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Looting, Brutality marks Zanu-PF ‘Referendum’ campaign

Posted by ZDN on March 12, 2010

MDC party officials received calls in the early hours of this morning from their representatives in Mudzi North to report violence and state-sponsored livestock rustling in Chimkoko village. A distraught MDC official reported that Zanu PF thugs were raiding the homes of MDC supporters and taking their livestock - goats, cattle and chickens - while threatening to come back and "fight you, becaus...

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Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 8 March 2010

Posted by ZDN on March 9, 2010

Politics The MDC on Sunday said it was seeking SADC intervention to help resolve outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The decision will be passed to the party's national council, due to meet in Harare on March 12. In a government gazette issued on Friday, President Robert Mugabe reassigned powers from the Ministry of Information and Technology and the Ministry of ...

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Zimbabwe: Political and Security Challenges to the Transition

Posted by ZDN on March 5, 2010

Zimbabwe Report from the International Crisis Group Africa Briefing N°70 Harare/Pretoria/Nairobi/Brussels, 3 March 2010 I. Overview As Zimbabwe enters its second year under a unity government, the challenges to democratic transformation have come into sharp focus. Despite reasonable progress in restoring political and social stability, ending widespread repression and stabilising the eco...

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Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 1 March 2010

Posted by ZDN on March 2, 2010

Politics The MDC is demanding drastic action against Zanu-PF youths who last week threatened Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for not calling for the removal of targeted sanctions. The youths were marching in the capital on Wednesday in protest against the sanctions. They also detained a freelance photojournalist Andrison Manyere for filming the demonstration, but he was later released. ...

Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 1 March 2010

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Pretoria High Court ruling recognises Zimbabwe land grab racist and illegal

Posted by ZDN on February 25, 2010

In the Pretoria High Court today Judge Garth Rabie has ruled in favour of Zimbabweans farmers whose land has been seized by the Zimbabwe government confirming that the land grab exercise was both racist and illegal. The case, brought on behalf of the applicants, Louis Fick, Michael Campbell and Thomas Etheredge by South African human rights organisation Afriforum sought to have the ruling by th...

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Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 22 February 2010

Posted by ZDN on February 23, 2010

Politics Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Thursday the inter-party talks had reached a deadlock and were “going nowhere.” Biti called for South Africa and SADC to intervene. President Robert Mugabe said on Wednesday the extension of targeted sanctions by the EU was a deliberate ploy by the West to undermine development in the country. But he said he would not breach the power-sha...

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A Tribute to Mike Mason by Emma Hurd from Sky News

Posted by ZDN on February 17, 2010

On Monday morning, long time MDC activist and freedom fighter Mike Mason died suddenly. The following is an obituary by Sky News’ foreign correspondent Emma Hurd. They are the unsung heroes of Sky’s foreign news coverage – the local fixers without whom many of our stories would never make it to the screen. This is a tribute to one of those fixers, a remarkable man called Mike Mason, ou...

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Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 15 Feb 2010

Posted by ZDN on February 16, 2010

Politics Jonathan Moyo was passed over for promotion to the new Zanu-PF Politburo lineup. The spin-doctor was hoping to become either information secretary or to head the party’s commissariat. The central committee was reportedly wary of trusting political chameleon Moyo enough to be part of the party’s inner circle. The EU has decided to extend targeted sanctions until 2011 against ...

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Game rangers free, but rift widens between Zimbabwe and Botswana

Posted by ZDN on February 10, 2010

Zimbabwe has, in an abominable act of political heresy, made an enemy of its neighbour Botswana. The arrest and detention of three Botswana game rangers that inadvertently strayed onto Zimbabwe territory has swiftly deepened the rift between the once friendly nations, and placed Botswana on the offensive. “The Government of Botswana wishes to express its deepest disappointment over the det...

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Zimbabwe Weekly Update – week ending 8 Feb 2010

Posted by ZDN on February 9, 2010

Politics The three principals in the unity government reached a small breakthrough on Friday when they agreed to appoint the chairs of two of the Commissions - the Electoral and the Human Rights – who were named as Justice Simpson Mtambanengwe and Professor Reg Austin respectively. The South African mediation team is expected to meet negotiators from the thr...