- I never imagined myself actively talking of volcanic ash over Europe from an Icelandic volcano. I thought what volcanic ash has to do with a poor writer from Zimbabwe. I might never be in the vicinity of a volcano in my lifetime. But the volcanic ash has hit my colleagues in the arts industry in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Jane Morris and Brian Jones of Amabooks, a local publisher were supposed to travel to South Africa and on to Britain for the London Book Fair. Amabooks have published numerous books including short writings from Bulawayo one to three and short writings from Zimbabwe. They have also published several collections of poetry by John Eppel: John Eppel was also published in the pres…

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- A matter that is not resolved in the right manner is never buried and it never dies. Take for example the slaughter of Armenian people by the Ottoman (Turkish) army in 1895-96 and 1909. The Turkish government denies that genocide ever took place. The reality of the matter is that the matter will always be around and will cause problems. That is the case with the issue of Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe: Twenty thousand plus people were slaughtered and countless others maimed. Mugabe is silent about it and it's a festering wound. The same case with minority rule in Zimbabwe before independence in 1980. When Zimbabwe became independent in 1980, there was a never a proper sit-down to say, okay,…

- ONE COUNTRY, ONE PARTY, ONE LANGUAGE A Coup d’Etat or an overthrow usually gets rid of a dictator, but then the dictator is replaced by another dictator. Without a coup or an overthrow, the dictator gets away with murdering thousands of people. It’s debatable weather they get away with it or not in the case of a coup because in most cases they end up living comfortably in exile. Africa has had its fair share of dictators who have seen the exit door via coups or being overthrown by rebel leaders. These include the notorious Idi Amin Dada, also known as the ‘Butcher of Uganda’, Joseph Desire Mobutu later known as Mobutu Sese Seko who siphoned away US$5 billion of…