zimcanada.com

The last time I was in Zimbabwe I had an encounter with a local arts and crafts vendor who has a stall in one of Harare's bustling flea markets. On this occasion he seemed disinterested in flaunting his archetypal Zimbabwean sculptures of mothers cradling their young or the clichéd soapstone wildlife roaming his rickety tabletop.

A prayer meeting for the Madeira family is set for Friday January 8, Zimbabwe Cultural Association of Alberta (ZCUSA) announced today.ZCUSA made the announcement after Moses Madeira, the vice chairperson of  the association,  lost his brother-in-law earlier this week  in Zimbabwe. The deceased's name is Mr. Emmanuel Mazanhi of Mutare. He passed away in Harare at the age of 40, and is survived by his wife and three children.

Patrick Bond remembers his friend,renowned political activist  and one of Africa's most celebrated poets, Dennis Brutus, who died early on December 26 in Cape Town, in his sleep. Brutus was born in Harare in 1924 to South African parents. He attended the University of Witwatersrand and  Fort Hare University among others.

Chakabuda was ready to pack her bags.The native of Zimbabwe was considering either a return to her home country or moving on to Montreal for further studies. But a recurring question kept her in Halifax.

I went to see Invictus over the holidays. Good flick. Very good, actually. I'm always a sucker for movies that fuse sports with history, politics and social issues. And given the parallels between the South Africa of 1995 and the South Africa of the present, I found this one to be especially poignant.

The year has come to a close with the stuff that would make another good Western clip in the league of legendary director Sergio Leon’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Marriages of convenience, specifications, MDC-T compromises and later disengagement from the government of national unity were some of the highlights of the year. Business magnates John Moxon and Nigel Chanakira spend the better part of the year at each other’s throats.

A Zimbabwean man has told of his pride after being picked as an Olympic torch bearer by a small Canadian town.

As we say farewell to this rather dismal decade, which opened with Millennial celebrations of a New World Order and The End of History, and has been thoroughly disfigured by terrorism, economic stupidity, inept political leadership and untrammeled vulgarity of public tastes, I dare to hope for somewhat better things (for the world as well as my family and self).

The editor and team at zimcanada would like to wish you a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

UNITED NATIONS - Zimbabwe's ruling political party has been accused of launching a "widespread and systematic campaign of rape and sexual terror" aimed at intimidating opponents and voters in the troubled African nation, according to a new report released here.