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• 2010/08/30: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Pressure Group Says SADC Lacks Credibility to Monitor Zim Elections
• 2010/08/30: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Half of the Population Wants to Leave the Country
• 2010/08/30: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Two State Prosecutors Tortured for Sending War Vets to Jail
  Two state prosecutors who were based in Matobo in Matabeleland South province fled the country earlier this month, after they were severely tortured for their role in sending three war vets to prison for stock theft. SW Radio Africa can reveal that the two public prosecutors, Samkeliso Moyo and Freedom Chaita, are now safe in Johannesburg, South Africa after the state turned against them. They are said to be highly traumatized at what they went through when members of the dreaded CIO set upon them after they successfully proved in court that the three war vets were guilty of the crime charged.
• 2010/08/30: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Tomana Dismisses MDC-T Report On 2008 Atrocities
  Controversial Attorney-General Johannes Tomana has set himself on a collision course with the MDC-T party after he poured scorn on their 2008 report documenting political murders. In June 2008, MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai had to pull out of the Presidential election run-off due to unprecedented levels of political violence, abduction and torture of MDC activists and human rights defenders. More than 500 MDC members were killed at the height of the political violence and close to half a million were forced to flee their homes in a campaign that was led by the military. However the MDC was able to document almost all the atrocities including the dates, times and places where the crimes occurred. On realising the police were taking no action on the document, the MDC sent a copy to Tomana to follow up on the investigations. But Tomana on Friday brushed aside the report, telling the weekly Zimbabwe Independent that he did not take it seriously, because it should not have been sent to him in the first place.
• 2010/08/30: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: Policy of Appeasement [towards leaders who have blighted the region], SADC's Major Weakness
• 2010/08/29: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Accusations And Lies Surface Over GPA Implementation
  There has been confusion, accusations and counter accusations between the rival parties in the coalition government over a controversial GPA letter written by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to President Zuma, regarding governors and sanctions. Speaking on this week's Hot Seat programme, the Deputy Prime Minister told SW Radio Africa that he was mandated to write two letters, one on June 8 and another on 5 August, to SADC appointed facilitator and South African President Jacob Zuma on behalf of the Principals, prior to the recent SADC summit in Namibia.
  [...]
  But recent comments from both ZANU PF and the MDC-T show that the political parties are still worlds apart on issues to do with the implementation of the Global Political Agreement.
• 2010/08/25: OpenDem: Mugabe's zero sum game
  Mugabe seems little constrained by the 2008 Global Political Agreement which established the coalition with the Movement for Democratic Change
• 2010/08/26: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Ten Days Pass With No GPA Implementation
  Ten days have passed since the unity government was set a 30 day deadline to implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA), and there is still no sign of any movement towards meeting this deadline.
• 2010/08/24: AllAfrica: SW Radio: MDC-M Vice President Gibson Sibanda Dies
• 2010/08/24: BBC: Zimbabwe's MDC co-founder Gibson Sibanda dies [of cancer]
• 2010/08/23: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: ZANU-PF's Sincerity Tested Once Again
• 2010/08/23: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: ZANU-PF Hardliners Rub in PM's 'Junior' Status
• 2010/08/23: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Mugabe Reneges On GPA Implementation
• 2010/08/23: AllAfrica: SW Radio: ZANU PF Tries to Block Diamond Researcher From Monitoring Job
• 2010/08/23: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: Mugabe Wins Big at SADC Summit
  The charm offensive by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democractic Change ahead of last week's Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit created optimism that President Robert Mugabe - the region's oldest black sheep - would finally be brought to heel. But like the proverbial cat with nine lives Mugabe left Windhoek - the venue of the 30th Sadc heads of state and government summit - with his head high. Instead of chastising him for dragging his feet in implementing the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that led to the formation of the unity government last year, regional leaders stroked Mugabe's ego by "commending the Zimbabwe stakeholders for their efforts towards implementation of the GPA".
• 2010/08/21: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Chihuri to Go?
  The three parties in government -- ZANU-PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations -- are set to cross swords once again when police Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri's term of office expires at the end of this month...
• 2010/08/21: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: SADC Gives Govt 30-Day Ultimatum
  South African President Jacob Zuma says ZANU-PF and the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) should resolve, within a month, outstanding issues threatening the government of national unity (GNU). ZANU-PF, the MDC-T and the MDC-M have been deadlocked over contentious issues relating to the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) since its consummation in September 2008.
• 2010/08/20: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Issue Suspiciously Blocked From SADC Debate
  Accusations of political chicanery at the just-ended South African Development Community (Sadc) summit in Windhoek, Namibia, have surfaced following the failure of regional leaders to fully discuss Zimbabwe in their main proceedings and reflect the issue in detail on the communiqué.
• 2010/08/20: AllAfrica: SW Radio: MDC COPAC Teams Resolve to Cancel Meetings in Violent Areas
• 2010/08/20: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Another MDC MP Arrested As Masvingo Police Hunt More
  Meanwhile the MDC is facing more harassment in connection with the constitutional outreach in Masvingo. The police at Masvingo central arrested Jani Varandeni, the MDC MP for Bikita South, on Thursday morning after he reported there to ask what progress had been made in the case involving violent attacks by war vet Jabulani Sibanda, who had terrorized the area. Varandeni signed a warned and cautioned statement and was released on bail till his court appearance on Monday. Describing the incident, MDC-T organizing secretary for Masvingo, Tongai Matutu, said it was a case of the "police turning a victim into the accused". Matutu, who is also the Deputy Minister for Youth, Gender and Development, said: "The police are now hunting down MDC activists, members, supporters and officials left, right and center."
• 2010/08/20: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Civil Society Remains Skeptical About Implementation of GPA
• 2010/08/20: AllAfrica: SW Radio: SADC's Motives Questioned Over Tribunal Review
  Questions are being raised over the true motive behind the Southern African Development Community's decision to review the mandate of the regional bloc's human rights court. SADC officials have denied that the Tribunal has been suspended, shortly after resolving to review the "role functions and terms of reference" of the court. The review process is set to take six months and during that time the court won't be handling any new cases or completing any current ones. Despite this, SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salamao insists that the Tribunal has not been suspended. SADC is now facing criticism for using the review process to avoid confronting Robert Mugabe for disregarding the rule of law. The Tribunal ruled in 2008 that Mugabe's land grab campaign was unlawful and discriminatory, and ordered the Zimbabwe government to protect commercial farmers, their rights to their land, and pay compensation for land already seized. But in Zimbabwe the Tribunal has been snubbed by the government, with Mugabe and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa declaring that the Tribunal's rulings were 'null and void'. The High Court then ruled that the Tribunal's orders on land reform have no authority in Zimbabwe, despite the country being a signatory to the SADC Treaty.
• 2010/08/18: AllAfrica: SW Radio: MDC-T 'Happy' With Outcome of SADC Troika Meeting
• 2010/08/17: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: More Zanu PF Jingles Coming
• 2010/08/17: AllAfrica: BusinessDay: Zuma Claims Progress in Easing Logjam
• 2010/08/17: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Villagers Devise Whistling Scheme to Combat War Vets
  Fearful villagers in Chipinge and Nyanga have devised a whistle strategy to combat increasing attacks from ZANU PF thugs and war vets, as the police standby, refusing to come to their aid. Douglas Mwonzora, the national co-chairperson of the Constitutional Parliamentary Committee in Zimbabwe (COPAC), said on Monday that locals were fed up of being harassed at outreach meetings and have resorted to citizen action.
• 2010/08/17: AllAfrica: SW Radio: SADC Gives Principals One Month to Implement Outstanding Issues
• 2010/08/16: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: Zanu PF Invaders Leave a Trail of Destruction
• 2010/08/16: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: SADC - More of the Same
  Heads of State and Government from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will, for the umpteenth time, converge in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, on Sunday for the regional grouping's 31st summit whose agenda will include the nagging Zimbabwe question.
  Bringing finality to the Zimbabwe crisis in which the regional bloc and the African Union are the guarantors of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that was meant to bring peace and prosperity to the country's long-suffering citizens following a decade of intense rivalry between ZANU-PF and the larger formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) has eluded SADC for many years...
• 2010/08/13: AllAfrica: SW Radio: SMS News Message Throws Manicaland CIO Into Panic
  Members of the Central Intelligence Organization who were terrorizing villagers in Manicaland Province have removed registration numbers from their cars, after an SW Radio Africa SMS news alert on the 6th August. The SMS exposed the names of officers involved in the violence and gave the registration numbers of the cars used. The alert exposed the use of a white Nissan double cab ABM0196 used by a CIO officer identified as Shingi, ABM0155 used by the Officer in Charge of Chipinge CID known as Chizemo and another similar truck ABM0203, used by a CIO known as Matake. On Friday Makoni South legislator Pishai Muchauraya told Newsreel; 'After that exposure by SW Radio Africa the CIO's involved in that violence removed the number plates of the cars operating in Chipinge. They also confronted some of our members, including some drivers, asking us why we are putting them on the internet including their registrations numbers and names.' The identified CIO officers were moving from village to village ahead of constitutional outreach meetings and terrorizing known MDC supporters. The campaign is part of moves by ZANU PF to silence any opposition to a draft constitution supported by Mugabe's regime. The CIO's named were particularly active in the Chipinge, Chipinge South and Musikavanhu constituencies.
• 2010/08/13: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: MDC Say Agreement Reached on Provincial Governors
  The MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has confirmed that it has reached agreement with ZANU PF on the sharing of posts for provincial governors. An Associated Press report on Friday quoted spokesman Nelson Chamisa saying their party would get 5 governorships, ZANU PF 4 and the Mutambara MDC 1, under a formula previously agreed to. The report further stated that Mugabe would swear in the governors on the 24th August. The timing of the announcement of the agreement, a few days before a SADC summit in Namibia, would appear to be a calculated attempt by ZANU PF to take the sting out of criticism for its failure to honour the September 2008 power sharing deal. Several times Mugabe has given the impression he would swear in the MDC governors Tsvangirai had appointed, but each time nothing materialized.
• 2010/08/13: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Victory for Tsvangirai as GNU Corrects His 'Junior' Status
• 2010/08/13: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Mugabe's Proposed Amnesty a Form of Further Injustice
• 2010/08/13: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: 'Mugabe Amnesty Rhetoric Mockery to Victims'
  President Robert Mugabe's call for amnesty on political crimes has all but ended hopes of justice on Zimbabwe's recurring state-sponsored abuses in the near future.
• 2010/08/12: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Two MDC Activists Hospitalized After Zanu PF Attacks
• 2010/08/12: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Farmers Win Another Victory Against the Government
• 2010/08/12: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Country on SADC Summit Agenda, but No Change Expected
• 2010/08/12: AllAfrica: WFP: Food Security Improves, but 1.68 Billion People Still Need Food Assistance
• 2010/08/12: AllAfrica: ZDN: Government's Volte-Farce
  [...]
  The Zimbabwe Government’s deliberate dismissal of the SADC Tribunal’s jurisdiction led to its legal team being instructed to take the unprecedented step of walking out of a hearing in Windhoek. Thereafter, the Zimbabwe government’s legal team failed to attend all hearings at SADC’s Highest Court of Appeal. However, when the SADC Tribunal issued a costs award against the Zimbabwe Government and this was duly registered in South Africa, there was an immediate change in strategy.
• 2010/08/12: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Zuma Pressures GPA Partners
• 2010/08/10: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Theresa Makone Remains Silent on War Vets Violence
  The Home Affairs Co-Minister Theresa Makone's 'silence' regarding the war vets continued attacks on MDC members is a sign her party is still not in control, a commentator has said. Last week, assaults on MDC officials and supporters intensified in the Chipinge area of Manicaland, with MDC-T Makoni South MP Pishayi Muchauraya blaming war vets and ZANU PF militia for the violence. On Monday the MDC in Masvingo said war vets leader Jabulani Sibanda has used inflammatory speeches to terrorise thousands of people at meetings for the past few weeks. He recently told villagers that people opposed to Robert Mugabe would be killed.
• 2010/08/10: AllAfrica: SW Radio: War Vets Leader Threatens to Squash Tsvangirai Like a 'Fly'
  Notorious war vets leader Jabulani Sibanda has threatened Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, comparing him to a 'fly' that could be easily killed by swatting it against a window. Sibanda who has made a political career out of terrorizing and killing MDC supporters was addressing villagers at Mashoko Business Centre in Bikita West over the weekend.
• 2010/08/10: EarthTimes: Zimbabwe food crisis eases, but over million face hunger says UN
• 2010/08/10: AllAfrica: SW Radio: War Vets Holding Constitutional Outreach to Ransom in Masvingo
  The constitutional outreach exercise has been forced to suspend its activities in Masvingo, because of a terror campaign unleashed in the province by war vets supporting ZANU PF with the police's knowledge, according to officials in the area. On Saturday the MDC members of the outreach team refused to continue with their work because of increased threats of violent attacks and after an MDC committee member's house was torched by suspected ZANU PF operatives. Angry outreach workers say police are also deliberately allowing the war vets to intimidate locals, making it impossible for them to complete the constitutional outreach exercise in a safe and democratic manner.
• 2010/08/09: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: PM Defies Police Ban
  Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday defied a police ban and addressed thousands of his supporters for the first time since he was prevented from campaigning in Matabeleland North ahead of the ill-fated June 2008 presidential run-off poll.
• 2010/08/09: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Ministers and Journalists Face Arrest for 'Leaking' Information
  The Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu, on Wednesday threatened to arrest any government ministers who disclose information on cabinet meetings and proceedings to the media, plus the journalists who use such information. Minister Shamu reportedly said ministers were using confidential information from cabinet proceedings to "further their political agendas" and that some even "distort or misinterpret" the information in order to "promote their narrow party political interests". The announcement came after ministers reportedly discussed the issue last week in cabinet and agreed that leaks of such information were damaging to government. But media analysts strongly disagree and have criticized the move as yet another attempt to silence the media, target the MDC and keep Zimbabweans in the dark about political activities. Political science professor John Makumbe criticized the MDC ministers for going along with this decision, saying the directive by Shamu is aimed at victimizing them. He said: "The MDC ministers have become sitting ducks really. And there will be no ZANU PF ministers arrested for leaking anything, not just to the Herald, but even to independent newspapers. They will be leaking only those stories that they want to go out into the public domain."
• 2010/08/07: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Civil Society Demands Action From SADC Leaders
  Civil society on Friday demanded that leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) take action to prevent state-sponsored violence during the next elections in Zimbabwe. The call by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition comes ahead of the SADC Summit in Namibia from August 15 - 17, where Zimbabwe's current political stalemate is set to be debated. The situation fell off the agenda at last month's African Union (AU) summit in Uganda, despite the stalemate that has blocked any real change in the country.
• 2010/08/06: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Crisis Drifts Away From Diplomatic Radar
  The Zimbabwe crisis, one of the most dominant political questions on the continent for close to a decade, is disappearing from the radar of regional and continental diplomacy as leaders focus more on pressing issues such as piracy and resurgent terrorism. A delegation from Zimbabwe civil society that travelled to the African Union summit to lobby for continental leaders to discuss Harare's political stand-off went largely ignored, underlying how attention on Zimbabwe has faded.
• 2010/08/06: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Bizarre Stunt Fuels Further Acrimony in Copac Outreach
• 2010/08/06: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Mugabe Tirade Derails Reengagement
• 2010/08/06: AllAfrica: SW Radio: MDC Sustain Broken Limbs After Zanu PF Attacks in Chipinge
  Assaults on MDC officials and supporters intensified in the Chipinge area of Manicaland on Wednesday and Thursday, as ZANU PF continued its campaign of violence linked to the Constitutional outreach program. Provincial spokesperson and Makoni South MP, Pishayi Muchauraya, told SW Radio Africa that two MDC officials sustained broken limbs and MDC vehicles were attacked and vandalized by youth militia and CIO agents in separate attacks.
• 2010/08/04: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Police Refuse to Return Diamond Researcher Farai Maguwu's Property...in direct violation of a High Court order
• 2010/08/04: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zanu PF Using Soldiers, Chiefs and Militia to Attack MDC
  The Constitutional Outreach program which was supposed to peacefully create a new people-driven constitution for Zimbabwe, has instead often brought little more than renewed violence against those perceived to be MDC supporters. ZANU PF has activated the same machinery used during elections in the past to intimidate opposition officials and supporters. This includes soldiers, the police, traditional chiefs, the youth militia and local thugs, who are paid for each assignment. Reports of assaults, displacements, arrests and harassments are being received daily from around the country. Many observers are questioning whether the MDC formations should continue being part of this constitutional exercise and also of the so-called inclusive government, when they clearly have no power.
• 2010/08/04: EUO: Mugabe tells EU, US to ‘go to Hell' at sister's funeral
• 2010/08/04: AllAfrica: SW Radio: MDC Warned About Zanu-PF Election Mode
  The MDC needs to get serious as Zanu-PF intensifies its election strategy of intimidation and violence, an analyst has warned. Commentators point to how Zanu-PF has used the troubled constitutional outreach exercise to mobilise support, with widespread reports of its members intimidating and assaulting locals and MDC activists, trying to force them to endorse its views.
• 2010/08/04: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Widow of Murdered MDC Activist Nabanyama Speaks Out
• 2010/08/03: BBC: Zimbabwe attacks Western envoys after burial incident
  Zimbabwe has demanded apologies from three Western diplomats for walking out of a burial ceremony on Sunday for President Robert Mugabe's sister. German, US and EU envoys left after Mr Mugabe attacked Western nations, saying they should "go to hell" for interfering in his country's affairs. US Ambassador Charles Ray said he had left the ceremony because he was "very disappointed" in Mr Mugabe's conduct. He had, he added, nothing to apologise to Mr Mugabe for.
• 2010/08/03: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: GNU - Lost Urgency Music to Zanu PF
• 2010/08/03: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Govts Economic Suicide Continues
• 2010/08/02: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: PM Defies Police Ban
  Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday defied a police ban and addressed thousands of his supporters for the first time since he was prevented from campaigning in Matabeleland North ahead of the ill-fated June 2008 presidential run-off poll. The last time Tsvangirai tried to campaign in the province two years ago he was detained in Lupane for several hours.
• 2010/07/30: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Government Wants to Be 'Main Player' in Aid Distribution
• 2010/07/30: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Police Trying to Block MDC Hwange Rally
• 2010/07/29: AllAfrica: SW Radio: MDC Harassment Continues as ZPF Start 'Electioneering'
• 2010/07/29: AllAfrica: SW Radio: 'Operation Shut Your Mouth'
  The violence and intimidation being perpetrated by ZANU-PF to sabotage the constitutional outreach programme has turned into a fully-fledged official campaign dubbed, Operation "Vhara Muromo", which means "Shut Your Mouth". This is intended to make it clear that those with views opposed to official ZANU-PF policies are to remain quiet at the outreach meetings being conducted around the country. Many people are reported to have gone into hiding and others have been assaulted or displaced after making contributions deemed to be sympathetic of the MDC on constitutional issues.
• 2010/07/28: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Court Helps Ensure Bennett's Swearing-in Delayed 'Indefinitely'
  The Supreme Court has ensured that MDC Treasurer General Roy Bennett will not be sworn in to his post as Deputy Agriculture Minister any time soon, after postponing his acquittal case 'indefinitely'.
• 2010/07/28: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Constitutional Meetings Rendered Pointless by Zanu-PF Intimidation
• 2010/07/28: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zuma Sends Envoy to Kick Start Mediation in Zimbabwe - Again
• 2010/07/28: AllAfrica: SW Radio: More Intimidation Reported At Constitutional Outreach Meetings
  The independent constitutional outreach monitoring organization, ZZZICOMP, has reported that a District Administrator in Masvingo has gone into hiding after being threatened by ZANU PF militias for his contributions at a meeting at Chivi Centre. At the meeting Bernard Hadzirabwi suggested that the Prime Minister should have executive powers. A contribution that did not go down well with the ZANU PF supporters and CIO's present at the meeting two weeks ago. ZZZICOMP observers on the ground said that on Monday ZANU PF youths were organising a demonstration against Hadzirabwi at the centre. They also threatened security guards at his offices.
• 2010/07/27: BBC: 'Military junta' rules Zimbabwe, says MDC's Bennett
  Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is little more than the front man for a military junta, a leading white politician has told the BBC. Roy Bennett said Mr Mugabe remained in office thanks only to a clique of generals who are enriching themselves.
• 2010/07/23: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Uproar as Funds From Tollgate Fees Benefit Zanu PF Strongholds
• 2010/07/23: Guardian(UK): Counting the cost of Zimbabwe's 'blood diamonds'
  Gemstone finds in the country's wild east have brought spies and paranoia and turned Mutare into frontier town
• 2010/07/22: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zanu-PF Thugs Occupy Indian-Owned Business in Bulawayo
• 2010/07/22: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Constitutional Outreach on Verge of Collapse
• 2010/07/22: AllAfrica: SW Radio: MDC-T Ward Chairman Arrested in Mutare
• 2010/07/22: AllAfrica: SW Radio: International Court Urged to Prosecute Mugabe
• 2010/07/21: AllAfrica: SW Radio: More Reports of Zanu PF Intimidation at Constitutional Meetings
• 2010/07/21: AllAfrica: SW Radio: MDC Activist Stabbed by Zanu PF Youths
• 2010/07/21: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Senior MDC Official Assaulted During Copac Meeting
  A senior MDC official taking part in a constitutional outreach meeting was on Monday severely assaulted in front of the police, who shockingly did nothing to arrest the culprits who are alleged to be ZANU PF officials. The incident took place at Kaziro Business Centre, Madziva in Shamva North, Mashonaland Central province, on the day the consultative meetings resumed after a week long break. Morgan Komichi, the MDC-T's deputy national organising secretary, said they were deeply concerned by reports of the assault of Martha Muronzi, the MDC Women Assembly's chairperson for the province.
• 2010/07/21: AllAfrica: Namibian: SADC Tribunal Rules Against Zimbabwe Govt
• 2010/07/19: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: Mugabe Snubs Tsvangirai Wedding
• 2010/07/19: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Candid Comment - a Litmus Test for a Return to the Rule of Law
  Zimbabweans have been patiently waiting over the past days for a Pandora's Box to be opened by the arrest of Zanu PF activist, Temba Mliswa, who stands accused of spoliation on commercial farms.
  The spoliation comes in various forms ranging fom alleged fraud to outright theft allegations. The question that Zimbabweans have been asking each other in hushed tones was whether Mliswa was the only one or whether his was only the tip of the iceberg.
  So far nothing has come out of it but suffice it to say commercial farmers have piles of case numbers and High Court orders that are not being executed because the police will not assist the aggrieved individuals in the return of the looted property.
  The Mliswa case provided a perfect opportunity for Zanu PF to prove that it does not condone corruption by ensuring that everybody who did not use the Acquisition of Farm Equipment and Materials Act to acquire assets from commercial farms is brought to book.
• 2010/07/19: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: MDC-T Slams Alleged Harassment
  MDC-T MPs have condemned the alleged harassment of participants in the constitution outreach process by soldiers, Central Intelligence Organisation officers and known Zanu PF activists. In a caucus meeting held yesterday at Harvest House and chaired by the party's organising secretary, Elias Mudzuri, the legislators complained that there was a lot of intimidation taking place around the country, mainly in Mashonaland East, Mutare and Masvingo during the constitution outreach process.
• 2010/07/16: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zuma Expected to Re-Engage Mugabe and Tsvangirai on GPA Issues
• 2010/07/16: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Document Exposes Zanu PF Chefs Who Looted Farms
  Recently appointed co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone is reported to have asked officials in her ministry to explain why ZANU PF officials and military officers, implicated in the looting of white-owned farms, have not been investigated or arrested.
• 2010/07/16: AllAfrica: SW Radio: State Radio and Television Stations Ordered to Play Zanu PF Jingles
• 2010/07/16: CBC: Zimbabwe can sell diamonds under new deal -- Rights groups closely watch country's diamond mines
• 2010/07/16: BBC: Zimbabwe diamonds deal to allow partial exports
  The body overseeing the trade in "blood diamonds" [Kimberley Process] has agreed that Zimbabwe can resume limited exports from new diamond fields in the east of the country.
• 2010/07/12: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Food Violence Blamed for Child Malnourishment
  ZANU PF supporters are continuing to withhold food aid donations from hungry villagers who refuse to join the party, at a time when a third of children under five in the country have been officially declared as malnourished. This is according to the civic group, the Zimbabwe Peace Project, which says that hungry villagers are still being told to first join ZANU PF first if they want to receive food donated by food agencies.
• 2010/07/12: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Farmers Union Says Mliswa Case Exposes Looting of Farms
  The Vice President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) Charles Taffs has said the ongoing court case involving ZANU PF activist Temba Mliswa exposes the looting of white owned commercial farms under the guise of a land reform exercise. Mliswa appeared in court last Wednesday charged with swindling a former commercial farmer of cattle and equipment worth over US$24 million.
• 2010/07/12: AllAfrica: IRIN: Shut Your Mouth or Else
  Jairos Mukotosi, 50, is avoiding a team of consultants, sent as part of a parliamentary outreach programme to the Rushinga area of rural Mashonaland Central Province in northeastern Zimbabwe, to find out what people would like included in a proposed new constitution. But for the past two months the members of the youth militia aligned to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party - have been warning villagers to either shut up or support ZANU-PF's view on the new constitution, which includes no limit on the number of presidential terms that can be served. They have dubbed their operation "Vhara Muromo", or Shut Your Mouth.
• 2010/07/09: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Bootlicking Creeps Into MDC-T
  Kowtowing is rearing its ugly head in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) as senior party officials fall over each other to ingratiate with party leader, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who party insiders claim is all out to crush dissent within the rank and file of the party. After Tsvangirai's shock reshuffle a fortnight ago, which saw four top MDC-T officials axed and several others redeployed, senior party officials are reportedly stampeding into the safety of the party leader's patronage network as the premier asserts his authority in the party, ravaged by factionalism, as an elective congress beckons. Put simply, a lot of senior officials, fearing for their positions, are trying to gain favour from Tsvangirai and those close to him, by cringing and flattering, typical of African politics.
• 2010/07/06: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Change Sweeps Through MDC-T
• 2010/07/06: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Zanu PF Intimidation Over New Constitution Continues
• 2010/07/06: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Minister Mutasa Says Police Using Rhodesian Tactics
  The personal nature of the feud pitting Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa against Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri blew out into the open this week, when Mutasa accused the police force including its chief of employing brutal Rhodesian tactics to settle personal scores. Mutasa's 47 year old son Martin was arrested alongside notorious ZANU PF activist Themba Mliswa and George Marere last week Monday, after trying to seize shareholding worth US$1 million from a company owned by white businessman Paul Westwood. Mutasa, in the company of new MDC-T co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone, is said to have tried to intimidate police into releasing his son.
• 2010/07/06: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Outreach Process Monitors Face More Arrests and Threats
  More independent monitors of the controversial constitutional outreach programme now face official arrest, after being threatened to keep away from the process by the heads of the programme. The two co-chairpersons of the constitution-making process Paul Munyaradzi Mangwana of ZANU PF and Douglas Mwonzora of the MDC-T, on Sunday gave permission for the police to arrest the monitors, who they say are interfering in the process and are peddling lies. It is feared that many others could disappear into the clutches of the police following this command.
• 2010/07/05: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Reshuffle Double-Edged Sword for MDC-T
• 2010/07/05: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Biti - the Cog of a Combative Cabinet
• 2010/07/05: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Town Clerk Axed for Hiring Out Stadium to MDC-T Political party
• 2010/07/05: AllAfrica: FinancialGazette: Siege Mood Grips MDC-T
  Senior Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) members were reported to be stampeding into the safety of party leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's patronage network after a shock Cabinet reshuffle last week whichleft perceived power contenders scurrying for cover. Political analysts and commentators said Prime Minister Tsvangirai, who for long had watched as his party lurched from crisis to crisis in protracted power struggles that triggered a split in 2005, has abandoned diplomacy for a head-on battle with internal rivals as the party faced an elective congress next year.
• 2010/07/05: AllAfrica: ZimStandard: Food Shortages to Worsen in Drought-Prone Areas
• 2010/07/02: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Villagers 'Coached' to Back Kariba Draft
• 2010/07/02: AllAfrica: ZimIndependent: Muzzling the Press Will Boomerang On COPAC
• 2010/07/02: AllAfrica: BusinessDay: Tsvangirai Urged to Leave Unity Government
• 2010/07/01: AllAfrica: SW Radio: Country to Buy Maize from Zimbabwean Farmers in Zambia
  While farms that were once highly productive lie idle under the new ownership of ZANU-PF officials and cronies, Zimbabwe is in the process of negotiating a deal to import maize from neighboring Zambia. The tragic irony is that the crops being sought after were grown by white farmers who were illegally booted off their land in Zimbabwe. Many wound up in neighboring countries, which are now benefiting from their expertise. Zambia used to import maize and other food items from Zimbabwe, but with the influx of some of Zimbabwe's best farmers, they've once again produced a surplus maize crop. Zimbabwe on the other hand has recorded a deficit of 500,000 tonnes of the daily food staple this year. Chiredzi based farmer Gerry Whitehead described the whole situation as "disgusting". He said: "Approximately 90% of these Zambian crops are coming from ex-Zimbabwean farmers who were forced off their land here." Sipula Kabanje, Zambia's high commissioner to Zimbabwe, confirmed in reports that the negotiations with Zimbabwe were going on through Zambia's maize agent, the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). He said Zimbabwe also wants to import other food items like wheat, beef and dairy products from Zambia.
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• For previous news see the Zimbabwe News Archive

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Last modified August 31, 2010