President Robert Mugabe’s government said on Thursday it was deregulating the country’s fuel distribution system, but industry officials said the move would only legalise the black market fuel system controlled by ruling Zanu-PF party loyalists.
The Zimbabwe government has made a formal appeal for new international food aid to stave off starvation faced by some 5,5-million people, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe issued a new warning to his political foes on Tuesday against attempts to destabilise the southern African country.
A top Zimbabwean opposition member of Parliament was arrested on Tuesday soon after his party announced MPs would not walk out on President Robert Mugabe’s annual parliamentary opening speech.
President Robert Mugabe on Sunday postponed his usual reception before the opening of parliament this week, an event that some diplomats, civic leaders and opposition politicians had said they would boycott.
The desperation caused by Zimbabwe’s fuel shortages was illustrated on Saturday when a Harare mortician and his assistant lent an infant corpse to a black market fuel dealer so he could claim cheap diesel reserved for the bereaved burying their dead.
Zimbabwe is grappling with record inflation of 364,5%, rising at nearly one percent a day, a nightmare for ordinary Zimbabweans.
Mugabe’s exit plan takes shape
Government attempts to enforce price controls on key foods triggered a showdown with producers on Friday and was expected to plunge the collapsing economy deeper into crisis.
More than 1 000 cattle in prime ranching areas south of Harare have been infected with foot-and-mouth disease, threatening vital beef exports, state radio reported on Friday.
Lawyers for Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai called on Thursday for treason charges against him to be dropped, saying no overt act of treason had been proved
President Thabo Mbeki has denied telling his United States counterpart George Bush that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would step down in December.
No proof of treason say MDC lawyers
Lawyers for Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday continued their application for treason charges against him to be dropped, claiming the state had tampered with key evidence.
A Zimbabwe court began hearing arguments on Monday for the dropping of treason charges against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, accused of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said on Saturday African leaders had greater admiration for his country than ever before, as he returned from an African Union summit in Maputo, state television said.
The Zimbabwe government has given the opposition mayor of Harare until Thursday evening to leave his mayoral mansion and give up other perks of his job, a newspaper said on Thursday.
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has welcomed the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting of the presidents of America and South Africa, and urged South African President Thabo Mbeki to ensure formal talks between the opposition and government in Zimbabwe begin ”within days, rather than weeks.”
The United Nations warned on Wednesday that famine risks were increasing because of political and bureaucratic delays by the Zimbabwe government in appealing for emergency food aid.
Mayor Elias Mudzuri, head of the opposition-controlled city council, was arrested for a second time in 24 hours onTuesday after he defied police orders to stay away from his mayoral office, his lawyer said.
‘I pretended I was dead’
Zimbabwe police arrested the opposition mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri, for the second time in two days on Tuesday on unspecified charges, he said.
A new law has been proposed in Zimbabwe which, if passed, would dock six months’ pay from lawmakers who walk out of parliament when the president is making a speech, a newspaper said on Tuesday.
An application by Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two senior party officials to have treason charges against them dropped has been postponed to next week, a newspaper reported on Monday.
A judge in Zimbabwe on Friday ordered the high court to set a date for hearing an opposition petition challenging President Robert Mugabe’s victory in polls last year, a lawyer said.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Thursday told his supporters not to be cowed by a visit by US President George Bush next week to neighbouring South Africa and Botswana, state television reported.
Lawyers for Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday applied to have a petition heard challenging President Robert Mugabe’s victory in polls last year.
The main opposition party in Zimbabwe is to send senior members to South Africa and Mozambique to urge international leaders to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe’s government to engage in talks, an official said on Wednesday.
Libya is expected to start supplying Zimbabwe with fuel soon under a deal cemented during President Robert Mugabe’s recent visit to the north African country, state television reported on Monday. Fuel in Zimbabwe is desperately scarce at the moment, with many motorists not having had supplies for weeks.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected the idea of forming a unity government with the party of President Robert Mugabe, whose re-election last year has been contested by Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change.
Zimbabwe police on Friday attempted to search the offices of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party for ”subversive materials”, an MDC official said.
State lawyers on Thursday closed their case in the marathon treason trial of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two senior party officials, while defence lawyers said they would apply to have the charges dismissed.
The ruling party in Zimbabwe is ready to form a government of national unity with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, but will not consider new elections, a newspaper said on Thursday.
Key evidence produced in the treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was ”inaudible”, a government recording expert told the court on Wednesday.