The Southern African Development Community is placing unprecedented pressure on President Robert Mugabe to quit office and pave the way for peace and stability at home and within the region. Mugabe is now facing a war on two fronts: with SADC heads of state at the regional level and a divided ruling Zanu-PF party at home. All are pondering the political implications of his continued stay in office.
Hit squads have been formed to target opposition politicians branded “undesirables” by the state, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said this week. “It reminds of [Nicolai] Ceaucescu,” said opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, referring to the former president of Romania.
Under apparent pressure from South Africa, President Robert Mugabe will submit himself to a popular presidential election in 2008 rather than extend his term for another two years. According to this scenario, presidential and parliamentary elections will be harmonised in 2008 after Parliament is dissolved in January next year.
Presidential hopefuls within the ruling Zanu-PF party are courting international diplomats to put pressure on 83-year-old President Robert Mugabe either to step down or embrace political reforms. Their thinking is that Mugabe’s departure will pull the country out of a deepening economic crisis.
The Mail & Guardian is reliably informed that at least three times a week hundreds of prisoners are bused to commercial farms owned by politicians and the army’s top brass in Mashonaland East and Central, Bulawayo and Harare provinces.
The Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation recently seized all unedited tapes of President Robert Mugabe’s exclusive birthday interview with state broadcaster ZBC after sensitive comments about the controversial succession issue were leaked. In a rare outburst, Mugabe had lashed out at his Vice-President, Joyce Mujuru, for demeaning him.
Horror tales of brutal campaigns by supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party, which saw over 200 opposition supporters die in state-sponsored crackdowns in 2000 during the genesis of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s seizure of farms, are being laid bare before a court seven years later.
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/ 22 February 2007
A day without an internet connection does not contribute to the balance sheet of a corporate trying to compete in the global village. No telephone line means no access to international clients. That’s the nightmare facing Zimbabwean business executives at present.
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/ 19 February 2007
Zanu-PF’s 10 provincial branches have begun debating whether to extend the political term of their leader, President Robert Mugabe, by two more years after it expires in March next year. The debate centres on whether to harmonise presidential and parliamentary elections by holding them together either next year or in 2010.
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/ 12 February 2007
Mass desertions in the army are creating anxiety in the country’s Joint Operations Command, which implored its Chairperson, President Robert Mugabe, late last year, to improve the living conditions of the defence forces. Mugabe is the commander-in-chief of the defence forces. The Joint Operations Command, which manages issues of national security, comprises the army, prisons, intelligence and police.