Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

It was in the Exhibit Room at the Harare Magistrates' Court (above) that two policemen and their civilian accomplices were caught red-handed demolishing a wall with hammers and chisels in a bid to get to US$1.5 million which was being kept there as evidence in a smuggling case. Harare, Zimbabwe, 31 December 2009 Times are still tough for Zimbabwe's underpaid policemen, it seems. Cephas Dumba and Talkmore Manyasha, two Harare-based policemen, tried to break into the Magistrates' Court in Zimbabwe's capital to steal US$1.5 million that was being kept under lock and key as evidence in the trial of that Mozambican who was caught a few days ago trying to smuggle the money out of Zimbabwe. The policemen have since been arrested, together with a University of Zimbabwe Engineering student and two other people, apparently initially attempted  to replace the one and half million US dollars evidence money with fake US dollar notes.A fake note dealer had given them US$400 000 for t

Children as young as 3 normally do not look after cattle or go after them to bring them in for the night. But to toddlers from Mhangura in Zimbabwe , this was par for the course. Their parents, who appear to be getting away scot-free, left them at home to go and attend to fields kilometres away. The toddlers wandered in search of their cattle and died as a result. It is all rather fishy. Harare, Zimbabwe, 30 December 2009 Two toddlers aged 3 and five died of hunger in a forest in Zimbabwe after having gone to look for their family cattle and bring them in for the night. It is a tragic story that should really result in criminal charges against the parents (if they can be called that).Gift and Patrick Magadhi of Mhangura were left alone at home by their parents who went off to tend to their fields, which are said to be five kilometres away. As the day drew to an end, the two toddlers decided that their family herd of cattle was late and they went off to bring them in for the night. But

This was the last time Zimbabweans saw their "leaders" this year, on December 23 at a press conference at Zimbabwe House. They joked and laughed and, with straight faces, urged the negotiators to speed up their talks. Whereupon Mugabe announces that he is now officially on his annual month-long leave. He might well be asking, "What outstanding issues?" Harare, Zimbabwe, 29 December 2009 Well, for a month at least. That's because Mugabe has gone on his annual leave starting yesterday, December 28. We will only see him again in February. It is an act of supreme contempt for the talks and negotiations allegedly going on in Harare between his party and the MDCs. He has not solved the more prickly of Tsvangirai's grievances: Roy Bennett, for instance. Reform of the security services is another. And, although Mugabe says he has signed the mandates for ambassadors to take their posts, they have not been posted yet. Perhaps in January? Mugabe was busy urging the med

All grandiose talk of housing construction from Mugabe's government so far has been nothing but hot air. Private developers, people like Philip Chiyangwa, for instance, with his Pinnacle Properties, tend to do a much better job. But now Mugabe has decided to make yet another grand announcement about handing over a thousand hectares to the Angolans and Chinese to build whole towns. I am sure it is the last time we will hear about it, although the Chinese are likely to take the land anyway and do something else with it. Harare, Zimbabwe, 28 December 2009 Zimbabwe's government (still a ZANU PF government now getting Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC to do its bidding), has given a Chinese/Angolan company - Sonangol - one thousand hectares of land, purportedly to build new towns around the capital Harare. The land, in Mt Hampden (which Cecil John Rhodes' European settlers first targeted as the capital of a new Rhodesia or Zambezia) and Mazowe, is imply just a gift at the moment and

Local Government Minister has had a decision he made to appoint a traditional leader in Hwedza nullified. Harare, Zimbabwe, 28 December 2009 Justice Anne-Mary Gowora at the High Court of Zimbabwe perhaps does not know how the ZANU PF patronage machinery works. That is why she has nullified the appointment of a Headman in Hwedza by Local Government Minister and Mugabe homeboy Ignatious Chombo. The Headmanship is for Goto Ward in the Hwedza Area. Strictly speaking, no matter what the modern laws say, Headmen are the responsibilities of the Chief of the area. Having a Minister appoint a Headman is akin to asking a Board Chairman to appoint a shop-floor supervisor, but that is how deeply ZANU PF is controlling the rural areas. This being Goto Ward, it would have been expected that traditional laws of natural inheritance dictate that Milton Goto, the obvious candidate, would have been appointed. But Chombo instead appointed a Madzimbamuto Chikowore to the job. This was in May 2007. Willard

An ashen-looking Mugabe addresses the media on December 23 during a press conference with Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara at Zimbabwe House, which Mugabe now uses as his office, rarely going to Munhumutapa Building, where Tsvangirai now works from, except for the Tuesday Cabinet meetings.This has been a much better Christmas than usual for Zimbabweans, at least in a decade, but deaths on the roads show a hangover from when corners were being cut n servicing cars and repairing roads Harare, Zimbabwe, 26 December 2009 Same old story. Police in Zimbabwe have announced that 33 people died in accidents on the country's roads since the Christmas period began in earnest on 21 December. Zimbabwe police, who say that the hardest hit province was Manicaland, which far outstripped other provinces in fatalities, also cite fatigue, inattentiveness (driving without due care and diligence) and vehicles that were not roadworthy as the main reasons behind the high death rate. The carnage on

Now wonder Mugabe looked so happy: he had just heard his Prime Minister and Deputy PM lambast Nestle for closing shop, calling Nestle's actions an "overreaction". It has now been announced that Nestle has now been forced to reopen!! On condition that they continue to buy Mugabe's milk in a roundabout manner Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 December 2009 After Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called Nestle Zimbabwe's shutdown of its operations an "overreaction" and Mugabe turned the business of his family into State business, Nestle have now been forced to reopen their Zimbabwe operations. Tsvangirai personally intervened to ask Welshman Ncube, Trade and Industry Minister, to lean on the local Nestle operation. The Solution that has been imposed on Nestle in Zimbabwe is one which will see them continue buying milk from Mugabe's farms, but this time in a roundabout way. Dairibord Zimbabwe will purchase all milk from producers in the country, including Gushungo Far

A condescending Robert Mugabe looks on, smiling benevolently like a proud father, as Morgan Tsvangirai announces to the press at a Press Conference in Harare yesterday that he is happy with the crumbs Mugabe has given him. The press conference was held at Zimbabwe House. Mugabe pointed to the announcement of various commissions and his signing of mandates for ambassadors from the two MDCs as evidence that the Global Political Agreement had been implemented!! Harare, Zimbabwe, 24 December 2009 Robert "The Soltuion" Mugabe announced at a press conference yesterday that he has now finally signed the mandates that will allow MDC-Tsvangirai and MDC (Mutambara) ambassadors to take up their posts in the new year. You will recall that this blog was the first media in the world to reveal to you that the announcement by the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that his ambassadors would be posted in August 2009 was wrong and that Mugabe was refusing to post them until Tsvangirai called for

After addressing a rally like this one in Mucheke last year, Morgan Tsvangirai went to a hotel in Masvingo Province for lunch with his delegation and met with local officials, running up a bill of more than US$2 000. Which he promptly refused to pay and is still refusing to pay because his party now says this is one of the perks of being in the Inclusive Government! Harare, Zimbabwe, 23 December 2009 The MDC-T, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, is refusing to pay for lunch that the Prime Minister and party president had at a Hotel in Masvingo during a rally held in Mucheke in 2008! The MDC-T has told management at the Mandava A1 Hotel that they are now part of the Government and the use of the hotel and the food served is one of the perks of ruling Zimbabwe. And we thought that it was only Mugabe and his crew who are used to taking things by force. MDC-Tsvangirai Provincial Chairperson in the Masvingo Province, where the free lunch was eaten, says the demand for payment from the hotel "ca

For refusing to buy milk from Robert Mugabe's Gushungo Farm (whose dairy cows are shown on display at an Agricultural Show above), Nestle has been hounded out of Zimbabwe, forced to cease operations, throwing hundreds and perhaps ultimately thousands of people out of work. Not a squeak from those who should have a conscience in this Inclusive Government as we export jobs (Nestle products will now mostly likely be imported for our shops from South Africa) Harare, Zimbabwe, 23 December 2009 Nestle Zimbabwe, by far the biggest and most dominant supplier of processed dairy products in Zimbabwe, has been forced by the Mugabe family and its supporters to shut down. The company only says it has "suspended" operations and does not give reasons. It does not take much to figure out what is happening. Nestle were buying milk from Gushungo Farm, owned and operated by the First Lady of Zimbabwe, Grace Mugabe until protests about their propping Mugabe up financially and profiting from

While crime rates in Zimbabwe increase and while the police are more eager to crack down on political dissent, it emerges this morning that they have diverted attention from their their "core business" of policing in Zimbabwe and are now instead into farming. The Zimbabwe police have taken over a farm in Marondera, where they are busy plundering timber from a vast cultivated field of gum tress left behind by the previous owner. Their attempts at farming crops have, by their own admission, failed dismally. Harare, Zimbabwe, 22 December 2009 The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has "moved from its core business as police" and is now busy plundering timber at an invaded farm in Marondera, cutting down vast tracts of gum trees and selling the timber to tobacco farmers to allow them to cure their harvests. The police were given the nearly 3 000 hectare farm by Mugabe under the Land Reform Programme and they are openly boasting that the former owner of the farm was "in

Morgan Tsvangirai embraces another "dishonest partner": The Prime Minister was congratulating newly sworn-in Vice President John Nkomo at State House last week. Today, he had reason to smile as Mugabe finally announced the names I leaked on this blog on October 5 this year. Harare, Zimbabwe, 22 October 2009 On October 5 this year (2009), I published here the list of Zimbabwe Media Commission appointees as agreed that day between Mugabe and Tsvangirai during their Monday meeting of that week in an article entitled: Scoop! - Zimbabwe Media Commission Names Released - Massive Victory For Tsvangirai. The list that I published on October 5 2009 was: Godfrey Majonga (former ZBC newsreader) Matthew Takaona, former President of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists and an ardent supporter of Morgan Tsvangirai Henry Muradzikwa, who is also in the Tsvangirai camp Chris Mutsvangwa of ZANU PF, a former ambassador to China Chris Mhike Hussain Sibanda A Mrs Nyati, whose first name I could not

After agreeing to be sowrn in by Mugabe like any other Minister (as opposed to insisting on being sworn in by the Chief Justice), Tsvangirai remains very much in Mugabe's shadow despite winning elections in March 2008. Confirmation of my story a couple of weeks back about Tsvangirai giving in to Mugabe on most of his "disengagement" issues has now been provided by a report compiled by the South Africans on the progress of the ongoing talks in Harare . Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 December 2009 The Zimind has in its possession the report compiled by a SADC Facilitation Team appointed by Jacob Zuma, the South African president, which confirms what I told you last week about Tsvangirai losing out heavily to Mugabe in the ongoing talks in Harare. (See my article "Tsvangirai Loses Out Heavily To Mugabe In Ongoing Talks " ) The talks talks are a result of Tsvangirai's temporary "disengagement" from ZANU PF, Cabinet and Council of Ministers. Back in October, when

Lovemore Moyo, the Speaker of Zimbabwe's Parliament, is now engaged in an ugly and unprofessional turf war with the Clerk of Parliament, whom the MDC-Tsvangirai faction sees as a ZANU PF appointee. It is a continuation of the turf war between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, with the Prime Minister and his party trying to assert their authority as the largest party in parliament. This has led them to see conspiracies everywhere, including in the professional conduct of the Clerk. The Clerk stands his ground and it appears that there is nothing the MDC-T can do to him since he is playing it by the book, while Tsvangirai's party wants him to "get with the programme." Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 December 2009 The fight for political space and authority between ZANU PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC has now spilled into parliament, with the Clerk of Parliament, the long-serving Austin Zvoma, threatening legal action against the MDC-Tsvangirai-appointed Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo

Although they may appear together in public, it emerges now from a report compiled by the South African Facilitation Team appointed by Jacob Zuma that Morgan Tsvangirai can only get access to Mugabe through the dictator's PA. This state of affairs does not sit well with Tsvangirai and he has made this one of his "outstanding issues" in the current talks going on in Zimbabwe. Why on earth would he think this is more important than the real issues that affect people's lives. Does he think getting direct access to Mugabe will change how the dictator sees him or get him to take the Prime Minister and his party seriously? Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 December 2009 "I meet him (Mugabe) whenever I want," Prime Minister MorganTsvangirai boasted in South Africa back in April this year. Well, it turns out that is not quite the case. The report compiled by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika point man on Zimbabwe, Jacob Zuma, this last month says Morgan Ts