Where they do things differently

By Angus Shaw | May 30, 2016 |

To get to this, you need to go with this. The driver who took this photo on his phone of one of the convoy escorts was briefly arrested. No photos! They took the phone but the shots were already stored in the cloud. Remember Mr Mugabe tripping up at Harare airport last year when officials…

Reflections on Zhing Zhong and China

By Angus Shaw | May 19, 2016 |

VILANKULOS, Mozambique – In case it passed unnoticed, it is 50 years exactly since Chairman Mao began China’s Cultural Revolution that killed, conservatively, 2 million people in the beginning and many more millions as the Red Guards continued to rampage across the country to enforce it. The new Chinese leadership has ignored the anniversary for…

Reflections from a beach far away

By Angus Shaw | May 17, 2016 |

Bored with politics and the US presidential race in particular? Monica Lewinsky’s legacy (courtesy Private Eye.) As the old saying goes, if you think your single vote doesn’t make a difference, spend the night in a closed room with a single mosquito. Malaria alert.   No anti-material prophylaxis tablets available Harare – the local drug…

Tanaka and the tortoise – Zimbabwe in a nutshell

By Angus Shaw | May 13, 2016 |

“A bus service runs from place A to B. The driver is one Tanaka who is on a renewable contract. After a while, the bus comes back every month with something missing – a wing mirror, a headlamp, the ticket dispenser and even the steering wheel. Sometimes Tanaka has accidents which cost a large amount…

Hell run to the sea – more dangerous than Renamo

By Angus Shaw | May 9, 2016 |

  Carpe Diem, ‘seize the day’ or enjoy the present instead of placing all hope in the future. Literally from the Latin: “pluck the day while it is ripe.” This boat, named Carpe Diem, beached in the harbour at Vilancoulos, has had its ripe day and won’t be sailing into the future any time soon. Here’s…

Confusion reigns once more

By Angus Shaw | April 26, 2016 |

      The unilateral and unseemly suspension by Local Government Minister Saviour ‘Tyson’ Kasukuwere of  the Harare Mayor, Bernard ‘Ben’ Manyanyeni, and the attempts to remove the Town Clerk, James Mushore, bring further dissonance to the capital city’s poor delivery of services. (from left: Kasukuwere, Manyenyeni, Mushore, Tsvangirai, Mbanga) Whether or not it is sour grapes…

36 years of independence. Where is it going?

By Angus Shaw | April 18, 2016 |

As ever, The Herald newspaper excels itself.  Zimbabweans are celebrating the achievements in health, education and land reform after liberation from colonial rule in 1980. “Zimbabwe is the only country where it is economically beneficial to be a person of colour. The country might be going through economic challenges, experiencing devastating graft and corruption but…

New Age numbers game: extra marital secrets

By Angus Shaw | April 15, 2016 |

Here’s an interesting observation taken from the website of The Herald, the government-controlled daily in Zimbabwe, on a New Age game of numbers. The High Court ruled it is a privacy matter and thus against the law to pry into someone else’s mobile phone without their express permission. This came out in a murder trial in which…

It’s chaos down there. So what? We’re just another Third World city after all

By Angus Shaw | March 31, 2016 |

Like life in general here,  getting about on our roads and streets has gone haywire. Motoring costs have soared, lives are in danger every moment, the frustrated public psyche is to drive hell-for -leather, potholes notwithstanding, and police threaten drivers at roadblocks everywhere. Five checkpoints on a six kilometre stretch in the once-thriving industrial district…

‘Volcanic eruption’ in pangolin poaching

By Angus Shaw | March 11, 2016 | Comments Off on ‘Volcanic eruption’ in pangolin poaching

  The television network CNN called it the most poached mammal in the world that no-one’s ever heard of – the pangolin, also known as the scaly ant-eater, the shy nocturnal animal that rolls up into a ball in its armour-like scales when in danger. The pangolin is endangered worldwide because it is much sought…