Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Here, you can see Town House, the City Council Head Office in Harare, controlled by the MDC, to the left of the picture. The Council is now under siege from ZANU PF, who are "siding" with voters by playing up the purchase of a US$150 000 car for the mayor while residents have no service delivery Again, Town House straight ahead, the scaffolding you see on the left is around Joina Centre, the Shingi Mutasa-owned building that stood for years as a ghost, unfinished, as Zimbabwe's economic collapse made building impossible. And this is Joina Centre itself, just opposite the Main Post Office in Harare. It is said although the outside has been finished and looks very nice, inside, the building is still just a shell. The owners took the decision to just finish off the facade so that the building does not continue to be an eyesore. And here are workers at Joina Centre, still sprucing up the outside When complete, Joina Centre will one of Zimbabwe's premier shopping malls. Th...

This is actually the 4th Street Bus Terminus, where foreign currency dealers are back in full force (they ran away from the camera). The traders are capitalising on the fact that Zimbabwean exchange rates in the shops are pegged at 10 South African Rand for every US Dollar whereas the rates at the banks hovers between 7 and 8 rands per USD. So they offer "cross-rates" that are more attractive than either the banks or the shops. And this 7 Arts Theatre at Avondale Shopping Centre in Harare This week, 7 Arts is showing the film Yes Man, as you can see from advertising billboard above. Quite apt, do you not think?? By the way, most people are still not aware that Rainbow Cinemas in Zimbabwe, including the building above, are now owned by the former Television newsreader Supa Mandiwanzira I found this sculptor working a sculpture of a leopard at the Flea Market and he says business is not bad, although most, if not all (he said, "tingangoti vese" - "we could say al...

I quite liked the look of the multi-coloured canopy used to cover the huge car park at Avondale which is now used as the Flea Market This lady was busy packing goldfish at the Avondale Flea Market for a client when I showed up. The client was not too keen about being photographed, but I found her display of the fish and her tanks for sale delightful The Market is quite busy at weekends and remains the most well-known and best established Flea Market in Harare. The other markets that had cropped up were disbanded during Operation Murambatsvina, when "illegal businesses" were demolished by Mugabe's government in an effort o arrest the black market in foreign currency and also disperse opposition supporters in the urban areas Harare, Zimbabwe, 31 August 2009 Someone in the diaspora asked me on Facebook if I could show him what Harare is like now, so I took these photos at Avondale Flea Market and Shopping Centre at the weekend. The Flea Market is as vibrant as ever and it c...