Columnist / Takura zhangazha
China vs USA: In the battles over lowly Zimbabwe, it is what Zimbabweans want that is important
There are a number of new stories that are emerging about the role of China in Zimbabwe. In the past, the Chinese Embassy would have been less robust in defense of its bilateral aid to Zimbabw...Published: 29 Sep 2021 at 07:23hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Economy as the superstructure in Zimbabwe
There were a number of by-elections in Zimbabwe over the last month.One was for the local government in my rural home district of Bikita East in Masvingo province. The others were for the parl...Published: 08 Aug 2019 at 07:57hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
Electricity cuts, lifestyles and modified behaviour in Zimbabwe
Electricity and access to it is a big issue in Zimbabwe at the moment. Not least by admission of our own government, but more importantly by the lived realities of many urban-based Zimbabweans, civil ...Published: 31 Jul 2019 at 08:03hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Considerations on Zimbabwe's future
ZIMBABWE'S future is rarely discussed in holistic terms in everyday conversations. This is because the future is always in the immediate.This may appear contradictory or even complex, but it i...Published: 25 Jul 2019 at 07:57hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Prophet Magaya abuse allegations: Evils of commodifying the female body
A LOCAL weekly, The Sunday Mail newspaper recently carried a very disturbing story on allegations of sexual abuse of female worshippers by well-known clergyman, Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Minis...Published: 13 Jul 2019 at 08:19hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
US$ as deity in Zimbabwe
THE Zimbabwean government recently did the unfathomable, at least according to social media pundits, some civil society organisations, unions and influential urbanites. It arbitrarily and abruptly re-...Published: 28 Jun 2019 at 06:22hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
Africa in global cold war: A return to consciousness struggle
THE British daily, the Guardian recently published a story on how Russia has new plans to exert its influence across the African content. All in return for the usual imperial desires such as natural r...Published: 17 Jun 2019 at 09:25hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
Zupco jokes, economic class and hedonistic individualism in Zimbabwe
There can be a bit of a laugh, if you are on social media, concerning the political-economic goings-on in Zimbabwe.There should not (strictly speaking) be. But on social media, there is and hu...Published: 07 Jun 2019 at 06:56hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Africa in the age of surveillance capitalism, neo-imperialism
One of my first lectures in graduate school was on how "enlightenment era" Europe imagined and mapped Africa. And some of the first maps were silent about the interior save for pyramids to the north, ...Published: 30 May 2019 at 07:51hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe @39: A return to the source
The number of years since our national Independence may increase, but its historic meaning is never lost, and that is as it should be.No matter one's political or religious views, our national...Published: 24 Apr 2019 at 07:21hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe's version of disaster capitalism, couched as resilience
A LOCAL Zimbabwean artist, Dereck Mpofu, recently released a song titled Mweya wechiZimba. Even though the title of the song may suggest it is religious, it is upon listening to it, that you discover ...Published: 18 Apr 2019 at 07:10hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
Robert Mugabe's true legacy
There have been a number of books written on former President Robert Mugabe in his many leadership roles. As a leader of a guerrilla movement/army, as a Prime Minister (1980-87), as President (1987-20...Published: 01 Apr 2019 at 06:43hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
A dying (public) intellectualism in Zimbabwe
THE late Masipula Sithole taught me (and many others) how to perceive and think about our country, Zimbabwe's politics.Not only formally via the university lecture room, but also more signific...Published: 23 Mar 2019 at 05:54hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Sadc, EU positions on Zimbabwe: Attempting an end of history
Last week, there were two very important statements issued on Zimbabwe by two very important inter-State political bodies. The first of these statements and closer to home was issued by the Southern A...Published: 21 Feb 2019 at 07:22hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
2018: The year in which anger took centre stage
At some point, almost every adult Zimbabwean could easily be defined as being angry in the year 2018.And all for different reasons. A majority of us were apoplectic about the state of the nati...Published: 23 Dec 2018 at 09:35hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
One year after Mugabe: A revolution still not televised
On November 15, 2017, Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's longest serving ruler was confined to his private residence in the affluent suburb of Borrowdale in Harare, Zimbabwe. This came as armed soldiers took c...Published: 16 Nov 2018 at 05:48hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe's 'Black Gold', no rush plus capital wagging State's tail
THE government of Zimbabwe held a Press conference at which President Emmerson Mnangagwa initially announced that a private company, Invictus, had made oil and gas discoveries in Muzarabani district. ...Published: 09 Nov 2018 at 05:10hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
Mnangagwa's business dance, Masiyiwa's compliance
President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently held a consultative meeting with Zimbabwe's business sector. This came against the backdrop of a national economic crisis largely caused by a new monetary policy ...Published: 07 Nov 2018 at 06:21hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Strategy changes needed to push Zimbabwe media forward
IN this instalment, I will try to discuss, albeit briefly, strategic issues of the media in Zimbabwe, going forward. I am not sure how far forward we should look, but I would assume that so long we lo...Published: 03 Nov 2018 at 08:55hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
RBZ's Monetary Policy for the haves, not the poor
IN Zimbabwean writer Shimmer Chinodya's Harvest of Thorns novel, there is a description of the main character's father, Mr Tichafa, as probably having been the best minister of Finance that Rhodesia p...Published: 04 Oct 2018 at 05:54hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe's next five years: 2018-2023 (realities, lies)
POLITICAL perspectives in Zimbabwe, at least after the recent 2018 general election, have tended to have a sense of immediacy and urgency.Spurred on by the fundamentally zero-sum power games t...Published: 26 Sep 2018 at 11:29hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
Corporates and cholera philanthropy
IT was recently reported that Econet Zimbabwe founding chief executive officer and now majority shareholder, Strive Masiyiwa issued a social media statement that questioned the transparency of the use...Published: 20 Sep 2018 at 07:09hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Belling Zimbabwe's electoral-ideological cat
IT will take a while yet for the national after-effect of the 2018 harmonised election to wear off. Praise singers of President Emmerson Mnangagwa will continue justifying his eventual victory, while ...Published: 05 Sep 2018 at 07:10hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
Nyagura suspension: Reviving calls for academic freedom, prudence
UNIVERSITY of Zimbabwe vice-chancellor, Levi Nyagura was recently suspended from office by President-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa.According to a Press statement by the Minister of Higher and Terti...Published: 22 Aug 2018 at 06:11hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe elections: Recognition and God's Case, No Appeal
RECOGNITION of the result of Zimbabwe's 2018 harmonised elections was always going to be a matter of basic international relations. One would be forgiven for arguing about which countries recognise th...Published: 18 Aug 2018 at 08:04hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Polls aftermath: Highly personal but collective political catharsis
THERE was always going to be a disputed winner of Zimbabwe's 2018 elections, especially after Robert Mugabe was no longer on the presidential ballot paper.And it was always going to be very pe...Published: 14 Aug 2018 at 06:42hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
In defence of Zimbabwe's rural voter
WHEN the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) started announcing the 2018 election results, there was a lot of urban/social media anger at rural voters. The numbers that were being announced were indic...Published: 02 Aug 2018 at 07:39hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
ZBC's problem is editorial, not advertorial
THE Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) recently issued a statement on its coverage of political parties during the current campaign period of Zimbabwe's 2018 harmonised election. This was after o...Published: 16 Jul 2018 at 07:17hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
United in ambition, no high stakes: Zimbabwe's election candidates
I HAVE a number of friends and acquaintances that are running for political office in Zimbabwe's scheduled harmonised election.The greater majority of them intend to be local government counci...Published: 12 Jul 2018 at 08:50hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe elections: A complicit attempt at ending opposition politics
ZIMBABWE'S ruling establishment or military political complex are consistently referring to how they intend to stop focusing on "politics". Instead, as claimed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, they wa...Published: 26 Jun 2018 at 07:19hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Capital's interest, influence in Zimbabwe's 2018 polls
At the risk of stating the obvious, the "ease of doing business" is an inherently political term. Not merely because President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is using the term in each and every one of his major ...Published: 19 Mar 2018 at 07:54hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Chiwenga, reaching for history, missing the future
The recently-published interview given by the Commander of Zimbabwe's Defence Forces (ZDF) General Constantino Chiwenga to state-controlled media was a politically significant one. Not only for the ru...Published: 07 May 2017 at 08:22hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Self-righteousness does not make SA exceptional, Cde Mbalula
South Africa's new minister of police Fikile Mbalula appears to have approached his new assignment with reckless enthusiasm. He was very recently quoted as having said that his country's immediate nei...Published: 30 Apr 2017 at 14:18hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Mugabe's complex dominance without persuasion
A COMRADE in the academic world recently sent me a copy of a New Left Review article entitled "The Heirs of Gramsci". Largely focusing on intellectuals who furthered the Italian philosopher's ...Published: 17 Nov 2016 at 07:43hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Augmented political realities in Zimbabwe
There is always interest in assessing how the interaction of new technologies affects everyday human realities. In the age of the internet, this is referred to as "augmented reality". It refers in par...Published: 07 Sep 2016 at 06:25hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe's undemocratic dance with private grain
THE Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Joseph Made recently announced that in order to mitigate the drought Zimbabwe is faced with, Government is set to import Us$26...Published: 07 Jan 2016 at 05:03hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe bond coin vexing the masses
THERE are conversations that we are not having concerning our more mundane economic realities in Zimbabwe. I boarded a commuter omnibus, commonly referred to as a "kombi" in our country.An eld...Published: 30 Oct 2015 at 14:20hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe opposition political parties in serious trouble
Zimbabwe's opposition political parties are in serious trouble and are functioning on a wing and a prayer. They however will not admit to it.The largest opposition in Parliament and also popul...Published: 20 Oct 2015 at 15:27hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
5 reasons why voting on June 10 will be a waste of time
I am registered to vote in Harare's Dzivaresekwa parliamentary constituency. It is one of the poorest residential areas in Harare and like most urban constituencies in Zimbabwe, has over a decade ...Published: 07 Jun 2015 at 14:51hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe's 5 grim realities
In the last three months there have been at least two articles by renowned academics outlining how Zimbabwe is either undergoing the 'politics of despair' or alternatively how our 'darkest hour ...Published: 26 Apr 2015 at 17:02hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Econet is a key player in Zimbabwean politics
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has over the years come to be a key player in Zimbabwe's national political economy. Recently, a local weekly The Zimbabwe Independent published a story on its front pag...Published: 05 Mar 2015 at 19:04hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
The ironies of Professor Jonathan Moyo's social media 'arrival'
The Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Professor Jonathan Moyo has announced, with a little bit of drama, that he is now going to be directly using social media platforms Faceb...Published: 10 Feb 2015 at 15:58hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Mugabe's succession, war vets hold key
Veterans from Zimbabwe's liberation war are an ever present generational feature of our political landscape.Their narratives of the struggle have largely been captured by Zanu-PF as a politic...Published: 20 Jul 2014 at 09:19hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zanu PF's three leadership succession plans
Watching and listening to President Mugabe's Independence Day speech there was one line that struck me. It was brief but it made mention of succession. Paraphrasing it, the President s...Published: 23 Apr 2014 at 17:56hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Tsvangirai's generation has failed us
Four years ago, at the advent of the inclusive government, I once had an animated conversation with a lawyer and a businessman. Both were avid MDC- T supporters. They were both old school opposition a...Published: 14 Jan 2014 at 06:30hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
President Zuma, 'It helps to think like an African!'
South African President Jacob Zuma is generally a man who harbours little fear of the negative consequences of his words or actions. Or if he does, he exhibits a certain confidence that he will overc...Published: 23 Oct 2013 at 10:51hrs | 1 | by Takura Zhangazha
The struggle for Zimbabwe democracy continues
When the inclusive government came into existence, discourse over and about the "struggle" shifted significantly. Whether this discourse was about narratives of "arrival", or alternatively, "continuit...Published: 01 Sep 2013 at 12:02hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Zimbabwe draft constitution: an elitist deception
I HAVE not yet read the COPAC draft constitution, and I will probably not read it because I do not have to.It is a document that can no longer take my views into account, no matter how many ti...Published: 27 Jul 2012 at 16:56hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Mbeki's Zim GPA was a major African diplomatic success
THE former director general in the South African Presidency, Reverend Frank Chikane, recently published an interesting if not controversial book. The title of the book, '...Published: 29 Mar 2012 at 05:28hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
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