit without the fanfare and publicity that is occasioned by a military coup. The outcome, in my most humble opinion, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
By hook or by crook, Survivor Bob will carry the day
On Wednesday Zimbabwe goes to the polls. The run-up to the election has been curiously low key and lacklustre, perhaps because everyone already knows the result – President Robert Mugabe will win. Even if he loses, he will win. Such is the foxiness of the world’s third-longest serving dictator, who is shaded in the despot […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC and Zanu-PF: From struggle heroes to enemies of freedom
In 1963 Bram Fischer stood before a court and said “the defence … will show that the ANC is a broad national movement, embracing all classes of Africans within its ranks, and having the aim of achieving equal political rights for all South Africans”. Fischer was the lead defence counsel in the well-known Rivonia Trial […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Have we forgotten Mohamed Bouazizi?
Two years ago last Friday, a young man from Tunisia named Mohamed Bouazizi died of burn wounds after literally igniting what the world has come to know as the Arab Spring. Bouazizi, a fruit and vegetable vendor immolated himself after suffering humiliation at the hands of a police officer who confiscated his goods, ostensibly because […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tsvangirai: Zimbabwe still needs Mugabe
By Leo Cendrowicz Morgan Tsvangirai is a man under pressure. Ahead of next year’s elections the Zimbabwean prime minister is trying to deliver a new constitution, revive a troubled economy and manage a difficult relationship with the country’s president, Robert Mugabe. Yet one of Tsvangirai’s main concerns right now is keeping his love life from […]