Posts by Angus Shaw

Having been to Haiti in my professional meanderings a while ago, I have often wondered what made it such a fascinating place but such a scary one to spend time in.  Its colonial history is unique. A rebellion against the French colonisers brought independence 200 years ago. But nothing about Haiti is that straightforward.  The…

A leading light in agriculture for many years recalls starting his farm in untouched bush in the early 1960s. At first, no water, no electricity and just a clapped-out generator. Now he has a townhouse in Harare, no water, no electricity and just a clapped-out generator.   Lights out, public utilities and businesses are closed…

What a life. Endless electricity cuts of around 10 hours a day, endless petrol queues and endless consumer price increases as the exchange rate rockets out of control. Rolling power outages are blamed on insufficient rains to replenish the water at Kariba dam, its hydroelectrics usually our biggest source of energy. The water level at…

As Mr Mnangagwa gets a luxury jet to fly from Harare to Bulawayo, his people insist the plane is on free loan from his new friends in the United Arab Emirates. They send it down to him whenever he needs it. The actual cost of these flights from the UAE is hard to determine. Some…

Bravo, bravo to the gallant conservationists who have stopped construction work on the Monovale vlei and wetlands.  Opposition to their campaign came from vested interests but at least this time there was no government minister saying ‘we won’t let a few frogs and lizards stand in the way of development’ as was said when the…

So grandfatherly old Mr Biden kissed a woman’s hair on the back of her head. He touched noses with another, not the eskimo greeting but an encroachment on her private space, they all said.  What a palaver. The former vice president,  still a contender in the race against Trump in the next US election, has…

It goes on and on. Sanctions blah, blah, blah. Economy rebounding, blah, blah, blah, currency collapsing blah, blah blah. A looting continua, blah, blah, blah.  Not to leave Kim Jong-un out of the sanctions blah, here he is lighting up before another inconclusive blah, blah, blah with Trump in Vietnam. His father before him and…

It beggars belief. Our friend Botswana was going to lend us $600 million, we were told in the state media. ( The equivalent in height in $100 bills of 600 of these chairs.) “That is totally untrue,’’ Botswana President Masisi told reporters once he arrived home in Gaborone from a visit to Harare. What he…

Is it any wonder we are all confused? The state media says one thing – which is mostly very far from the truth – and independent voices say another, not always true either. Human rights defenders, lawyers and doctors and nurses who helped the injured  – shot, or beaten, or mauled by dogs or raped…