By Tafi Mhaka
In the best or worst of circumstances, no matter who you are in life, death is never gentle on the soul or body: it never discriminates.
This is how Tawanda Makamba reportedly surmised his young brother Zororo’s final moments:
“At the end before he died, he kept telling us that he was alone and scared and the staff was refusing to help him...So this is how my younger brother ended up dying. I want people to know the government is lying."
These painful words sound so familiar, as Zimbabwe is a cesspit of relentless, quiet death, government inaction and fatal betrayal.
By Tafi Mhaka
Back in 2000, as a teacher at Sagambe Secondary School in Honde Valley, I discovered that rural teachers struggled to survive on a month’s salary.
So payday meant so much to everyone.
Despite residing at their workplaces and not paying utility bills, teachers clearly always had limited disposable income and just didn’t exhibit substantial material progress.
By Tafi Mhaka
On March 17, Malawi's President Peter Mutharika fired the country’s military commander, General Vincent Nundwe. This followed the president refusing to ratify changes to the electoral laws intended to facilitate a fresh election in May.
In February, Malawi’s Constitutional Court nullified last year's disputed presidential election and ordered a rerun to be held in 150 days, leading to heightened tensions.
But while Malawi is engulfed by political turmoil, it is business as usual at the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
By Tafi Mhaka
The simple act of casting my first vote for the MDC in June 2000, at Avonlea Primary School in Harare, went far beyond backing Trudy Stevenson's journey to parliament. I had a score to settle with Zanu-PF, and my defiant vote manifested itself as the bow in my arrow.
It certainly was my humble and undistinguished vote against all the people that had whispered behind my back, threatened me and labelled me a sell-out for supporting the MDC.
By Tafi Mhaka
If the 20 Principles for Reliable, Inclusive and Credible Elections in Zimbabwe, launched by the MDC on February 27 in Harare, are included in the planned Electoral Bill, Nelson Chamisa will certainly win the 2023 presidential election.
Mugabe is often described in binaries: hero or villain, liberator or dictator. Both are true and yet neither is adequate. Because Mugabe was not only a political figure. He was also a psychological case study of something far more unsettling:
History is often unkind to those who build the very prisons they later wish to escape. Whenever the story of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle is told, few figures loom as large, as complex, or as ultimately frustrated as Dr Edson Jonas Mudadirwa Zvobgo.
Human rights lawyer Doug Coltart was assaulted during the proceedings after a group of suspected ruling party supporters disrupted the event. Witnesses said his phone was snatched and he was beaten, while attackers questioned his nationality.
US President Donald Trump has criticised the United Kingdom and other allies, telling them to secure their own energy supplies rather than rely on Washington.
