(N.B: This post has been looked over by my lawyers and was also sent to the main party of concern on 18 September) I did not want to bring this issue into the public domain, but now it appears that it is the only way that I may finally get some closure. As you will know from a notice posted some months ago, Her Zimbabwe … Continue reading A Public Notice on Her Zimbabwe Closure Issues
When I got to the front of the voters’ line, ready to have my details checked, the last thing I expected was for the person in charge of inspecting the voters’ roll to tell me that I was ineligible because my name appeared twice in his mammoth book of voters. Perplexed and frustrated, I was told to go and stand in another line which I … Continue reading Hello Matobo Hills Lodge!
The question that titles this piece came about from a deep and varied internal interrogation I have been having about women claiming marriage as a life accomplishment. Earlier in the week, I posted the following on my Facebook wall; ‘Controversial’ kweshen [sic] Wednesday. I hear it said a lot that women should not regard marriage to be an accomplishment. Because marriage in and of itself … Continue reading Is Marriage an Accomplishment?
OVER recent years, the language of creating and sustaining safe spaces has become one I hear more and more often, especially in feminist spaces. For a time, I accepted this language uncritically, neither thinking more broadly about what a safe space truly requires nor introspecting around the various problematics that such spaces often bring with them. As such, I think it’s important to reflect on … Continue reading Are safe spaces really safe?
We were sitting on the old cushioned chairs in the dormitory reception where the temperamental TV set mounted overhead to one corner of the room was not giving us any news about the election results. It was just before 8 pm on a Sunday night, and I had just arrived back in Bulawayo from Harare, a trip of almost 450 km and many jaunty hours … Continue reading Why I’ve Chosen Social Media Silence About Zimbabwe
A man in a workman’s suit stands at an open grave. A coffin has just been lowered into the freshly dug pit as family and friends eulogise the deceased; a wife, mother, grandmother, probably also an ardent member of a local church group and women’s societies and clubs in her community. In essence, family and friends are gathered to bury a woman of high repute … Continue reading Why ‘Lameck’ Struck A Chord With Me
This article is based on reflections I gathered at Independence Day commemorations in 2014. The early morning April sun is high and hot when I arrive at Harare’s National Sports Stadium where Zimbabwe’s annual Independence Day commemorations will shortly commence. Buses and cars jam the driveway that leads to the stadium entrances, and queues of people bend and wind with the railing that runs round … Continue reading A Flag of Many Colours – A Reflection on Zimbabwe’s Independence
Last month, I bumped into an old acquaintance whom I’ll call Timothy (not his real name) for the purposes of this article. Timothy is in his late 20s or early 30s, and it had been over five years since we’d last met or spoken. So a natural curiosity came over both of us to know what the other had been up to during this long … Continue reading What Young Zimbabweans Have Lost, And Continue To Lose
When Zimbabweans invoke memories of “the good old days” of the country’s rise and prosperity, a range of popular culture symbols and metaphors are often associated with this harkening to what seemed a perfect past. Witty television advertisements are reconstructed, the allegoric music of that time is replayed and incisive characters from literature and film are re-membered. Also not far from many Zimbabweans’ memories is … Continue reading The Dream Within The ‘Dream Team’: Football As A Zimbabwean Metaphor
