Zimbabwean artists operate in one of the most politically repressive environments in the world. But despite the monumental challenges, art continues to thrive here as artists say they are determined to shape the future of the country by expressing themselves, says this report from the Global Press Institute.

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 senior health officials, who declined to be identified, told IRIN they were investigating the cause of some deaths at hospitals.

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 police statements. Williams and Mahlangu, leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), were in the Bulawayo Magistrates Court for a ruling on their application to have the case dropped without having to present a defence.

There are some unlikely comparisons between the work lives of Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit seller who sparked the Arab revolution, and Francis Tachirev, a fruit seller in Zimbabwe. Like Bouazizi did, Tichareva earns a modest living pushing his fruit cart along Harare’s central business district, selling his wares. And like Bouazizi too, Tichareva lives in fear of the local police.