Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

The jailing of Dickson Mafios (above) this week on charges of border jumping is part of a grand strategy to contain and eliminate the threat of impeachment and toppling of President Emmerson Mnangagwa by G40 Trojan Horse candidates, the opposition and Jonathan Moyo's NPF The details behind the plot to topple President Mnangagwa through impeachment make for a very interesting read and I'm surprised none of our mainstream media are willing to delve deep into it. When Webster Shamu was caught red-handed rigging the elections in his neck of the woods, the expose also cracked wide open a conspiracy that has now been confirmed for the first time in public by President Mnangagwa himself. You've read stories about Shamu sponsoring and fielding candidates against Chris Mustvangwa (President Mnangagwa's Special Adviser who is in line to become minister of Information and Publicity after the elections) in the Norton Constituency primary elections. That saga, apparently,

There is no doubt now that there is a plot against Nelson Chamisa, one designed to obliterate his political career by the end of next year. Or sooner. Let me explain. Morgan Tsvangirai ran a solid outfit as MDC leader. He gathered around him people of intellectual capacity and strategic prowess. People like Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti and a host of other backroom operators the public does not know about. These minds are still in place. Those people, even ones who had disagreed with Tsvangirai and walked away, are all back at Chamisa's disposal. It is inconceivable then, that, with such a deep well of talent and brains that he could tap into, Nelson Chamisa is repeatedly having to be on the back foot, speaking out of turn and being caught in downright lies. He started with airports at your house, bullet trains and spaghetti roads. When that elicited derision and a backlash, someone apparently told him to pivot and project himself as a statesman. Which he took to me

Confidence or panic? The level of discourse on Zimbabwe's social media sphere was the talk of a gathering of diplomats and the NGO Community recently, with focus the acrobatics being performed by Nelson Chamisa's supporters. At an Africa Day dinner on 24 May this year, I listened in horror as foreign diplomats and NGO-types dissected what they all agreed was an unbelievable degeneration of discourse on Zimbabwe's social media platforms. There's defence of the indefensible. Lies. Insults. That much can not be denied. The unanimous agreement around that room was that this behaviour is coming almost exclusively from the supporters of Nelson Chamisa's bit of the MDC-T (Madame Khupe claims ownership of the other bit). But that was not the revelation of the evening, no. One diplomat had a perspective that I found difficult not to go along with. The behaviour you are seeing from those that purport to support Chamisa is informed not by passion, but by panic, he

Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee should first summon President Emmerson Mnangagwa to answer questions before it summons him, arguing that anything he has to say is, at law, hearsay and of no value to the Committee's cause Former President Robert Mugabe has told close friends and advisers that Temba Mliswa's Parliamentary Committee must first summon President Emmerson Mnangagwa to parliament before they even think of summoning him. Mugabe has so far totally ignored the summons delivered to him twice. The tactic he has used is one of simply not acknowledging receipt of any of the summons delivered to him. His aides have also been told not to tell Mliswa anything. In a stunning revelation of how government functioned in his last days, Mugabe insisted two nights ago (on Sunday night) that the actual running of government was under the current President, Emmerson Mnangagwa. And he is now claiming that it was President

Nelson Chamisa will be challenged at the next MDC-T Congress by current Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora for the presidency of the party. Mwonzora, who beat Nelson Chamisa at the last Congress for the Secretary-General post, is positioning himself astutely at the moment through the primary elections for the MDC-T and through background control of the MDC-T notorious Vanguard. While Nelson Chamisa, his supporters and certain members of the MDC-T are busy keeping their eye on the elections against President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ZANU PF, the party is being methodically, quietly and ruthlessly taken over by Secretary General Douglas Mwonzora. There really are now two factions within the Nelson Chamisa MDC-T party led by Nelson Chamisa. One faction consists of Chamisa loyalists. The other is Mwonzora's faction, which is in the ascendancy at the moment. So much so that Mwonzora has effectively and astutely locked up the party primaries. The notorious MDC-T Vanguard, outw

President Emmerson Mnangagwa accompanied President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea to former President Mugabe's Blue Roof mansion on Friday morning, but left about an hour and half before Obiang, soon after the small talk, when Mugabe suddenly asked Obiang, "Mr President, please ask your counterpart why he is spying on me?" Impeccable sources confirm that President Emmerson Mnangagwa left Blue Roof, president Robert Mugabe's home, more than an hour before Equatorial Guinea President, Obiang, who he had quietly accompanied to see the former strongman. It was the first time the two had met since Operation Restore Legacy in November last year. Mnagagwa promised to speak to Mugabe after the elections before he left, a position he repeated to Obiang when the two met after the Mugabe meeting. They met at State House for Obiang to report on the outcome of the meeting with Mugabe, which turned out to be mostly a grievance-laden monologue. Obiang relies heavily on Zimbabw

Terrence Mukupe should be fired from his position as Deputy Minister of Finance. But not for saying that the Military will never allow Chamisa to rule. Because he did not say that. Have any of the people up in arms against what Terrence said actually listened to his speech. There is a video. It is attached to this post. The truth of the matter is that what I saw in the Newsday headline "Army Won't Let Chamisa Rule: Minister", is not what I heard on the video. More importantly for anyone who has the interests of the country at heart, is understanding why Newsday would frame this speech in the false manner that they have, They support Chamisa, they have made no secret of that. Which is fine and not a bad thing at all. But this report is designed deliberately and directly to undermine the results of the election should they go against him. This is a report purely framed to give credence to an unfree and unfair election before even official campaigning has started

Saviour Kasukuwere, the exiled former ZANU PF Political Commissar, whose house was riddled with bullets in the opening salvos of the November 2017 Operation Restore Legacy, is seen here arriving in Harare earlier today on a South African Airways flight.  The strategists within the ruling party ZANU PF have come up with the latest masterstroke designed to smash the putative internal revolt and scatter it to the wind. Their trump card is Saviour "Tyson" Kasukuwere. Kasukwere flew in today from self-imposed exile and walked into the country with no incident. This is part of the plan. The strategy is as follows: Kasukuwere is not going to be arrested or taken into custody. He is not going to be molested. This will send a signal to the rest of the G40 supporters in the party and those that had joined the emerging NPF that they really are forgiven and that their best interests lie with ZANU PF. There is been, from what I understand, a bit of back and forth between the

President Mnangagwa is being criticised for setting up an anti-corruption unit in his office. He should not be dissuaded at all. His critics are almost certainly the corrupt element in opposition and ruling party, fearing that the anti-corruption drive now has some teeth. President Emmerson Mnangagwa appeared in a video yesterday pounding his fist, demanding that corruption "be dealt with now", as he announced the setting up of a special team of prosecutors in his office. As soon as he announced this, lawyers and constitutionalists who have been silent all this time as corruption hollowed out the prosperity of Zimbabwe, came out of the woodworks to say the move was a violation of the constitution and a whole load of other nonsense. And, yes, no apologies for calling it nonsense. Corruption is a real cancer, the biggest contribution to Zimbabwe's poverty. The president must, by any means necessary, tackle it. He made it clear that the Prosecutor General has in

These guys are allegedly members of Khupe's faction of the MDC, caught red-handed burning down a bus that had ferried Chamisa supporters from Gweru to a rally in Bulawayo on April 7. They appeared in court yesterday and were remnded out of custody to May 31 Nelson Chamisa's faction of the MDC-T had a bus they used to ferry supporters from Gweru to a rally in Bulawayo on April 7 this year burnt down by six members of Thokozani Khupe's faction. The six, Dumisani and Thando Moyo, Tatenda Nyandoro, Darlington Siziba,  Cliff Sibanda and Bongani Phiri were remanded out of custody when they appeared in a Bulawayo court yesterday. Their trial will continue on 31 May. Chamisa had apparently decided to ferry supporters from neighbouring towns and cities in order to bolster the numbers at the White City stadium rally, which did not go down well with Khupe's faction. Khupe considers Bulawayo and Matabeleland her stronghold and expects to get the lion's share of her sea

Webster Shamu, seen here in parliament with President Mnangagwa, was fired by the President toady and Minister of Provincial Affairs for Mashonaland West. The move marks the end of his political career, especially after the "natural justice" process followed by ED. This post will also explain why Shamu decided to cheat during the primary elections in ZANU PF. Robert Mugabe once stated during a rally, describing then VP Mnangagwa, "Igweta ka uyu..." (He is a lawyer, this one." Mugabe said it admiringly, as he explained how the VP escaped censure and action on the Tshlotsho issue that saw Jonathan Moyo fired from the party. The lawyerly approach by President Mnangagwa is the reason why you have seen it take some time for the firing of Shamu to take place. Mnangagwa is obsessed with the concept of "natural justice" (ensuring that both sides are heard).  I know some people are already pointing fingers at Christopher Mustvangwa as the power behi

Zimbabwe's current leaders would like to see Dumiso Dabengwa (centre), back in government as a Vice President (something we first reported on here in August 2009). The dynamics this time around may be different enough to make this a reality, although Dabengwa still insists that his party, ZAPU, will not be disbanded. This time round, Madame Khupe and her outfit, likely to win significant support in Matabeleland in the 2018 polls, is in the mix. If all goes to plan, in a few weeks time, you are almost certainly going to see Dumiso Dabengwa and Thokozani Khupe campaigning together in the Southern Region of Zimbabwe. This issue, but the way, is also linked to why you are probably going to see the courts rule against Khupe in her quest to retain the MDC-T name. At law and technically, she would have been guaranteed to win that battle, but the dynamics changed in the last two weeks of April this year (2018).  This move is directly linked to the fact that Kembo Mohadi will not be

Why is it that, after Nelson Chamisa came back from the United Kingdom, he has not repeated his demands about the printing of ballot papers? Why has he not uttered a single word about this, even though this was his song throughout the run-up to his trip to the UK and even during his interviews there? The answer lies in meetings he has had with Vice President Chiwenga after that trip. The meetings, according to informed sources, have come about as a result of the realisation that goalposts have shifted dramatically since Mugabe left office, something the MDC Alliance had not fully appreciated until they met with British officials in London. A clear message was given to Chamisa's delegation, apparently, that the British government was not going to make the mistake of the past, where they were seen to prejudge the election and the process leading up to it by making procedural demands. This time, the British are going to stand by the universal condition that the elections

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is going to win the 2018 Harmonised election by a margin of between 218 000 and 392 000 individual votes. It will be a margin big enough to make calls of a recount moot. It will be small enough to give credibility to the masses that attend Nelson Chamisa's rallies these days. Most importantly, it will be enough margin to render the elections credible, free and fair. Where this margin, already guaranteed to President Mnangagwa, will come from, is the blind spot that the MDC Alliance has failed to locate. They have failed even to sniff it. The MDC Alliance and Nelson Chamisa have absolutely no clue how the President and the ruling party are going to win. But they know that they will win. So, the flailing pointing out of issues around the ballot paper printing, transportation and security is serving only to dig a deeper hole for the opposition alliance. Nelson Chamisa, who claims that, without him and without the Alliance, there will be no

Not one person has actually seen the psychology behind the type of handshake displayed by VP Chiwenga against Nelson Chamisa here. Even Chamisa does not realise he is being pulled down and forced to bow. Those who underestimate the General do so at their own peril. He staged probably the smartest dethronement of a leader anywhere in the world in the last 45 years.  The biggest advantage the MDC ever had was that people believed that they and only they would be acceptable to the West and international community. It led people to believe that only by supporting and voting for the MDC could they see economic improvement in Zimbabwe. That argument and that advantage has been spectacularly demolished by President Emmerson Mnangagwa since November 2017. The president is flying high right now. Very high. The international community is embracing him, much to the consternation of the opposition, especially the MDC-T. The MDC Alliance of Nelson Chamisa has been hoist by its own pet