A fire that broke out this week at Zimbabwe’s only newsprint producer has crippled production, the official Herald daily said on Thursday. Newsprint for the handful of newspapers still operating in Zimbabwe comes from the eastern border city of Mutare, which lies close to a number of timber plantations.
Police investigating a string of petrol-bomb attacks in politically tense Zimbabwe claim they have been barred from pursuing their probe in South Africa, reports said on Thursday. Zimbabwe authorities claim members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change carried out the attacks.
Less than 5% of Zimbabwe’s industrialists believe the country will recover from its deepening economic crisis in the next three years, a survey showed on Wednesday. The Southern African country is in its eighth successive year of recession, marked by the world’s highest inflation rate at above 3 700% and which has left four in five people without jobs.
State media in Zimbabwe on Tuesday accused veterinary authorities in South Africa of racism after 100 cattle belonging to villagers living on the border between the two countries were allegedly shot dead by South African soldiers. The official Herald newspaper said the incident, which Zimbabwean police describe as cruel and deliberate, occurred earlier this month.
Zimbabwean media practitioners have launched a self-regulatory media body for journalists despite government threats of unspecified action against them. The non-governmental Media Alliance of Zimbabwe launched the Media Council of Zimbabwe (MCZ) earlier this month. If MCZ members have their way, the ruling Zanu-PF will cease its stranglehold on the operations of the country’s media
Zimbabwe’s main labour body on Monday urged President Robert Mugabe not to sign into law a controversial Bill to bug telephones and monitor emails. Last week Zimbabwe’s upper and lower houses of Parliament passed the Interception of Communications Bill.
President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF and the main opposition movement have held preliminary talks under a new regional drive to end Zimbabwe’s political and economic turmoil. The ruling party and two MDC factions sent representatives to Pretoria where they held weekend talks with South Africa’s local government minister Sydney Mufumadi.
Disruptions to livelihoods caused by President Robert Mugabe’s controversial land-reform programme hastened the deaths of thousands of Zimbabweans and led to the loss of billions of dollars’ worth of property, says a new report released on Saturday by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.
Six men, including a former Zimbabwe army officer charged with allegedly plotting a coup against President Robert Mugabe, will appear in the High Court next Friday on treason charges, their lawyer said on Saturday. The six were late on Friday refused bail at the request of state prosecutors by the High Court.
A Zimbabwe court on Friday postponed the start of former Test batsman Mark Vermeulen’s arson trial to allow time to study medical reports as to whether he is mentally fit to take the stand. Vermeulen (28) is charged with setting fire and causing extensive damage to Zimbabwe’s cricket academy, which was housed in a thatched building, and a sports club in Harare.
A group of soldiers was in custody in Zimbabwe on charges of plotting to oust President Robert Mugabe and replace him with a Cabinet minister, a newspaper report claimed on Friday. In sensational revelations, the weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper said it had obtained court papers containing the allegations.
Zimbabwe’s Parliament, heavily dominated by President Robert Mugabe’s party, has passed a controversial new Bill that allows the government to monitor phones, emails and post, reports said on Thursday. The Interception of Communications Bill, which critics say will violate freedom of expression, was passed on Wednesday.
The Zimbabwe government’s plan to change the Constitution ahead of 2008 elections undermines efforts to broker an end to political turmoil in the African nation, the country’s main opposition leader said on Wednesday. President Robert Mugabe’s government has proposed a Bill that would pave the way for joint presidential and parliamentary polls.
The cost of living for an average urban family in Zimbabwe rose by 66% last month, the country’s consumer watchdog said in a report on Wednesday. The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe said the cost of living for a family of six increased 65,6% from Z,3-million (Â 300) in April to Z,5-million in May.
President Robert Mugabe on Monday made a rare gesture of acknowledgement to the opposition, saying despite political differences with his government, they remained Zimbabweans. Mugabe frequently uses public occasions to lambaste the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Zimbabwean police on Monday arrested dozens of women as they staged a demonstration in south-western Zimbabwe, a statement said. The women, all members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise had ”tried to gather to hold a march in a small administrative centre in Insiza district but were arrested”.
Zimbabwean journalists launched a voluntary media council on Friday, hoping to show the government the media can oversee itself and does not need what critics say is increasingly draconian state regulation. President Robert Mugabe’s government introduced tough media laws five years ago.
Eleven Zimbabwean opposition supporters who had been detained for two months for an alleged ”terrorism” plot have been released after a court ordered the charges to be dropped, a party spokesperson said on Friday. The 11, which included seven party workers for the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, had been rounded up in raids in March.
President Robert Mugabe’s government on Friday shrugged off a decision by Edinburgh University to strip the long-time leader of an honorary degree, saying the university had humiliated itself through the unprecedented action. ”Such actions by the university are a humiliation to the university itself …,” Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s government on Thursday dismissed a resolution by the World Association of Newspapers (Wan) condemning press violations in Zimbabwe and calling for an end to the arrests and detentions of reporters.
As millions of Zimbabweans brace for biting food shortages, President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party has started scouting for food donations for its annual end-of-year conference, it was reported on Wednesday. Members of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party in Mashonaland Central province have so far pledged 48 cattle and 44 tonnes of maize, according to the Herald.
Zimbabwe on Tuesday raised electricity tariffs by more than 50% as it battles worsening power shortages in the country and a vicious inflation spiral which has increased economic hardships. Zimbabwe — which has been grappling with chronic power shortages over the last two years — has suffered severe blackouts in the last few days.
Disruption of coal supplies to the main power generating station in Zimbabwe has caused power failures across the country, reports said on Monday. The breakdown at Hwange Power Station has robbed the country of 500MW of power, nearly one-third of its needs, state radio and newspapers said.
Zimbabwe is counting its losses as construction workers trek in droves to neighbouring South Africa to join the boom spawned by the 2010 World Cup. With three years to go before the World Cup finals, Zimbabwean architects, artisans and engineers are leaving the country for better-paying jobs south of the border.
Zimbabwe’s government has promised to reduce monthly inflation to below 25% from the current 100% by year-end after signing a price and wage protocol with business and labour to halt a deep recession. The country is battling its worst economic crisis that has pushed inflation to over 3 700%.
Zimbabwe’s health delivery system has collapsed amid worsening shortages of nursing staff and a doctors strike, a doctors group said on Friday. Inadequate remuneration and unacceptable working conditions for health workers across the country have resulted in a crisis that has left the country’s major referral hospitals unable to function.
President Robert Mugabe has urged Zimbabwe’s security forces to remain on high alert to thwart attempts to topple his government by the opposition and his Western foes, official media reported on Friday. Mugabe told a ceremony for graduating police officers that threatened strikes were part of a plot by the opposition to sow political turmoil.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to produce a report by the end of the month on Zimbabwe’s economic and political crises, reports said on Friday. ”By the end of June, we must have a report ready for the relevant authorities,” the state-run Herald quoted SADC secretary general Tomaz Augusto Salamao as saying.
Zimbabwe will put 40 000 more people on antiretroviral (ARV) drugs by the end of the year despite an economic crisis that has hobbled the country’s healthcare. The Southern African country is among the worst hit by the HIV/Aids pandemic, killing more than 3 000 people every week.
Zimbabwe plans to nearly double the size of its police force ahead of general elections next year because of fears the polls could be marred by violence, its state-run newspaper reported on Monday. The move to beef up security comes amid growing public discontent over a deep economic crisis in the Southern African nation.
Zimbabwean police on Sunday freed the bulk of 200 youth opposition activists arrested in a raid on their party headquarters, as a police official said they were suspects in a spate of recent firebombings. The Movement for Democratic Change opposition members were arrested on Saturday.
Zimbabwe police say more than 200 opposition activists and officials arrested on Saturday are suspects in recent petrol-bomb attacks on police stations, shops and some government supporters. Riot police, armed with pistols and batons, raided the Movement for Democratic Change’s (MDC) head office in Harare on Saturday.