Columnist / Tafi mhaka
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-speakin...Published: 19 Jul 2024 at 07:41hrs | 1099 | 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 class...Published: 10 Jul 2024 at 09:17hrs | 28 | 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 M...Published: 16 Sep 2022 at 06:07hrs | | 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" t...Published: 22 Jun 2022 at 06:46hrs | 7 | 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 co...Published: 03 Dec 2021 at 05:30hrs | 8 | 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 l...Published: 26 Sep 2020 at 08:29hrs | 1 | 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...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 ch...Published: 10 Jul 2018 at 07:17hrs | | 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 ...Published: 01 Apr 2018 at 07:48hrs | | 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 e...Published: 31 Mar 2018 at 07:58hrs | | 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 ...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...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 w...Published: 08 Mar 2018 at 08:31hrs | 1 | 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 Mugab...Published: 27 Feb 2018 at 15:08hrs | | 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, His...Published: 20 Feb 2018 at 15:19hrs | 1 | 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 r...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...Published: 16 Feb 2018 at 16:56hrs | 2 | 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 191...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 wh...Published: 03 Jan 2018 at 07:27hrs | 1 | 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 ...Published: 02 Jan 2018 at 10:09hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka
Where is first lady getting money for donations she is making? - ZCP
Zimbabwe Communist Party secretary general Ngqabutho Nicholas Mabhena has questioned the source of the funding which is enabling the first lady Auxillia Mnangagwa to make donations around the country ...Published: 28 Dec 2017 at 07:48hrs | 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 wil...Published: 28 Dec 2017 at 07:45hrs | | 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 extensivel...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 s...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'...Published: 08 Dec 2017 at 09:02hrs | 1 | 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 – Africa as a whole celebrated the election of...Published: 03 Dec 2017 at 14:54hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka
What it is like to be Hakim Bello, A refugee in the Mediterranean
As Hakim Bello left Nigeria, the hope of a first-class life abroad, drowned out the cacophony of doubts piercingly sounding in his head. But the tragedy of hope is, it is not a science. He lef...Published: 03 Dec 2017 at 07:33hrs | | 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 wel...Published: 25 Nov 2017 at 07:29hrs | | 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 class...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 ca...Published: 20 Oct 2017 at 09:59hrs | 1 | 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 rea...Published: 15 Oct 2017 at 09:53hrs | | 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 h...Published: 06 Oct 2017 at 09:15hrs | 1 | 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 'Brother...Published: 05 Oct 2017 at 17:39hrs | 1 | 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 wome...Published: 16 Sep 2017 at 12:10hrs | 1 | 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 v...Published: 05 Sep 2017 at 07:33hrs | | 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 menaci...Published: 02 Sep 2017 at 07:40hrs | 1 | 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 ...Published: 29 Aug 2017 at 07:49hrs | | 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 carefull...Published: 27 Aug 2017 at 08:44hrs | 9 | 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 ...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 Yaoundé, Cameroon. The match is tied 3-3. The Warriors are battling hard and creating chance after chance - wa...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 ca...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 tigh...Published: 31 Jul 2017 at 08:26hrs | | 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 King...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 o...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...Published: 19 Jul 2017 at 11:28hrs | 1 | 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 t...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 govern...Published: 13 Jul 2017 at 14:12hrs | 1 | 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 h...Published: 13 Jul 2017 at 10:50hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka
General Chiwenga: The last action hero in Silobela, Muzarabani And Tsholotsho
My youthful soul bled profusely after my cousin had landed at Manyame Airbase in Harare badly injured and precariously close to his last day on earth. My troubled and hapless spirit experienced a thou...Published: 08 Jul 2017 at 21:41hrs | | 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 wit...Published: 07 Jul 2017 at 12:40hrs | | by Tafi Mhaka
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