ANGUS SHAW Blog

I give up

It is peculiarly southern African to have traffic lights we call ‘robots.’  But don’t get nostalgic for robots  here in Harare. Half of them don’t work and the police are...

Some roads are more equal than others

Mr Mugabe went to pay his condolences to the family of Primrose Kurasha, the vice chancellor of the Zimbabwe Open University, at her home in the northern suburbs of Harare....

It’s been a daunting year so far …

First,  an outbreak of scurvy at the Ingutsheni psychiatric hospital in Bulawayo. Scurvy is caused by vitamin and dietary deficiencies and can make teeth fall out, along with fatigue, skin...

It’s not all that meets the eye

People on the social networks are finding all sorts of symbolism – and satire – in the latest Time magazine Person of the Year cover I mentioned last time for...

Lies, lies, lies and more lies …

Well, well, well, what a sorry state of affairs we find ourselves in. Here we have US$100 issued by a bank in single, grimy one dollar notes – the only...

So farewell, Fidel

Mr Mugabe’s turn came as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement. Every- one found it rather amusing that the Cuban embassy had just bought the house in Harare next door to...

What a mess

Heartfelt thanks for all your greetings and good wishes on my 67th birthday. It was a blast of a day. With all the world’s troubles, it is somehow comforting to...

Believe it or not …

Does anyone really believe the government will pick up the tab for the $370 million debt at the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company to make the broken-down, decrepit Redcliff plant...

The Horn of Plenty is empty now

In a bank queue the other day when the money ran out. It prompted a swell of anger and discontent, unusually heated for normally placid Zimbabweans. “It’s down to the...