David Masunda

Serious tribal jockeying for President Robert Mugabe’s post has rocked the party since it became apparent that he might leave office before the end of the year.

The December congress of Zimbabwe’s ruling party is likely to take a crucial first step towards President Robert Mugabe’s exit from power, the <i>Mail & Guardian</i> has learned.

In the dying days of his reign PW Botha became increasingly defiant of world opinion. But the more brutal he became, the more militant and defiant did the people become. And the more brutal he became, the more the world saw of his dementia.
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The treason trial of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai resumed in the Harare High Court this week amid reports that the governing Zanu-PF is already backtracking on talks driven by African leaders to solve the country’s political and economic crisis.

Fears that the United States, backed by Britain, may be plotting to create a climate for "regime change" in Zimbabwe goaded the South African government into a more "hands-on" approach to its northern neighbour.

The retirements — one after the other — of two of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s key civil servants during the past two weeks, are testimony to the fact that many of the mandarins at his Munhumutapa offices have seen that the writing is on the wall.

It all started from the most unlikely source: supporters of President Robert Mugabe at the weekend besieged a supermarket and a grain depot to fire the first warning shots that Zimbabwe might be engulfed in serious food riots before Easter.

Every week, South Africa deports hundreds of refugees. David Masunda reports.