Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, whose home phone number has been released to the public as MDC activists and supporters urge each other to call his home persistently and ask for the granting of bail to Roy Bennett. The move is likely to further strain relations between Prime Minister Tsvangirai's party and the AG's office. The MDC has been trying to get Tomana fired by Mugabe since February this year, but has gotten no joy from the "The Solution." Relations with Gideon Gono, however, appear to be improving as Tsvangirai reached out to him this week. Harare, Zimbabwe, 16 October 2009 In a move that is likely to entrench the intransigence of Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, the MDC yesterday published the private home phone number of Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and urged its supporters to call the number repeatedly until they get through and protest the jailing of Roy Bennett after his indictment in Mutare this week. The opposition party urges supporters of Benn...

Jestina Mukoko and her fellow abductees arriving at court on December 24 last year, the first time they were seen in public after they had disappeared from their homes and places of work. They had been held incommunicado for up to three months, with the police saying they did not have them in their custody. The case against them (a banditry charge) was quashed by the Supreme Court because their "arrests" had been illegal and the group is now suing the Minister of State Security and his fellow conspirators for the abductions and illegal detentions. The State has abandoned the Minister, refusing to defend him in the lawsuit. Harare, Zimbabwe, 11 October 2009 Johannes Tomana, the Zimbabwe Attorney General, under fire from the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti who want him fired, has, in a shock move, left the Minister of State Security, Didymus Mutasa, exposed in the courts, refusing to defend him in a lawsuit filed by Jestina Mukoko and others. Mukoko, who was facing charg...

Johannes Tomana, Zimbabwe's Attorney General, was revealed today to have embarked on a naked assault on the MDC structures all over the country. The intention is to humiliate Morgan Tsvangirai, showing him that, even if he stays as Prime Minister, nothing has changed and he can not protect his own people. Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 September 2009 The disputed Attorney General of Zimbabwe, Johannes Tomana, is now on a mission to openly show contempt for Morgan Tsvangirai and to utterly humiliate him in the eyes of his followers and the world at large. The renewed assault also explains Tsvangirai's statement yesterday in Bulawayo that his party members are being victimised. Here's the deal: As you know, I am in court tomorrow with Dr Makoni to answer charges under the Public Order and Security Act. But it does not end there. The Attorney General has now revived hordes of cases against mostly MDC Tsvangirai MPs and members under the same draconian. Hundreds of people will be dragged...

Jacob Zuma is seen here arriving with incoming SADC Chairman Joseph Kabila at the opening of the SADC Summit in the Great Lakes country. Zuma gave a glowing account of the "progress" in Zimbabwe but failed to table any issues for discussion. A Tsvangirai spokesman later briefed journalists that there will a special summit in Mozambique in a couple of weeks time, then Tsvangirai came out at a press conference later to say that the matter is now in the hands of the SADC Troika on Zimbabwe. It is a confusing set of events, which has left many people contacting me to try and make sense of what exactly has just happened, once you take away all the propaganda. Harare, Zimbabwe, 08 September 2009 Good God! In the last hour, I received a ton of emails from people confused about what exactly has just happened at the SADC Summit in the Democratic Republic of Congo with regards to Zimbabwe. At fault, obviously, is the propaganda wars being conducted even as I speak, with media sympathet...

Johannes Tomana (above), the Zimbabwe Attorney-General, has now been declared to be above the law by the government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. Since Tsvangirai has publicly stated that "there is nothing Mugabe does without my approval", we can a\only assume that he is fully in agreement with this latest travesty of justice Harare, Zimbabwe, 24 August 2009 The government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe have now publicly stated that Attorney General Johannes Tomana is above the law. The announcement was made by Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice in this moribund Inclusive Government. Here's the background: Last month, parliament (where MDC still hold a sliver-thin majority) agreed to motion by MDC-T parliamentarian Tongai Matutu to "condemn the unwarranted convictions (of MDC supporters and activists) and selective applications of the law" by the Attorney General. The motion also called for the "immediate withdrawal, reversal and q...

Soon after Morgan Tsvangirai "nullified" the appointment of Permanent Secretaries, I told you on this very blog of the meeting between Mugabe and Tsvangirai at which the dictator informed the Prime Minister that he was not going to fire Gono or the Attorney General, that Tomana guy. I was right, my detractors were wrong. Yesterday, Morgan Tsvangirai and Tendai Biti ate humble pie. Because, yesterday, Tendai Biti was forced to hold a press conference at which he declared that he was best friends with the Reserve Bank governor. Online newspapers, Tendai Biti said, were "awash with falsehoods about my relationship with the Central Bank Governor". The truth of the matter is what I told you on this blog. You will recall that I did inform you that Mugabe had told Tsvangirai that there was no reason for the government to fire Gideon Gono. I also informed you that Mugabe had said the two men must first work together and, if Gono was found to be insubordinate, then, and only...