Zimbabwe’s crisis has created paradoxes such as poor billionaires, the fastest-shrinking economy outside a war zone and other such clichéd oddities. Its citizens have sharpened their great survival tool: humour. Amid the gloom, Zimbabweans have shown themselves to be self-effacing and funny.
Up to three million Zimbabweans, a quarter of the country’s 12-million strong population, live outside the country, the majority in South Africa. Although they are not in the thick of Zimbabwe’s struggles, they keenly follow the politics. The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> spoke to a cross-section of Zimbabweans living in exile in Johannesburg.
Percy Zvomuya reviews Heidi Holland’s <i>Dinner with Mugabe</i>, a book that the Zimbabwean leader’s acolytes won’t like.
Orlando Pirates striker Gilbert Mushangazhike may be the symbol of a new wave of players trekking down to South Africa in search of Absa PSL’s hundreds of millions. A free agent after a stint in China with Jiangsu Shuntian, it is safe to conclude his decision to come to South Africa was as much professional as financial.
The state-owned Zimbabwean newspaper the Herald last week reported that Citigroup and SABMiller were among the international companies funding Simba Makoni’s bold bid for the presidency. Both companies have denied the reports, but the Herald‘s claim may nonetheless be damaging to Makoni’s campaign.
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/ 29 February 2008
Securing an interview with Robert Mugabe was almost as demanding as researching and writing <i>Dinner with Mugabe</i>, says Heidi Holland.
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/ 21 February 2008
Percy Zvomuya reports on the recipients of the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South Africa grants.
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/ 21 February 2008
In an unusual show of unity, the two secretary generals of the two factions of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have described the dialogue that was meant to resolve the country’s meltdown as ”dead”, painting a dire scenario for Zimbabwe after its upcoming elections.
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/ 8 February 2008
Percy Zvomuya takes a tour of Jozi theatres and finds out what the playmakers are saying.
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/ 8 February 2008
Although his new side failed to make it past round one at the Africa Cup of Nations, Carlos Alberto Parreira won’t be entirely depressed. Bafana’s performance at the tournament in Egypt in 2006 was marked by a medley of administrative foibles, disruptive player mutinies, pre-tournament shenanigans and sepulchral lethargy that showed on the field when they failed to score.