Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Dr Tafataona Mahoso has been appointed the CEO of Zimbabwe's new Media Commission, despite having vied for the Chairmanship of the same body, losing out to Godfrey Majonga. Mahoso is known as the "Media Hangman " because he ran the previous Media and Information Commission which presided over teh closure of several newspapers in Zimbabwe as well as the banning of several journalists from practising their craft. Harare, Zimbabwe, 29 May 2010 If proof was needed that Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T are just passengers in the so-called Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe, then it was provided this last week by the appointment of Dr Tafataona Mahoso as the Chief Executive Officer of the new Zimbabwe Media Commission, which was supposed to usher in a new era of media plurality and democracy in Zimbabwe. Mahoso is accused by his detractors of being a "media hangman"in his previous incarnation as Chairman of the now defunct Media and Information Commission (MIC), which pr...

Dr Simba Makoni, pictured here at a World Economic Forum Summit, was at the Quill Club in Harare last week, where he attacked the government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert for wasteful expenditure, wrong priorities and "failing the nation"on a host of other issues. Makoni directly took on MDC-T's Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, Jamieson Timba, who was in the audience, leading to a spirited public exchange in which Timba conceded that most of Makoni's accusations were "valid". Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 May 2010 At a gathering of journalists of last week, Mavambo interim president, Dr Simba Makoni, who ran for president in Zimbabwe's last General Election, clashed with the MDC-T's Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, who was also present to hear him speak. Makoni kicked off the confrontation by publicly accusing Timba, who I was sitting with in the audience, of "presiding over POSA and AIPPA." POSA (Public Order and Securit...

Morgan Tsvangirai, president of the MDC-T and Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, addresses a press conference at his party HQ in Harare on May 16 2010. Tsvangirai is frantically trying to contain a looming threat from two factions in his party that have now joined forces and are pushing for a Congress to be held so that they can challenge his position. Tsvangirai has reacted by stripping Secretary General and Minister of Finance Tendai Biti of the majority of his powers, as well as effectively suspending Elias Mudzuri from the position of National Organising Secretary, a post effectively now held by a Tsvangirai loyalist, Morgan Komichi. The MDC-T Congress, postponed time and again, is now, according to Komichi, only to be held after a General Election in Zimbabwe, whenever that may be. Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 May 2010 Some time back, I was accused of being a nay-sayer, a hater of the MDC etc for pointing out facts that are now emerging to be true. Last week, Tendai Biti, the most potent and cre...