Joshua Marikopo

Beautiful African children.  Image credits Gross incompetence and poor governance sit at the heart of most council-run cities and towns across Africa, and Zimbabwe is no exception. While a few countries on the continent have managed to build relatively functional local administrations, the dominant story remains one of mismanagement, neglect, and systemic failure. These failures are not accidental; they are the direct outcome of leadership that prioritizes self-interest over public service. There is overwhelming evidence of public officials abusing state resources for personal gain—extravagant lifestyles funded by public money, rampant corruption, and endless scandals involving illegal deals tied to national resources. This unchecked looting has crippled economies, destroyed public institutions, and plunged millions into poverty. The consequences are visible everywhere: rising crime rates, collapsing health systems, declining education standards, food insecurity, and, in extreme ca...

 Harare, and much of Zimbabwe- and a greater part of Southern Africa has received good rainfall this season. This has been a much welcome change; in 2024 the El Nino (a weather occurrence which causes poor rainfall and droughts swept across the region, and as a consequence more than 50 million people were in need of food aid, according to World Food Program (WFP, 2024). However these good rains continue to expose how much unprepared our Southern cities are for abundant rain because of flooding within many cities. Just a few days ago the Town Council of Harare issued a warning that there were high flood risks in many parts of the city. You can read the story on the following link Harare issues sterk warning of flooding risk This comes as no surprise really, many drains have been clogged with dirt and rubbish and are no longer functional. The water has no exit points and all the water end up flooding most homes and buildings. Proper maintenance of the city’s key infrastructure is so ...

 Today, with Birdlife Mashonaland Club, we visited the Lake Chivero bird sanctuary. The following birds were observed including: Hamerkops (loads) White-faced ducks (loads) African Fish-eagles (many) Yellow-billed kites (a couple) Common Moorhen  Allen's Galinule African Jacana (a few) Red-collared Widowbird  Red bishops (loads) Common waxbills Grey herons (many) Purple Heron (1) Squacco Heron (1) Emerald-spotted wood-doves Ring-necked doves Spectacled Weavers Pied kingfishers  Grey Hornbill (1) Scarlet chested sunbirds (a couple) Orange-breasted Bush-shrike Flappet Lark Wire-tailed swallows Brown throated Martins Willow warblers Great reed warblers Lesser Swamp-warbler  Village Indigobird Now back to the subject, Harare has been getting plenty of rain, along with most parts of Zimbabwe. It is easy to assume that there is enough rainfall to fill up our lakes, but that has not been the case. The water levels look receded. Of course, we still have till April with ...