28 January 2012 16:30

Why so hush, hush?

The Post Office is moving out of the Post Office (Yes you read that right!), writes Cathy Buckle.

When I arrived at my local Post Office this week I couldn’t believe my eyes as I squinted through the brick dust and picked my way around the rubble. For the past six weeks there have been increasingly loud whispers that the Post Office was moving out of the Post Office. (Yes you read that right!) At first I thought it was some sort of mad Zimbabwean joke and just shook my head, muttered under my breath and laughed. As the days went past and Christmas drew closer, the story kept coming back. In the end I asked the counter staff and, like everything in Zimbabwe, it was a mission to get to the bottom of the story. First look over your shoulder and make sure no one is listening, then check that no one is watching and then talk in the quietest of whispers. Eleven years of fighting for...

22 January 2012 05:16

Just doing my job

A human cyclone was underway in Bulawayo, writes Cathy Buckle.

All week we received increasing warnings about an approaching cyclone. ZBC radio and TV advised people to avoid low lying areas, not to try and cross flooded bridges or fast moving rivers and to be prepared for heavy rainfall and big storms. Whilst warning us about the approaching weather system, ZBC reminded us that the last cyclone to hit Zimbabwe had been Cyclone Eline, in February 2000, and went on to point out that some of the bridges destroyed by Eline had yet to be repaired - eleven years later. A disgraceful admission if ever we heard one.

Roofs, gutters, drains and trees near houses were top of the list to be checked and cleared. We'd been told to prepare for hailstorms, high winds and rainfall of 80 mm (just over three inches) every day for two or three days. The view ...