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Zimbabwe update
RSS FeedZimbabwe: Minister 'sick and tired' of Implats delays
2012-02-29, Issue 572
A Zimbabwean minister launched a verbal attack on Impala Platinum Chief Executive David Brown, saying he was 'sick and tired' of the mining group's failure to comply with local black ownership laws. Implats is the biggest foreign investor in Zimbabwe's mining sector and has become the prime target of a government drive to get all outside companies to hand over majority stakes in their local operations to black Zimbabwean investors.
Zimbabwe: Beitbridge prosecutors ‘too scared’ to handle MDC arrests
2012-02-29, Issue 572
State prosecutors in Beitbridge recently refused to handle a case involving MDC-T officials, who were arrested over the weekend for attending a party workshop. The prosecutors said the case was ‘too sensitive’ to handle, but our correspondent in Bulawayo told us they feared the powerful co-Home Affairs Minister and local MP Kembo Mohadi.
Zimbabwe: Rhodes exhumation blocked
2012-02-21, Issue 571
A group of about 50 Zanla war veterans last week allegedly stormed Matopo Hills in Matabeleland South Province, but were blocked by Chief Masuku after they attempted to dig up the remains of Cecil John Rhodes from the tourist resort area. Rhodes was buried on World’s View (Malindidzimu Hill) in Matopo National Park following his death in 1902. According to sources, they reportedly claimed the remains of the former colonialist were causing poor rains in the region. National Museums and Monuments director Godfrey Mahachi described the move as illegal. 'All I can say is that the reason why we are keeping Rhodes’ grave is that it is part and parcel of the history of Zimbabwe,' he told NewsDay.
Zimbabwe: Mugabe warns he can fire Zuma as chief regional mediator
2012-02-21, Issue 571
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has said that he reserves the right to disregard efforts by South African President Jacob Zuma to mediate disputes in the nation’s troubled coalition government. Mugabe also repeated his pledge to hold elections this year, even if it means defying Zuma and other regional leaders who say new polls should be held only after a new democratic constitution is in place. 'This year we must have elections, they must take place with or without a new constitution,' Mugabe said in interviews aired by the state broadcaster on the eve of his 88th birthday.
Zimbabwe: Electoral support network analyses human rights in ballot report
2012-02-27, Issue 571
The consolidated Ballot Update is a creation of the findings from 210 long term observers deployed by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) in 2011. The Update seeks to provide an analysis of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe and implications for free and fair elections. 'While the GNU has brought a semblance of normalcy to the country, on the political scene, it has been a mixed bag of successes and failures to implement its letter and spirit. This update is a synthesis of data from observers deployed from April to December 2011.'
Zimbabwe: 'Mugabe won't sign Constitution that disqualifies him'
2012-02-14, Issue 570
President Robert Mugabe will not sign the draft constitution into the new supreme law of the country as long as it disqualifies him from contesting the next elections, a senior Zanu PF official has declared. Mugabe, who turns 88 next week, has already been endorsed as the Zanu PF Presidential candidate for elections set to take place later this year or in 2013. The Constitution Select Committee (Copac) last week published the first draft of the long awaited new supreme law of the country which has many sections which Zanu PF is strongly opposed to. Section 6.4.2 of the draft disqualifies from standing in Presidential elections, any person who has already held the office for 10 years, meaning that President Robert Mugabe cannot contest the next polls.
Zimbabwe: 29 NGOs suspended
2012-02-16, Issue 570
Zimbabwe has suspended 29 NGOs in what has been described as a renewed clampdown on aid workers ahead of elections President Robert Mugabe wants held this year. The veteran ruler’s Zanu-PF party, at its annual conference last December, tabled a report claiming that there were 2,500 NGOs operating in the country, and most of them were pushing a 'regime change agenda'.
Zimbabwe: Court dismisses acquittal application by ‘video watching’ activists
2012-02-16, Issue 570
A Harare court on Wednesday 15 February dismissed an acquittal application by a group of activists arrested a year ago for watching footage of the people’s revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. The six, including former MDC-T MP Munyaradzi Gwisai, were among more than 40 people arrested last February after watching the video at an academic meeting, which was raided by police. After their initial arrest some in the group, including Gwisai, were tortured in police cells and kept in solitary confinement at Chikurubi maximum security prison in Harare for weeks.
Zimbabwe: EU lifts more sanctions
2012-02-20, Issue 570
The European Union has lifted some more of its sanctions against top officials and institutions in Zimbabwe. An EU diplomat said the bloc was ending measures against 20 entities and 51 people - including the justice and foreign ministers. However restrictions on President Robert Mugabe continue.
Zimbabwe: Mujuru death inquest wraps up
2012-02-07, Issue 569
Testimony before an inquest into a Zimbabwean power broker's fiery death has ended, leaving the last hours of General Solomon Mujuru's life shrouded in suspicion that he was murdered by political rivals. After three weeks of hearings that have been closely followed in Zimbabwe, Magistrate Walter Chikwanha did not say when he would report his conclusions after hearing evidence from 37 witnesses. He can rule the death was accidental or criminal and in the latter case an investigation would be opened. Chikwanha could also declare an 'open verdict', effectively saying he was unable to reach any conclusion.
Zimbabwe: Typhoid exposes city council
2012-02-07, Issue 569
The recent outbreak of typhoid within the capital city, Harare, has brought with it immeasurable stress to both communities and the still-unwholesome public health delivery system, says this Financial Gazette article, which places the blame at the door of the local authorities. '...the outbreak of typhoid, whose casualties so far number close to 2,000 in the capital alone, exposes the delinquency ravaging our local authorities, particularly the Harare City Council where, despite the fact that rates and other services are being paid for in US dollars thanks to a hard currency regime adopted 2009, services still remain pathetic...'
Zimbabwe: Meeting aborted as Mugabe, PM clash
2012-02-07, Issue 569
A National Security Council (NSC) meeting slated for recently was cancelled after a fierce clash between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai over the composition of the attendees following the expiry of the term of office of one of the service chiefs, authoritative sources confided to The Standard last week. Sources said the meeting was potentially explosive as there was mistrust between the service chiefs and Tsvangirai.
Zimbabwe: WOZA activists released
2012-02-09, Issue 569
Activist Jenni Williams and a group of 13 other women, who were assaulted and arrested Tuesday at a demonstration by activists from the Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), were finally released Friday 10 February when they appeared in a Bulawayo court.
Zimbabwe: The sanctions standoff
2012-02-13, Issue 569
Zimbabwe must hold elections before the end of June 2013, but the reforms needed to ensure appropriate conditions are critically wanting, says the International Crisis Group. 'Opportunity for a calibrated, full removal of sanctions before the next elections, geared to broad progress on reform, such as perhaps existed three years ago when the Global Political Agreement (GPA) was fresh and the Inclusive Government formed, has probably passed. But a chance to promote progress and break the current deadlock still exists through a coordinated approach that distinguishes types of sanctions and focuses on specific reforms needed for those elections. It should be seized.'
Zimbabwe: Ncube denies conniving with Mbeki to split MDC
2012-02-02, Issue 568
Professor Welshman Ncube has once again denied claims contained in a book by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that he and former South African President Thabo Mbeki connived to split the MDC into two factions in 2005. In the book ‘At the Deep End’ Ts...
Zimbabwe: Typhoid stalks Harare
2012-01-31, Issue 568
Over the past few weeks some 900 residents of the Zimbabwean capital Harare have been diagnosed with typhoid, and about 60 have been admitted to hospital, say health authorities. There have been no confirmed fatalities from the disease, although seni...
Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai issues strong letter to Mugabe
2012-02-06, Issue 568
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has written a strongly-worded letter to to President Robert Mugabe outlining his problems with the coalition government. The leaked letter addresses areas such as land, violent acts, diplomatic protocol, arrest of min...
Zimbabwe: Mujuru inquest hears gory details
2012-01-25, Issue 567
The body of Zimbabwe’s first army commander General Solomon Mujuru had a hole in the abdomen and emitted blue flames when it was retrieved from his farmhouse that was gutted by fire last year, an inquest heard on Tuesday. Police Constable Clatwell Ga...
Zimbabwe: Mujuru guard stuns court
2012-01-17, Issue 566
A security guard employed at the late General Solomon Mujuru’s farm, Clemence Runhare, stunned a court when he said he heard what sounded like gunfire two hours before he was alerted to a fire that killed the former army commander in August last year...
Zimbabwe: Court rules that WOZA kidnap case must continue, despite no evidence
2012-01-19, Issue 566
A magistrate in Bulawayo ruled on Monday 16 January that activists Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu will have to defend themselves against kidnap and theft charges, even though the key witnesses denied the incident ever happened and contradicted...
Zimbabwe: Two vendors in hospital after police torture
2012-01-16, Issue 565
Two of the seven men arrested last Thursday, following skirmishes between police and vendors in central Harare the day before, were allegedly tortured to confess their roles in attacking a police officer. Barnabas Mwanaka and Kudakwashe Usavi were am...
Zimbabwe: ZANU PF running parallel government
2012-01-16, Issue 565
Several events in the last two months have shown that Zimbabwe’s coalition government exists in name only and that Mugabe and his ZANU PF party are now blatantly running a parallel government. Towards the end of December Mugabe unilaterally promoted ...
Zimbabwe: Khama, Mugabe mend relations
2011-12-13, Issue 563
Botswana President Ian Khama, an arch-critic of President Robert Mugabe, could be working on normalising relations with the octogenarian leader after he sent a delegation from his party to 'offer solidarity support' to Zanu PF at the just ended annu...
Zimbabwe: Uncovering Zimbabwe’s debt
2011-12-14, Issue 563
For the last decade the Zimbabwean government has been in default on most of its debt owed to the rest of the world, currently estimated to be around US$7 billion. This debt dates primarily from loans made in the 1980s and 1990s by private lenders su...
Zimbabwe: WOZA members acquitted while Williams and Mahlangu appear on trial
2011-12-15, Issue 563
Women of Zimbabwe Arise report on a case in which charges against six women were dismissed. In another case, two women face a case seen as an attempt to fix them with criminal charges.


Zimbabwe: Civil servants give government ultimatum
2011-12-20, Issue 563
Unions representing civil servants in the country have given the coalition government up until the end of December to review their salaries, or face crippling industrial action in the new year. The unions are demanding a minimum salary in line with t...
Zimbabwe: The Cablegate implications
2011-12-08, Issue 562
WikiLeaks’ archive of US State department cables on Zimbabwe has highlighted human rights abuses, corruption, and profound divisions within both the ruling party and the opposition, shaking the establishment in Zimbabwe. Political analysts suggest th...
Zimbabwe: Mugabe insists on re-election bid
2011-12-12, Issue 562
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said it would be an act of cowardice for him to retire ahead of elections expected to be held next year. Closing his party's annual conference, Mr Mugabe, 87, condemned the current power-sharing government as a ...
Zimbabwe: Nuclear scare as Iran plans to share technology
2011-11-22, Issue 559
In what has ignited strong fears of nuclear resource transfer between Zimbabwe and Tehran, the nuclear-power pursuing nation, Iran, has stated that it intends to share technology and scientific resources and expertise with the nation of Zimbabwe. Thi...
Zimbabwe: Hard times in Matabeleland
2011-11-27, Issue 559
Nationally, Zimbabwe is more food secure at the end of 2011 than it has been for several years. However, parts of Zimbabwe suffered serious crop failure earlier this year and a million people are still predicted to need supplementary feeding. In Gwan...
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