Harare

Zimbabwe’s ruling party has launched new membership cards as a way of testing its popularity ahead of next year’s polls, state television reported on Tuesday. Members and party officials will now have to pay monthly subscription fees to belong to President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front.

Zimbabwe’s foreign minister Stan Mudenge said on Tuesday his ruling Zanu-PF party would not postpone parliamentary elections set for March next year. Last week opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai lobbied both South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki and Mauritius premier Paul Berenger to have the polls postponed, saying there was insufficient time to prepare.

Four journalists will go on trial in Zimbabwe in January on charges of defaming President Robert Mugabe. A newspaper report that said he had used a plane from the national carrier for his holidays. Editors Iden Wetherell and Vincent Kahiya, and reporters Dumisani Muleya and Itai Dzamara from the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent are to return to court on January 10 for the start of the trial.

Zimbabwe will appeal against the recent acquittal of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on charges of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe before elections in 2002, a state-run newspaper reported on Sunday. Acting Attorney General Bharat Patel said the judgement ”has many flaws and we don’t think it should stand unchallenged”.

A prominent white opposition lawmaker was jailed for a year on Thursday for allegedly assaulting two ministers in Parliament during a debate earlier this year over the seizures of white-owned farms by the government. The Parliament voted 53 to 42 ballots for the immediate imprisonment of Roy Bennett, a lawmaker of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster has denied its news department, a key propaganda arm of the government, is unable to pay its journalists and faces bankruptcy, state radio reported on Monday. The troubled state broadcaster has acknowledged in recent months that it is facing financial problems.

The Victoria Falls bridge, one of Zimbabwe’s most famous landmarks, is old and possibly dangerous, railway officials said on Thursday. The bridge, which opened in 1905, was designed to last 100 years. Now officials say it carries 170% more weight than it was designed to carry 100 years ago, despite its age.

While the Zimbabwean government says it accepts and respects the court’s acquittal decision of leader of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, Morgan Tsvangirai, it says the the verdict is wrong and it may take further legal action. Tsvangirai said the verdict could pave the way for a national reconciliation.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday said his acquittal on charges of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe could serve as a basis for national reconciliation. ”On a positive note this judgement may have set a good basis for national reconciliation and a national solution for the crisis in the country,” he said at a press conference in Harare.

Zimbabwean police on Friday fanned out across Harare and set up road blocks before the High Court was to hand down a ruling in a high-profile treason trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who could face the gallows. The complex housing the High Court, which is directly opposite top government buildings, was ringed by scores of paramilitary and riot police armed with automatic weapons and batons.

Zimbabwean security forces are on high alert ahead of Friday’s expected verdict in the the treason trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said, warning that outbreaks of violence will not be tolerated. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Democratic Alliance on Thursday called Tsvangirai’s trial ”a farce”.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has urged the country’s Catholic Church to free itself from Western donations that are likely to ”suppress its voice”. ”In my view, the church … should extricate itself from offers of assistance that suppress its voice,” Mugabe said while addressing a meeting of regional Catholic bishops.

Hundreds of families made homeless by a police raid in which their huts were burnt down on a farm in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West province have accused President Robert Mugabe’s sister Sabina of exploitation. In recent weeks police have begun evicting ”new peasant farmers” from farms in a move the settlers say is designed to clear land for senior members of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party on Tuesday told Parliament that authorities have reduced the number of registered voters in urban centres, the party’s traditional stronghold, ahead of next year’s parliamentary polls. The party believes the number of voters in Bulawayo has been cut by 15% since elections in 2002.

President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party held on to a parliamentary seat, winning a by-election by default after the main opposition party boycotted the poll to demand electoral reforms, election officials said on Saturday. Zanu-PF candidate Walter Mzembi was declared the unopposed winner of the by-election in the Masvingo district.

The International Monetary Fund, to which Zimbabwe owes -million in arrears, is to close its office at the end of the month after 11 years in Harare, a move the state-controlled press described as politically driven.

About 200 anti-government activists in Harare demonstrated on Thursday against a barrage of repressive Bills that were introduced into the Zimbabwean legislature.
Mof the National Constitutional Assembly, pressing for a democratic constitution, marched through the city centre strewing thousands of leaflets condemning planned laws that threaten the existence of the vigorous civil liberties lobby.

Regime change does not work in Africa and Britain is responsible for some of the continent’s troubles, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Wednesday. Speaking during his state visit to Zimbabwe, Museveni, whose controversial ”no-party democracy” has scored some success, said he supported the seizure of white-owned farms in that country.

Three news photographers were arrested in Zimbabwe while trying to cover a protest outside Parliament by about 30 women who were also detained by police, their lawyer said on Wednesday. The photographers, who include Reuters photojournalist Howard Burditt, were picked up by police on Tuesday afternoon while covering the arrest of around 30 women demonstrators.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Tuesday suggested that the easiest way to deal with mercenaries in Africa was to shoot them. ”Mercenaries, you just shoot them. This is a simple matter, it’s not a big problem,” he said in response to a question at a news conference.

About 30 women who were arrested last week for taking part in a protest march in Zimbabwe were detained again on Tuesday when they presented a petition to Parliament opposing a clampdown on human rights groups. Police arrested the women in central Harare after they presented a petition against a proposed law that would ban international human rights groups and cut off foreign funding.

A Zimbabwe court on Friday ordered the release without charge of 46 women who were arrested earlier this week for staging a protest march between the second city of Bulawayo and Harare, a lawyer said. Seven others, including prominent activist Jenni Williams, who were arrested on Wednesday in Harare, have yet to make a court appearance.

South Africa must speedily address inequitable land ownership patterns to avoid Zimbabwe-style farm invasions, the International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned. The ICG, which deals with conflicts around the globe, said South Africa faced rising tension over land and should act quickly to avert a grabbing of farms.

Zimbabwe’s civic and electoral groups on Thursday said they were concerned over a proposed electoral law that would give President Robert Mugabe the power to appoint key members of a commission overseeing elections. The groups told a parliamentary committee in the capital they were also worried that the law did not adequately address issues around electoral violence, conflict resolution and voter education.

At least two Zimbabwean businessmen have been arrested while scores more face ”de-registration” after a police crackdown on bogus fuel imports. Zimbabwe’s Energy Minister, July Moyo, has said that as many as 24 fuel importers could be closed down after failing to prove they imported either petrol or diesel into the country.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Zimbabwe dropped by 36% in the first half of this year compared to the same time in 2003, the country’s tourism promotion body said on Thursday. The figures by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) said the number of visitors dropped from 1,3-million in the first six months of last year to 827 245 this year.

Zimbabwe’s information minister has accused the mayor of Bulawayo of lying about food shortages in the country’s second-largest city, where scores of people have reportedly died of hunger. ”There is no food crisis in Zimbabwe. There is no food crisis in Bulawayo,” Moyo was quoted as saying in the state daily The Chronicle.

A Zimbabwe court is to hand down a verdict on October 15 in the trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is accused of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, his party said. Tsvangirai, who could face the death sentence if convicted, is accused of conspiring to murder Mugabe and arrange a military coup.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is due to close its offices in Zimbabwe at the end of October because it no longer has a resident representative, a local official said on Monday. The IMF’s last representative to Harare left a year ago at the end of his term and no replacement has been appointed, the official said.

A Harare judge on Monday dismissed charges against four directors of the banned independent Daily News newspaper, citing insufficient evidence. CEO Samuel Nkomo and three directors were arrested in October on charges of illegally publishing the newspaper under provisions of Zimbabwe’s strict media laws.

Hundreds of black peasant farmers in Zimbabwe were this week forcibly evicted from two formerly white-owned farms, witnesses, civic groups and police said on Friday. A witness said he saw scores of huts on fire after riot police had ordered all farmers without official permits to settle on the properties to vacate.