In response to your editorial ( Public libraries: Losing the plot , 26 August), the important issue is that all of us, of any age, should read, be it in book form or digital. Everyone should be able to access public library spaces, which are the last bastions of free knowledge. The discarding of trained librarians demeans their worth, but that is the trend we continue to see. But sometimes a community...
Books from collection owned by celebrated author, who died last year, to go to country where she lived for quarter of century "Classrooms without textbooks, or an atlas, or even a map pinned to a wall. A school where the teachers beg to be sent books to tell them how to teach, they being only 18 or 19 themselves. I tell how everybody begs for books: 'Please send us books.'" These were among...
Controversial millionaire plans to join forces with state to sack board of Zimbabwe's Hwange Colliery Company, says report Nicholas van Hoogstraten, the British property tycoon notorious for his criminal past and talent to offend , is reportedly set to join forces with Robert Mugabe's government to sack the board of one of Zimbabwe's major coal producers. Van Hoogstraten is allegedly planning an alliance...
UN Women's executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has outlined her vision of the role of women in Africa over the next five decades. Minna Salami picks out the key points Defining African feminism - our partner panel This week, more than 3000 delegates are at the annual meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Kigali discussing new strategies to tackle poverty, underdevelopment, and put...
Brittle Paper gives a run-down of the contenders for this year's award. The winner is announced in July A Nairobi girl through and through, Oduor is working on her debut novel and teaches creative writing. I remembered a time when I was a little child, when I stared into my fathers eyes in much the same way. In them I saw shapes; a drunken, talentless conglomerate of circles and triangles and squares....
Veteran opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti are locked in a fresh leadership battle that will only weaken their position against Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF, says Simukai Tinhu Analysis: Tsvangirai failed Zimbabwe, and now he must go In 1998 two aspiring politicians met to plot the beginnings of a movement that would change Zimbabwes political landscape for more than a decade. One of...
The veteran opposition leader lost his spark when he became Prime Minister for Robert Mugabe's regime. It is time he stopped getting in the way of the real opposition, writes Simon Allison Zimbabwe: Forget plots, Tsvangirai and Biti must work together There was a time, not too long ago, when Morgan Tsvangirai personified everything that was good about Zimbabwe. He was tenacious, fearless and determined...
Gender empowerment projects that focus on girls leave out half of the equation. Our panel suggests ways to engage boys and men to end discrimination Challenge misogyny in public: Some of our most powerful work has been when we've held senior male politicians and public figures accountable for misogynistic statements or abusive behaviour. The documentary film Can't Just Fold Your Arms shows our case...
What does it mean to be a feminist in Africa today? Some of Africa's best commentators share their thoughts. Do the issues raised chime with your experiences? Join our debate A debate has ignited among the Guardians Africa network partners. In a guest blog for Ms Afropolitan Doreen Akiyo Yomoah wrote that "you are a woman" was her least favourite word combination in the English language,...
Party in turmoil with one group saying leader has been stood down but supporters saying removal is null and void A faction in Zimbabwe's main opposition movement has said it is no longer recognising Morgan Tsvangirai as the party leader, blaming "fascist" tendencies and his failure to oust President Robert Mugabe. The group led by Tendai Biti, secretary general of the Movement for Democratic...
Zimbabwean craftsmen made replica guns from wire and beads for Ghosts, a new exhibition opening in Cape Town this week See more of Ralph Ziman's photographs For South African film director Ralph Ziman , growing up in Johannesburg meant guns were a fact of everyday life. I remember going to parties as a teenager, he said. If you looked at someone the wrong way, they would pull out a gun. That was just...
Ralph Ziman's new art installation Ghosts is a powerful comment on South Africa's continuing obsession with guns. Zimbabwean craftsmen have made replica AK-47 guns from wire and beads held by imaginary rebel warriors Read an interview with Ralph Ziman Continue reading... ...
Harare had earlier urged the African Union as a whole to shun the summit over the failure to invite all of the bloc's leaders Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, will boycott next week's EU-Africa summit in Brussels after his wife was denied a visa to enter Europe, a foreign ministry official said . "We disagreed on the composition of our delegation," said a source at the ministry. Harare...
With the contemporary art scene on the continent flourishing, The Culture Trip suggests some of the people worth watching Exiled from Zimbabwe after producing an unflattering portrait of the countrys president, Robert Mugabe, Kudzanai Chiurai , the first black artist to get a BA in fine arts at the University of Pretoria, has become an important figure in African art. Chiurai uses dramatic multimedia...
17 - 21 March: Been offline? Catch up on the development-related news, images, infographics and reports that matter Eliza Anyangwe ...
My father, Leslie Rose, who has died after a long illness aged 89, was a man with a huge appetite for life and a deep commitment to secondary education. His first teaching post was at Fairfield grammar school in Bristol, but he was soon appointed deputy head at one of the new flagship comprehensives, Elliott school in Putney, south-west London. In 1961 he became headteacher at the Nobel school in...
s president said he 'felt as youthful and energetic as a boy of nine' as he cut his birthday cake and released balloons Thousands of people turned out on Sunday to wish happy birthday to Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, who threw 90 balloons into the air to mark his 90th year and continuing hold on power. Fresh off the plane from Singapore, where he had travelled for eye surgery last week, Mugabe...
s other great freedom fighter turned president will be seen as a divisive despot and a fallen angel In a white tent graced by lilies and orchids, the two men who defined politics in southern Africa came face to face for the last time. As Nelson Mandela lay in the open casket , his features both familiar and strange, a crisply suited Robert Mugabe gazed down at him through his dark glasses for a long,...
Mel Reynolds charged with possessing pornographic images and staying in the country without a valid visa A former US congressman has appeared in court in Zimbabwe on charges of possessing pornographic images and staying in the country without a valid visa. Mel Reynolds, 62, a convicted sex offender in the US, was arrested at a hotel on Monday and faces a maximum two-year jail term or a fine if convicted...
s 90th birthday have been condemned as the country lurches towards another financial crisis. The tribute to Africa's oldest head of state – and second oldest in the world after Israel's Shimon Peres – is expected to surpass last year's party, when special gold coins were minted and Mugabe was presented with a cake said to weigh 89kg. But the costly event will come amid heavy job losses, slowing economic...