Bulawayo24 News - Skyes! "it makes perfect sense"

Exclusion of ZAPU's contributions to the war of independence deplorable

The deplorable and unjustifiable exclusion of Joshua Nkomo and ZAPU's contributions to the war of independence was apparent shortly after April 1980. This exclusion was backed by Shona-speaking artists. The narrative of Zimbabwe's liberati…

Published: 19 Jul 2024 at 07:41hrs | 1103 | by Tafi Mhaka

I am suffocating and sick of crying

I am suffocating and sick of crying and dying for fresher air. I died in May, June and July, last year, and died forever in a shallow swamp on April 18, 1983. Later on, I died in a river full of classic hypocrisy, elective rage and Stalini…

Published: 10 Jul 2024 at 09:17hrs | 32 | by Tafi Mhaka

Why I boycotted Queen Elizabeth II

I WAS a Lower Sixth student at Prince Edward School in Harare, Zimbabwe, when Queen Elizabeth II visited our school in October 1991. Zimbabwe was hosting that year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the queen â€” as the head of…

Published: 16 Sep 2022 at 06:07hrs | 4 | by Tafi Mhaka

Colonialism is not dead, Your Royal Highness

ON June 8 2022, at the start of his "landmark" six-day visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Belgium's King Philippe expressed regret for the countless "violent acts and humiliations" that his country inflicted on Congolese …

Published: 22 Jun 2022 at 06:46hrs | 12 | by Tafi Mhaka

Mnangagwa's mustn't greenwash his govt's crimes

SINCE becoming President in November 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa repeatedly paid lip service to calls for democratic reform, did little to further human rights and democratic freedoms in the country. Instead, his government deepened…

Published: 03 Dec 2021 at 05:30hrs | 15 | by Tafi Mhaka

Who is to blame for Zimbabwe's land reform disaster?

0N August 31, the government of Zimbabwe announced that foreign white farmers settled in the country who lost land between 2000 and 2001 under the late former President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform programme designed to empowe…

Published: 26 Sep 2020 at 08:29hrs | 3 | by Tafi Mhaka

Zimbabwe doomed as May, Merkel back Mnangagwa

On August 28, British Prime Minister Theresa May arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, for a one-day working visit. This visit was part of a three-nation tour of South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria designed to strengthen Britain's trade ties wit…

Published: 07 Sep 2018 at 07:04hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

Chamisa's troubled and dumbfounded by Mnangagwa's soft dictatorship

I am afraid the MDC Alliance appears oblivious to the mammoth political fraud in the electoral making. As things stand, the opposition grouping not only runs the horrifying risk of losing a massive chunk of democratic credibility through p…

Published: 10 Jul 2018 at 07:17hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Petals of bloody betrayal: Deal with Mugabe

In Petals of Blood, the 1977 novel published by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, three central themes - corruption, capitalism and land, weave a web of unbearably harsh betrayal and stifling neediness upon a small group of villagers in the small, pastor…

Published: 01 Apr 2018 at 07:48hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Donald Trump is black and ugly man

As my father and I had sat high up in the stands at Rufaro Stadium, together with thousands of ecstatic compatriots, we waved small Zimbabwe flags, with vibrant enthusiasm, and enjoyed the wonderful entertainment on display. It was Indepen…

Published: 31 Mar 2018 at 07:58hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

Die hard with a Zimbo

Fresh from saving America from Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Thomas Sankara, communist North Vietnam and the Middle-East machinations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Soviet Union, ex-Green Beret and Vietnam War veteran John Rambo had …

Published: 30 Mar 2018 at 07:47hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

The People Vs Obert Mpofu and Emmerson Manangagwa: We must march for Zephaniah Nhamo and finish what Morgan Tsvangirai started

A casual attempt to buy toothpaste and camphor cream two weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, was welcomed by demonstrators gathered outside Dischem Pharmacy in Midrand, Johannesburg. Undeterred by the passionate protesters and quite determined…

Published: 08 Mar 2018 at 08:33hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

'Jesus Mnangagwa' stumbles: will Temba Mliswa stand up for King Lobengula Khumalo, women and ethnic minorities?

Temba Mliswa passes himself off as a clean, independent politician who supports humanitarian causes, economic progress, transparency and a zero tolerance approach to corruption. In the brilliant and wildly imaginative mind of the former ru…

Published: 08 Mar 2018 at 08:31hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

Mugabe is right, Mnangagwa must go

I believe in democracy, fairness and justice. So media reports on army tanks moving into Harare last November crushed my hopes and dreams for Zimbabwe. I was mad. I was Mad at Gushungo and Grace Mugabe; mad at the ZDF for unleashing tanks …

Published: 27 Feb 2018 at 15:08hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

Gukurahundi: Walking in the deathly shadows of Kigali and Banjul

Should the architects of the Gukurahundi atrocities committed in Matabeleland and Midlands face legal action in an independent court of law convened in Zimbabwe, Africa or abroad? On May 30, 2016, HissÃ¨ne HabrÃ©, the former dictator of Ch…

Published: 20 Feb 2018 at 15:19hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

How Oliver Mtukudzi sheltered a Zimbabwean refugee in downtown Harare

Music is soulful shelter. I became a refugee when I discovered potential life hidden in the works of Mbare-born guitarist Louis Mhlanga and the late Mozambican Afro-Jazz singer Gito Baloi and slowly rekindled a childhood passion for the so…

Published: 16 Feb 2018 at 17:07hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

Morgan Tsvangirai and the making of a national hero

When Elliot Manyika - with the help of Bryn Muteki - sang and danced his way to national hero status in Zimbabwe, conferred on him by the Zanu-PF politburo in December 2008, I oscillated between alarm and disbelief, before inevitably findi…

Published: 16 Feb 2018 at 16:56hrs | 3 | by Tafi Mhaka

Mashona vs AmaNdebele: A legacy of disgusting racism

Being born into an Ndebele family in Zimbabwe can be a bewildering, challenging and frustrating affair. If you were born in Bulilima, Matabeleland South, like Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo was, in 1917, you could never become the head of s…

Published: 02 Feb 2018 at 09:37hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

Mr Mnangagwa: God has no voice

As I followed the sad and disturbing news reports on how Ezekiel Guti Jnr died after he was involved in a freak swimming pool accident in Johannesburg, South Africa, I once again quietly questioned whether God exists and confronted the aut…

Published: 03 Jan 2018 at 07:27hrs | 4 | by Tafi Mhaka

Joseph Kabila has violated SADC's founding objectives without consequence

Political instability rocked the Democratic Republic of Congo in December 2016, when Joseph Kabila chose not to stand down as president of the central African nation when his term in office ended. He remained as president of the DRC.â€¨â€¨…

Published: 02 Jan 2018 at 10:09hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

In this present crisis, govt is not a solution to our problem: govt is the problem

When Shingai Sibanda, a family man and school teacher since the early 1990s is struggling to secure high school, college and university fees for his three daughters: is it fair to deduce that life will not change that much under the "new" …

Published: 28 Dec 2017 at 07:45hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Barrack Obama and the blame game: it is a dark and twisted Zanu-PF fantasy

Ahead of an emotional and historic visit to Ghana in 2009, Barrack Obama criticised the theatrical blame game African leaders employ all the time to disclaim their failings and debunked the extensively disseminated myth that the West and n…

Published: 15 Dec 2017 at 16:36hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

When I met Mugabe behind a wall of fear

On each occasion that I happened to come across him a sense of fear consumed me. One day, in 1989, he visited our school. He looked so presidential and awfully detached behind his bodyguards. Then I saw him in 1995 at a dinner held in Wind…

Published: 14 Dec 2017 at 09:52hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Christmas without Mugabe in State House. Meet me in Chimanimani

I had everything that I required for an unexpected voyage to green terrestrial ecstasy with me: a bag full of clothes, one sizzling hot music CD and plenty of passion for life. I left Harare at ten o'clock on a Thursday morning and reached…

Published: 08 Dec 2017 at 09:02hrs | 5 | by Tafi Mhaka

Obama and the fallacy of the African dream

When then-Senator Barrack Obama won the presidential election in the USA, ahead of Republican Party nominee John McCain, on Tuesday, November 3 in 2008 â€“ Africa as a whole celebrated the election of a man many people on the continent reg…

Published: 03 Dec 2017 at 14:54hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

Is lobola outdated?

Tendai is deep in love with Bongi and happily embedded in a long-term relationship. He has a superb job in the marketing department of a radio station in Bulawayo and drives a neat car and dresses well. It is what it is: he is a man on the…

Published: 25 Nov 2017 at 07:29hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

One revolutionary bullet and a tank full of commandos for my mother

I am suffocating and sick of crying and dying for fresher air. I died in May, June and July, last year, and died forever in a shallow swamp on April 18, 1983. Later on, I died in a river full of classic hypocrisy, elective rage and Stalini…

Published: 24 Nov 2017 at 07:01hrs | 3 | by Tafi Mhaka

Bob and Grace Mugabe's Muppet Show is in full swing

Get ready to salsa to the sounds of party-political kongonya when Grace Mugabe takes centre stage at the Zanu-PF special congress scheduled for December. So I hope Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa can dance well. Grace is going to pull hi…

Published: 20 Oct 2017 at 09:59hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

Will Grace Mugabe become the president of Zimbabwe in 2018?

When Grace Mugabe called out a shamefaced Kazembe Kazembe at a Zanu-PF Youth Interface Rally in Bindura earlier this year, to rebuke him over calls he made for Saviour Kasukuwere to resign, it was really part of a well-planned First Family…

Published: 15 Oct 2017 at 09:53hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Chihuri must be charged with crimes against humanity at the ICC

Heaven knows whether Biggie Shanje believed in God and Zanu-PF, like Commissioner Augustine Chihuri does: apparently. Still, Shanje certainly believed in himself, and relished the financial earnings his calculating and corrupt actions nett…

Published: 06 Oct 2017 at 09:15hrs | 8 | by Tafi Mhaka

Is democracy un-African?

Libya has experienced nothing but war and brutality since the reign of King Idris I started in 1951. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi deposed the monarch in a bloodless coup in 1969. Under Gaddafi, or 'Brotherly Leader,' as he loved to be called th…

Published: 05 Oct 2017 at 17:39hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

Mandela vs Mugabe: A legacy of ashes

Ever get that feeling that all the lifelong plans you have ever had will burn into red-hot disappointment one day? If you live in Johannesburg for long enough, you will hear stories about men and women from Zimbabwe who have made it here. …

Published: 16 Sep 2017 at 12:10hrs | 5 | by Tafi Mhaka

With Zanu-PF Almighty in power: does God still remember Zimbabwe exists?

I prayed for my mother all night long after she had been involved in an accident but I never saw her alive ever again. She was on the way back from a funeral in Watsomba when the bus she had boarded veered off the road on the Mutare-Harare…

Published: 05 Sep 2017 at 07:33hrs | 3 | by Tafi Mhaka

They called me Tafiranyika. Now, they call this Zimbabwe?

They called me Tafiranyika. My grandfather died the day I was born. They called me Tafiranyika. Sekuru Moses was on the liberation war front when I was born. They called me Tafiranyika. Big and menacing army tanks patrolled the streets of …

Published: 02 Sep 2017 at 07:40hrs | 3 | by Tafi Mhaka

This is Zimbabwe, We should back Strive Masiyiwa

Children of Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana and King Lobengula Khumalo can you hear the new Zimbabwe echo from rock to rock and shrub to shrub in the wet and weathered hills and ridges and slippery slopes that form the mysterious and otherworld…

Published: 29 Aug 2017 at 07:49hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

Grace Mugabe and the fallacy of joyful impoverishment

I did not ask Uncle Bernard if he was a happy man in his living years. I loved him so much but could never quite connect with him on the fatherly level I should have. Yet I always watched him carefully and wondered what exactly made him ha…

Published: 27 Aug 2017 at 08:44hrs | 16 | by Tafi Mhaka

All aboard Mamvemve Express Motorways: Zimbabwe has no soul left brothers and sisters

I adored the soulful action on Thursday nights. Lovemore Majaivana could do the classic leg shuffle and shimmy with resourceful elegance noticeably better than the self-styled godfather of soul James Brown and Prince Roger Nelson ever coul…

Published: 22 Aug 2017 at 07:15hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Like the mighty Warriors: what's Zimbabwe's game plan?

It is the 117th minute of an African Cup of Nations final at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in YaoundÃ©, Cameroon. The match is tied 3-3. The Warriors are battling hard and creating chance after chance - wave after wave Ã la Barcelona FC - and …

Published: 10 Aug 2017 at 11:32hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

Bob Mugabe and the phantom of a national hero

It happened in slow motion. The nation watched Robert Mugabe become the national hero who somehow defied all manner of common appraisal. The people had heard that Mugabe had remarkable intellectual capacity and uncountable degrees and they…

Published: 06 Aug 2017 at 22:12hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

Mnangagwa is not the Messiah, he's Mugabe's enforcer in the belly of the beast

Life can be ugly. I have seen the unspeakable rot of unchecked malfeasance light up a dinghy hotel bar with womanly seduction like a fireworks display at the Harare Agricultural Show. Laced up in tight black pants and bright red lipstick a…

Published: 31 Jul 2017 at 08:26hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Gukurahundi and the silent whispers and cries behind hatred, death and disunity

The only time I saw Eddison Zvobgo in the flesh I was on my way to Rezende Bus Terminus to catch a bus home on a busy Friday afternoon in 1992. His black ministerial Mercedes Benz was parked near Kingston Bookshop along Kwame Nkrumah Avenu…

Published: 22 Jul 2017 at 19:04hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Dear Heavenly Father: When will this religious madness end?

Dear Heavenly Father: As 2017 has been beset by so much tragedy in Zimbabwe, I seek your wise counsel. I have a dilemma of faith troubling my soul and I find myself wallowing in a wilderness of scepticism and emptiness. I struggle to see y…

Published: 21 Jul 2017 at 07:40hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

Prove them wrong: Fadzayi Mahere

In a nation baffled by the laughable actions of the former Teflon Don of Manicaland, Didymus Mutasa, who believes Zimbabwe owes him a few luxury vehicles, a multimillion dollar mansion, a blank cheque, school fees and pocket money for his …

Published: 19 Jul 2017 at 11:28hrs | 3 | by Tafi Mhaka

Comrade Chihuri and Justice Makarau: Will Zimbabwe ever be big enough for big dreamers?

I developed problems with my left front wheel about nine hours into my journey from Johannesburg to Harare. I had left home at five in the morning and made it past Masvingo by three o'clock. But the terrifying sound coming from my left whe…

Published: 16 Jul 2017 at 18:29hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

No Tsvangirai, Please: Zimbabwe Needs New Heroes

A great leader inspires the masses by overcoming hardships and working for the greater good of society. Strive Masiyiwa almost sold the shirt off his back as his 5-year legal battle against the government of Zimbabwe for a mobile network o…

Published: 13 Jul 2017 at 14:12hrs | 6 | by Tafi Mhaka

Zimbabwean exiles: Life in the dark valley between starvation and desperate poverty

A fresh wave of reluctant economic exiles from across the Limpopo River now calls South Africa home. And burrowed deep within a five-kilometre radius of one nondescript shopping mall situated in the heart of Gauteng Province stands an unpl…

Published: 13 Jul 2017 at 10:50hrs | 1 | by Tafi Mhaka

Zimbabwe, the house Bob Mugabe brought down

Zimbabwe, The House Bob Mugabe Brought Down When the nation of Zimbabwe was born on 18 April 1980, Jamaican reggae superstar, Bob Marley, brought the house down at Rufaro Stadium in Harare with a standout performance for the ages, which in…

Published: 07 Jul 2017 at 12:40hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

To make Zimbabwe great again: bring back the full fat milk, french toast and wild honey

I absolutely loved the 7 years I spent learning at Hallingbury Primary School in Harare. One particular delight I enjoyed indulging in back then still warms my soul: drinking full fat fresh milk. The subsidised packet of full fat milk I dr…

Published: 07 Jul 2017 at 12:34hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

Nominating Tsvangirai for Presidency is absurd and immoral

A great leader inspires the masses by overcoming hardships and working for the greater good of society. Strive Masiyiwa almost sold the shirt off his back as his 5-year legal battle against the government of Zimbabwe for a mobile network o…

Published: 03 Mar 2017 at 10:01hrs | 2 | by Tafi Mhaka

Zimbabwe needs a fresh lot of heroes

A great leader inspires the masses by overcoming hardships and working for the greater good of society. Strive Masiyiwa almost sold the shirt off his back as his 5-year legal battle against the government of Zimbabwe for a mobile network o…

Published: 03 Mar 2017 at 09:54hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka

Columnist / Tafi mhaka

There is no constitutional loophole

Extending Zimbabwe's Presidential term of office

ED2030: Nothing stops Zanu-PF

Minister urges home seekers to verify with councils to avoid land fraud

MP Zhou calls for castration of child rapists amid rising abuse cases

Senator Tongogara demands clarity on disease-related deaths and national health strategy

Chamisa loyalists brands Timba as a 'rebel'

Vicious crackdown on Chiwenga backers

Mnangagwa's camp left in disarray

5 Zimbabweans convicted in £300,000 NHS fraud in UK

Student arrested for stabbing maid

Zimbabwe farmland surveys to be concluded soon

Mnangagwa hands over car, cash and house to Comic Elder

'Sanctions removal will unlock Zimbabwe's potential'

Zimbabwe resilient despite sanctions

Cowdray Park residents receive first batch of title deeds

Govt complicit in Penhalonga's environmental collapse

Zanu-PF is in panic mode

Man jailed after pleasuring himself while staring at woman sweeping

Cousin's creepy crush lands him behind bars

Woman smashes windows over 'stolen' man

Woman caught smuggling truckload of buckets across the Limpopo

Real Zimbabwe opposition is alive

When Christians mistake State House invitations for divine blessings

Zanu-PF wins Mangwe councillor seat after 20 years

Developers exploit BCC's tender flaws

Dangote expected in Zimbabwe for a potential US$1bn deal

Council employee loses fake qualifications case

Zanu-PF loving chief's woes mount

Pay cut for Harare bigwigs

5 Zimbabweans convicted in £300,000 NHS fraud in UK

Extending Zimbabwe's Presidential term of office

There is no constitutional loophole

Chamisa loyalists brands Timba as a 'rebel'

Mnangagwa's camp left in disarray

ED2030: Nothing stops Zanu-PF

Student arrested for stabbing maid

Man jailed after pleasuring himself while staring at woman sweeping

Vicious crackdown on Chiwenga backers

Charamba 'explains' the Catholic land saga

News Team

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