Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Observers say they are stunned at the complete absence of any strategy or campaign at the constituency level by Nelson Chamisa's MDC Alliance. It is a criminal neglect of a key pillar of his success as a presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa, the presidential candidate of the MDC Alliance so carefully and thoughtfully put together by the late Morgan Tsvangirai, is running an utterly criminal election campaign that focuses solely and almost entirely on his own personal ambition only. Chamisa has convinced all watchers that he does not believe in the Alliance he purports to lead. Evidence of this is scattered all over the electoral landscape like bodies on a battlefield. Parliamentary candidates for the Alliance have been neglected and their dejection is on full display around Zimbabwe, in contrast with the candidates of Khupe's MDC and Mnangagwa's ZANU PF. Even independents like Fadzai Mahere in Mt Pleasent are outgunning Alliance candidates in terms of energy, ...

According to sources close to the development, the reason we are seeing Nelson Chamisa going ballistic in the last few days is because of a message delivered to him by a representative of President Mnangagwa, whom he met this last week. The message was in response to Chamisa's repeated attempts to meet with Mnangagwa and the two letters he has sent asking for a meeting. The first one, already published, asked for the meeting as a "courtesy visit". The response to Chamisa has been that President Emmerson Mnangagwa will only meet Nelson Chamisa in the presence of Thokozani Khupe, who also claims to be the legitimate leader of the MDC-T. The visit last week from an ED representative was to update this position and the message, we are reliably informed, was: "We had hoped to arrange a meeting after the court case you had brought against Khupe and the other MDC-T. That court case would have settled who really is a representative of the MDC-T. Unfortunately, y...

The letter asking for the "crying doctor" to be suspended and disciplined by the Hospital Doctors' Association of Zimbabwe. In a move that is set to strengthen VP Chiwenga and President Emmerson Mnangagwa's conviction that the Doctors' Association in Zimbabwe has been politicised and sympathises with the opposition, the medical doctor who broke down in tears in front of President Mnangagwa at a ZANU PF rally yesterday is facing disciplinary action from the Association. In a letter to a Dr Tsopo, President of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors' Association, several former ZHDA National Executive Council members are asking the Association to "suspend, investigate and, if found guilty, discipline Dr P. Mugoni", ( now known all over Zimbabwe as "the crying doctor"). The charge is alleged charge is apparently "bringing the association into disrepute". And it is alleged that he broke the rules of conduct of Association office beare...

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is seen here at the burial of Mrs Takawira at the Zimbabwe National Heroes Acre on Monday (day before yesterday). Just to his right, partly obscured, is Zimbabwe's Kingmaker, Retired General Solomon Mujuru, without whom Mugabe would not have become leader of ZANU PF. Tsvangirai's deputy, Thokozani Khupe (that should be ThokoZANU Khupe after this), has prevailed on the Americans to lift their IMF veto on Zimbabwe, fulfilling one of Mugabe's dearest wishes. Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 January 2010 Deputy Prime Minister Thoko zanu Khupe, who is also Morgan Tsvangirai's deputy in the MDC-Tsvangirai, has prevailed upon America to lift its veto on restoring Zimbabwe's full rights at the next meeting of the IMF Directors at Bretton Woods in the Washington. The new United States ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, confirmed to the media yesterday that this was the case: "We would want to assure Zimbabwe that once the issue of restoring Zimba...

Mugabe is seen here with Yoweri Museveni, president of Uganda over the weekend in Kampala, where he is attending a Global 2009 Smart Partnership Dialogue Conference. Behind the two leaders is Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe of the MDC-T, who was splashed on the front page of the Sunday Mail yesterday deciding on seats on the Presidential plane with Mugabe. Arthur Mutambara, the other Deputy Prime Minister, is also on the trip. I just wondered how many of you out there noticed that Robert "The Solution" Mugabe has launched a charm offensive against the MDC-T top leadership. Yesterday, a photo of Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Khupe was splashed on the front page of the Sunday Mail. The two appeared to be joking around and enjoying each other's company. They were off to Uganda, for some summit or other, at which another Strongman, Yoweri Museveni, launched a broadside at Britain and the west, asking them to "leave Zimbabwe alone." What you are seeing is th...

SITTING PRETTY: Robert "The Solution" Mugabe is now supremely confident and secure in his position, thanks to Prime Minister Tsvangirai. None of this is likely to change Nothing will come of it, of course. You have, I am sure, heard by now that the MDC-T boycotted cabinet today. They were protesting the moving of cabinet from Tuesday to Monday. They figured the move by Mugabe, who leaves for an African Union Summit in Libya on Tuesday (today), was designed to deny the Prime Minister the opportunity to chair cabinet. The boycott is mere posturing, of course. The threat by Deputy PM Thokozani Khupe that the MDC-T reserves the right to disengage from the Coalition government is also hollow and only serves to drive the final nail into any prospects for recovery. More importantly, though, people must also realise that this is mere posturing, designed to hoodwink the public into thinking the MDC-T has finally retrieved its spine from the trash can. After all, Simba Makoni is launch...