The outcome of regional intervention in Zimbabwe has been a thirty day ultimatum to implement the agreement and a return to the government by opposition party. However a major sticking point is the trial of one of the opposition government ministers…
Over a week has passed after the partial withdrawal of the opposition party (MDC) from the unity government. While ZANU (PF) dismissed the crisis as a storm in a tea cup, regional leaders were united in their view that the…
The Chinese symbol for crisis can mean either danger or opportunity. This weekend’s announcement by the opposition party in Zimbabwe (MCD) that they will cut off all communication with ZANU (PF) was triggered by the arrest of an MDC minister,…
My brief visit to Zimbabwe had a few surprises, such as availability of basic foodstuffs instead of empty shelves in supermarkets. This has come about because of the replacement of local currency with foreign currency such as US$ and ZAR…
Last week the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) pledged to support the program on national healing in Zimbabwe. The aim of the program is to address the history of political violence in Zimbabwe, including the recent post-election violence as well…
There is a Sotho expression, batho pele — meaning “putting people first” — that one wishes could inform politics in Zimbabwe. Last week the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, visited Zimbabwe, where he met leaders of the different political parties…
August is women’s month in South Africa, with Woman’s Day celebrated on August 9. So the visit to South Africa by one of the world’s most powerful women, Hillary Clinton, was an inspirational moment in continuity with the spirit of…
There is an African proverb from Ethiopia that says, “When spider webs unite they can tie up a lion.” What a graphic illustration of power that emerges as an outcome of networking, partnership, and unity – a power that can overcome…
The government of Zimbabwe, in a groundbreaking move, dedicated this past weekend to renouncing political violence and promoting national healing. It is a time for all Zimbabweans at home and abroad to “renounce and report all forms of political violence, in…
On July 18th many people from different parts of the world celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday! What a tribute to a man who has come to epitomize struggle for justice and commitment to the poor and oppressed. He made a request that…
The visit by U.S. President Barack Obama to Ghana this past weekend was described as his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa. This means that the visit was not seen as just to Ghana but to this region as a whole.…
Conversations can offer creative spaces for questions to be asked and the exchange or exploration of ideas. Conversations can also be fearful spaces where the flow of life, ideas, and questions is hampered. I want to share an example of each…
Since the signing of the agreement that led to a government of “national unity,” there was an expectation that this could be the start of a new era in Zimbabwe. However, the promise of real power-sharing seems to elude the…
I realize that I have been guilty of overlooking “conversations of faith” with friends and family — conversations that reflect the spirit of faith similar to that of the heroes and heroines recorded in Hebrews chapter 11. This is a…
In African culture death is accepted as an inevitable aspect of life and a promotion to the spiritual level where one becomes an ancestor whose duty is to protect and intercede for one’s living family before God.
The South African elections have eclipsed all news in our region. These went fairly smoothly with isolated incidents. The drawcard used by ANC was service delivery and alleviation of poverty, an indication of the key issues at stake in the…
Someone once said that once the wheels of change are in motion, they can’t be stopped; it’s as if once the sun starts to rise, there is no going back into the night. It seems as if the wheels of…
It has been another week of high drama in South Africa and more mixed news from Zimbabwe. In South Africa three key issues have dominated public debate. Namely, the verbal confrontation between Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the African National Congress…
During my studies in theology, my colleagues and I jokingly referred to particularly difficult concepts or issues that we had a hard time understanding as “a Greek moment,” or say “this is Greek to me!” I had a “Greek moment”…
