Zimbabwe’s government announced a 680% increase in the price of corn, the staple food, as the nation marked May Day amid rapidly worsening economic woes. The food hike cast a pall over countrywide activities for a labour day already focusing on deepening poverty and continuing political turmoil.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions says it was forced to cancel May Day celebrations in four provinces after militant supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party allegedly threatened to murder union officials if the celebrations went ahead.
The Zimbabwean government has published tight new regulations for the registration of NGOs after a Cabinet minister said they had been deregistered, reports said on Saturday. Meanwhile, more than 220 of Zimbabwe’s remaining white farmers have been given until September to get off their properties.
Two government doctors in Zimbabwe tasked with verifying the medical condition of jailed British mercenary Simon Mann have concluded that any delay in operating on him could be disastrous, his lawyer said on Friday. Mann, who is accused of plotting to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea, is due to be released from a Zimbabwean high security jail on May 11.
A court in Zimbabwe has ordered an internal police probe into the serious assault while in custody of an opposition activist, reports said on Friday. Magistrate Lazarus Murendo also ordered that the Movement for Democratic Change activist, Phillip Mabika, be treated in hospital, the official Herald newspaper said.
Zimbabwe’s central bank on Thursday introduced a new foreign-currency bond to raise money to tackle a serious drought threatening the country, but turned down demands for a general devaluation of the local currency. In an emergency policy statement, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono also offered new price incentives for tobacco and gold producers.
Zimbabwe’s annual inflation jumped to a record 2 200% in March, central bank Governor Gideon Gono said on Thursday as the country’s economic and political crisis deepened. He dismissed calls to devalue the Zimbabwean currency, saying it will remain at its official peg of Z to the United States dollar.
Fifty-six Zimbabwean activists arrested this week for staging a peaceful demonstration against power cuts have been released, but most were beaten in police custody, the rights group they support said Wednesday. ”All of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) supporters … arrested on Monday were eventually released late on Tuesday,” Woza said.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe ”does not lose sleep” over threats by some Western universities to strip him of honorary degrees for rights abuses allegedly committed by this government, his spokesperson was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Mugabe already has seven degrees earned through his own efforts, the spokesperson said.
Dozens of women, some carrying babies, have been arrested in the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, for protesting against worsening power shortages, the organisers of the protest said on Tuesday. The 36 women, 20 men and 10 babies were rounded up Monday after they held a sit-in at the offices of Zimbabwe’s main power company, Zesa.
A Briton held in Zimbabwe after allegedly masterminding a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea, which wants him extradited, has applied for permission to stay while undergoing surgery, a court heard on Monday. In a letter submitted to a Harare magistrate who is considering the request to extradite Simon Mann, the Briton’s lawyer said his client was very sick.
China is now the biggest investor in Zimbabwe with at least 35 companies operating in the Southern African country and more investors eyeing opportunities there. On Saturday officials from China handed over a -million financing facility that will be used to purchase farming equipment, implements and tools in Zimbabwe.
The Chinese government has given Zimbabwe a -million financing facility that will be used to purchase farming equipment, implements and tools, a Cabinet minister said. Under the deal, China’s CAMC Engineering will supply various agricultural equipment, including 424 tractors, 65 dumper trucks, 40 heavy duty harrows and eight bulldozers.
Zimbabwe’s central bank chief , Gideon Gono, is no longer in charge of exchange-rate policy and will not devalue the sliding local currency when he makes a statement this month, it was reported on Friday. Zimbabwe’s dollar has been on a vertiginous slide on the parallel market for foreign currency for months now.
Zimbabwe’s embattled President Robert Mugabe won a show of support from neighbouring Zambia with its vice-president calling him one of the world’s great leaders, state media in Harare reported on Friday. Rupiah Banda said Mugabe had shown courage by embarking on his controversial land reform programme.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe accused the opposition of trying to foment anarchy on Wednesday as the troubled Southern African nation marked the 27th anniversary of its independence from Britain. In a keynote speech at a packed football stadium in Harare, Mugabe accused opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai of being a puppet of the West.
Zimbabwe was marking its 27th anniversary of independence from Britain on Wednesday amid an economic meltdown and spiralling political tensions that have taken the shine out of this year’s event. Veteran President Robert Mugabe, in power in the former Rhodesia since 1980, was due to deliver a keynote speech at the Harare football stadium.
Zimbabwe’s independence anniversary is approaching, but the mood is far from celebratory in a nation blighted by an upsurge in political violence and deepening economic chaos. The Zimbabwean opposition and critics abroad accuse President Robert Mugabe of economic mismanagement and political oppression.
Zimbabwean authorities have cancelled licences for NGOs in a crackdown on groups accused of planning to oust veteran President Robert Mugabe, state television said on Monday. ”Government has annulled registration certificates of all NGOs in order to sift out those seeking to force regime change in Zimbabwe,” it said.
Noriah Masukume weaves her way through the crowded hall at Harare’s international bus terminus as she notes orders from a customer on the cellphone before boarding a bus to South Africa. On the bus she exchanges pleasantries with fellow travellers engaged in small talk around escalating prices in the local stores, their families and how difficult it is becoming for traders who go on shopping sprees in South Africa.
Several of Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped public schools have requested pupils to bring furniture from home. The education system is struggling under the weight of the country’s seven-year-long political crisis. Zimbabwe’s school system was one of the best on the African continent after the country gained independence in 1980. Previously the government provided furniture and other necessities.
Zimbabwe’s mining sector faces a debacle as a skewed exchange rate and heavy borrowing hit an industry that has become the top foreign currency earner, the mining chamber said on Thursday. Mining is the only sector that still has foreign investors after the collapse of the main agriculture sector.
Zimbabwe’s state data agency on Wednesday postponed ”indefinitely” the release of March inflation figures, which were expected to show prices in the shattered economy spiralling to another record high. Soaring inflation has become a hallmark of the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, once one of Africa’s most prosperous and stable nations.
A Zimbabwean opposition activist was in critical condition in hospital in Harare on Monday after being shot several days ago — reportedly by police. Philip Katsande, a provincial official with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was shot during a police raid on his home late on Thursday, a party spokesperson said.
Zimbabwe’s government on Monday shrugged off an appeal by the country’s Roman Catholic bishops for democratic reform while an opposition activist lay in critical condition in hospital after being shot, reportedly by police. Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said he ”respects” the bishops’ opinion.
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe is now forcing all motor-vehicle importers to pay their excise duty in foreign currency, the state-run Herald reported on Monday. Finance Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has ordered that the new rule takes effect immediately after declaring the change in a government gazette, according to the newspaper.
Roman Catholic bishops marked Easter Sunday with an unprecedented message to President Robert Mugabe to end oppression and leave office through democratic reform or face a mass revolt. ”The confrontation in our country has now reached a flashpoint,” they said in a pastoral message pinned up at churches throughout the country.
South African President Thabo Mbeki’s mission to resolve the crisis across the border in Zimbabwe faces slim prospects of success due to deep-rooted suspicion between the protagonists, analysts say. Mbeki was entrusted with the task by fellow Southern African leaders at a summit last month.
The economic chaos engulfing Zimbabwe has turned even a mundane task such as renting a car into an unachievable dream for the average law-abiding citizen. A car-rental company has quoted a day rate of the equivalent of a staggering R19 600 per day — plus a deposit of R712 600 — at the official exchange rate.
Zimbabwe police said on Friday they have opened a murder investigation into the death of an independent journalist, and lawyers acting for another reporter arrested under sweeping media laws said he was assaulted and tortured in custody. A second journalist was freed on bail on Thursday after nearly a week in custody.
A reporter for a British-based Zimbabwean newspaper has appeared in court on charges of writing falsehoods and working without a licence, reports said on Friday. Gift Phiri (30) had been assaulted in custody, his lawyer says. Phiri is facing two charges under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe lost -million worth of potential revenue from the smuggling of gems from the diamond fields of Marange in eastern Zimbabwe, the central bank chief was quoted as saying on Thursday. Gideon Gono said the massive loss had been incurred when thousands of Zimbabweans flocked to Marange in a frenzied search for wealth.