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/ 14 February 2008
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is facing the most serious challenge to his 28-year rule as candidates, including his own former finance minister, register on Friday for a March 29 general election. Detractors accuse Mugabe of destroying the economy of this once-prosperous country and rigging the last three major elections.
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/ 14 February 2008
A lawmaker for Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF has appeared in court charged with leading supporters in a riotous protest brandishing a gun, a state daily reported on Thursday. The government-mouthpiece <i>Herald</i> said Isaiah Shumba, a former deputy education minister, was released on bail by a magistrate in south-eastern Masvingo on Wednesday.
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/ 13 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s former finance minister, Simba Makoni, pledged on Wednesday to heal the Southern African country’s wounds as he unveiled his strategy to end President Robert Mugabe’s 28-year rule in polls next month. He expressed confidence of toppling Mugabe after accusing him of engendering fear and despair.
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/ 13 February 2008
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday declared he would work with anyone who opposed the dictatorship of President Robert Mugabe while denouncing former ruling party presidential candidate Simba Makoni as tainted goods.
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/ 12 February 2008
A shocking new range of price increases were announced on Tuesday as Zimbabwe’s world-record hyperinflation spun further out of control, with charges for cellphone calls soaring by nearly 1 700%. The official National Incomes and Prices Commission said international calls were up to Z,2-million from Z 400 per minute.
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/ 12 February 2008
The odds are against Zimbabwe’s elections next month being free or fair despite South African efforts to mediate between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition, Britain’s Africa minister said. ”We want to keep an open mind on this … but the omens and early signs are not good,” said Mark Malloch-Brown.
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/ 12 February 2008
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has said he is ”raring to go” in general elections next month despite the first challenge for 20 years from within his ruling party. Mugabe is seeking another five-year term in the March 29 presidential, parliamentary and council elections.
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/ 11 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s mining sector has lost more than half its skilled personnel in the last year, with workers lured abroad by the chance of boosting their pay more than ten-fold, an industry body said on Monday. According to a new study carried out by the Chamber of Mines, there are now 1 116 vacancies for professional and technical staff following the departure of workers.
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/ 11 February 2008
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai confirmed on Sunday he would stand for president at elections next month, quashing speculation he would give a former minister a clear run against Robert Mugabe. Former finance minister Simba Makoni announced last week that he planned to challenge Mugabe at the March 29 elections.
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/ 10 February 2008
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who only days ago looked assured of re-election next month as a result of splits in the opposition, now has to contend with a growing mutiny within his own ranks. Analysts who had regarded Mugabe as a shoo-in at national polls are revising their forecasts.
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/ 8 February 2008
The United States expressed ”serious concerns” on Thursday about the March 29 general elections in Zimbabwe, a country it finds under constant repression from President Robert Mugabe’s regime. Mugabe (83) who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, is hoping to secure a sixth term in office.
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/ 8 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s former finance minister Simba Makoni — who announced his bid to challenge President Robert Mugabe in presidential elections next month — on Thursday taunted the octogenarian leader, suggesting he could unseat Mugabe as the ruling party’s candidate and stand for the presidency in his place.
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/ 7 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s draft mining Bill will not force firms to give a stake to the government for free as previously feared, and will be debated by Parliament after elections next month, a senior official said on Thursday. The government of President Robert Mugabe, who is running for another five-year term, published the Bill last November.
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/ 6 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s ruling party on Wednesday formally expelled a former ally of President Robert Mugabe for launching a challenge to the veteran leader in next month’s elections, a Zanu-PF official said. Veterans of the country’s liberation war have branded former finance minister Simba Makoni a traitor after he entered the race on Tuesday.
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/ 6 February 2008
Veterans of Zimbabwe’s liberation war warned a former ally of President Robert Mugabe who will run against him in next month’s elections that he was a traitor, government newspapers reported on Wednesday. Former finance minister Simba Makoni, a senior member of the ruling Zanu-PF, entered the presidential race on Tuesday.
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/ 5 February 2008
Negotiations to address Zimbabwe’s political crisis were no longer needed as it was only procedural issues that remained to be solved, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday.
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/ 5 February 2008
Zimbabwe’s former finance minister, Simba Makoni, a senior member of the ruling Zanu-PF party, announced on Tuesday that he would challenge President Robert Mugabe as an independent in elections next month. The announcement by the widely respected Makoni comes after the breakdown of talks between the two factions of the main opposition.
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/ 4 February 2008
The Zimbabwe opposition’s failure to bury its differences means President Robert Mugabe is a virtual shoo-in for a sixth term of office, analysts said on Monday. Sunday’s announcement that the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would field separate candidates against Mugabe has led commentators to close the book on the contest.
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/ 1 February 2008
Simon Kamunhukamwe just shrugged when Zimbabwe’s official inflation figure topped 26 000%. Exploding prices have become a part of life and protesting against the economic meltdown can be risky, especially as President Robert Mugabe digs in for elections next month.
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/ 31 January 2008
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe may have dealt a fatal blow to Pretoria’s "quiet diplomacy" by calling an election in the middle of mediation efforts by his South African counterpart, say analysts. President Mbeki was handed the poisoned chalice of mediating between Mugabe and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change last April.
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/ 31 January 2008
The United States Treasury said on Wednesday it had blacklisted the chief of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation and a nephew of President Robert Mugabe. The Treasury identified Zimbabwe’s spy chief as Happyton Bonyongwe in a statement that also announced that Leo Mugabe would be subjected to targeted US financial sanctions.
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/ 29 January 2008
A Zimbabwe court on Tuesday ordered the release of a controversial British property tycoon who was arrested last week for breaching foreign-exchange laws and possessing pornography, his lawyer said. Van Hoogstraten was arrested last Thursday at his Harare home.
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/ 29 January 2008
ÂProsecutors on Tuesday implicated British tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraaten on pornography charges involving scores of young Zimbabwean women and gave evidence of how he had been trapped in illegal black-market currency dealing. Van Hoogstraaten professes to be a friend of President Robert Mugabe, whom he describes as ”100% decent and incorruptible”.
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/ 29 January 2008
A Zimbabwean tribunal has begun proceedings to decide whether the nation’s Attorney General should be removed from office for allegedly abusing his power in a case involving a fugitive banker, state media said on Tuesday. Attorney General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele was suspended in December after police charged him with corruption.
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/ 28 January 2008
The Zimbabwe government on Monday slapped down opposition demands for a new constitution to be adopted before a March general election, saying it would only be put to a referendum after the polls. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the state-run <i>Herald</i> newspaper that "the state was not in a hurry to craft a new constitution".
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/ 27 January 2008
The notorious property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten has been arrested in Zimbabwe on charges of breaking the troubled country’s currency exchange laws and possessing pornography. Police detained Van Hoogstraten after a raid on his home last Thursday, charging him with collecting rent on his properties in foreign currency.
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/ 27 January 2008
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Jacob Zuma, who survived rape and corruption charges to become the president-in-waiting, has harsh words for Kenya and Nigeria, where recent elections were marred by alleged fraud, violence and disputed results. ”What has happened in Kenya I think is absolutely not right,” Zuma said on Saturday.
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/ 26 January 2008
A white Zimbabwean farmer has been ordered to vacate his farm after the Supreme Court dismissed his application to stop the government from acquiring it, the government mouthpiece Herald reported on Saturday. Justice Luke Malaba dismissed the constitutional challenge by Michael Campbell, a former owner of Mount Camel in Chegutu.
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/ 25 January 2008
The realisation of promises by the government of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe of a record crop yield during this summer’s farming season will not be met, the country’s agriculture minister admitted on Friday. In October, the government declared that the summer would result in ”the mother of all agricultural seasons”.
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/ 25 January 2008
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party described a decision on Friday by President Robert Mugabe to call general elections for March 29 an "act of madness", but stopped short of calling for a boycott. "It’s an act of madness and arrogance," Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said.
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/ 25 January 2008
As I drove from the border with South Africa to my home town I recalled the refrain Zimbabweans use when pondering the economic meltdown in their country: ”surely things cannot get any worse than they are”. That mantra has helped them soldier on during the last eight years as they grappled with an ever-growing list of shortages.
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/ 25 January 2008
Jacob Zuma said on Thursday that United States and European interference was hindering efforts to reconcile Zimbabwe’s opposition with President Robert Mugabe’s government. ”The US and Europeans tell us what we need to do and tell Mugabe,” Zuma told reporters at the gathering of leaders in Davos.