Top stories: news and views from around the world

Sky-rocketing xenophobia in South Africa fuelled by mis-management and ANC corruption
There is growing support for Nhlanhla ‘Lux’ Dlamini and his put South Africa first protests. GUEST WRITER OF THE MONTH by Andrew Field Harare, Zimbabwe – –… Read more >

Battle to provide crutches to a crippled Commonwealth hots-up as Jamaica announces its candidate for the post of Secretary-General
Jamaica’s Kamina Johnson-Smith – A badly needed ‘bridge builder’ with a high moral character By Trevor Grundy Jamaica, which has stated its determination to abandon its constitutional link… Read more >

Queen will miss Commonwealth Day but Baroness Scotland will be there lobbying to be re-elected as the club’s Secretary-General
Baroness Scotland – In search of another term as Commonwealth Secretary-General By Trevor Grundy Queen Elizabeth won’t be at the annual Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on… Read more >

Verbal violence mounts as candidates and voters hope for peace and transparency during and after Zimbabwe’s first post-Covid elections
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has proclaimed March 26 as the date for long-awaited by-elections to fill vacant seats in the National Assembly and various local authorities across the country. … Read more >

March 1922 – The month that Communists and Afrikaners joined hands to fight profit-hungry mine owners in South Afriuca
Some military historians still see the Rand Revolt of March 1922 as a Communist attempt to take-over South Africa. Picture shows (top) Jan Smuts and (below) the Communist leader ‘Comrade… Read more >

As forests go up in smoke, Zimbabwe’s short-sighted leaders create a desert and call it land reform
Tobacco farmers are responsible for a fifth of the total amount of deforestation in Zimbabwe By Trevor Grundy Feeding China’s growing need for cheap tobacco is creating deserts… Read more >

Deeper research is required if we are to understand a brutal war that turned Rhodesia into Zimbabwe
BOOK REVIEW A Brutal State of Affairs – The Rise and fall of Rhodesia by Henrik Ellert and Dennis Anderson (Weaver Press, Harare, Zimbabwe, 2020 pp 412) by… Read more >

New book sheds fresh light on Italian war crimes in Ethiopia and the help the Pope gave to Mussolini’s fascists
Book Review ‘Holy War – The untold story of Catholic Italy’s crusade against the Ethiopian Orthodox Church’ by Ian Campbell (Hurst & Company, London, 449 pp) by Trevor Grundy … Read more >

Downing Street’s ‘Odd Couple’ who help safeguard Boris Johnson’s version of British democracy
Boris Johnson and Munira Mirza. The British PM says she’s ‘hip, cool, groovy and generally on-trend.’ By Trevor Grundy Whatever happens to Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the… Read more >

Ruth Weiss to be honoured for her life-long service to journalism and her struggle for human rights in Europe and Africa
Ruth Weiss – much honoured German-Jewish journalist and author (Picture: Trevor Grundy, Harare, Zimbabwe 1983) By Trevor Grundy One of the world’s leading campaigners against apartheid in South… Read more >