Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

This is an example of the homes in Westgate, Harare. It turns out now that some of the homes, which were earmarked for Zimbabwean investors from the Diaspora, have been forcibly moved into by uniformed forces people. The Reserve Bank, which instigate the project, is reluctant to talk. The Bank that was in charge of the project has gone bust, a victim of the crackdown some time back by Gideon Gono, which saw several banks lose their licences. The two companies who are subsidiaries of the bust bank are also reluctant to say anything on the matter, but we witnesses first hand this reality, with one of the uniformed men openly boasting that he had simply taken over the finished home. Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 November 2009 Some of the houses in the Westgate area that were built for Zimbabweans in the diaspora have been forcibly taken over by various senior army officers. Most of the houses are in the relatively affluent suburb of Westgate in Harare. These homes were built during the heydays of ...

The elite Presidential Guard stands guard, watching the Independence flame burning during celebrations in Harare earlier this year. The army is Mugabe's principal source of power and he has rewarded them very well, to the extent that retired personnel are deployed into the boards of civilian companies owned and run by the government. The State now says this is ok and points to comments by an American Defence Attache as proof that this is accepted practice worldwide, even in the States Harare, Zimbabwe, 04 November 2009 It is called clutching at straws. State media has been sent in to try and dampen criticism of the militarisation of Zimbabwe's government companies by using the statements of a former American soldier as a crutch to support Mugabe's patronage system.  Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Anderson, the Defence Attache at the American Embassy, delivered a speech at the Food For Thought workshop run by the American Embassy in Harare yesterday. He spoke about  former Ameri...

Harare, Zimbabwe, 21 September 2009 Out in Chiredzi, a disturbing thing is happening. Most of the farms in the area, which was established by Ian Smith's Rhodesian Government as the base for Zimbabwe's massive sugar-cane industry, have already been acquired by the government and cut up into pieces to be given to black farmers. Now, these same black farmers are waking up everyday to find their sugar cane fields harvested and the cane is being sold openly to the Sugar factories based in the area. It is understood that a Colonel, a Lieutenant in the Zimbabwe army, together with ZANU PF officials in the area and some as far away as Masvingo, are behind most of these thefts. The reason is that, apart from maintenance, once you have sugar cane, you do not have to do much planting, buying of seeds or even ploughing. You just make sure that your field is kept in good order. These people who are stealing the sugar have been given farms elsewhere, but those farms require some work, as in...

The armed forces in Zimbabwe, heavily factionalised like ZANU PF, now simply consider Tsvangirai leader of just another faction vying to replace Mugabe when the time comes. It explains their hostility towards him because he at first did not realise this at all and thought that their resistance was based on his electoral success. Instead, not one amongst the armed forces leaders thinks Tsvangirai has a chance of actually assuming the presidency but they believe he would be useful to have in their camp if he can bring his followers along with him, thereby giving whatever faction his chooses a semblance of mass support. It is a dangerous game that shows just what trouble we are in Harare, Zimbabwe 27 August 2009 The Zimbabwe Defence Forces are heavily factionalised and it is by no means a foregone conclusion that, should anything happen to Mugabe, the army will fall in behind a single successor. This was revealed to me in detail yesterday after an interview I did with SW Radio regarding t...

Zimbabwe's diamonds are safe, for now, with the Certification team currently in the country saying those calling for a ban of the diamonds from Zimbabwe are talking nonsense and "we will not entertain them." It means Grace, Gono and their runners can continue smuggling loose diamonds in handbags from Zimbabwe to be polished and sold off in China. Mugabe's government is might pleased with this and the state media will be crowing about it tomorrow. Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 August 2009 Tomorrow the state media will be crowing louder than usual with regards to the proposed banning of diamonds from Zimbabwe by a Kimberley Process Team that was in the country more than a month ago. None other than the Chairman of the Kimberley Certification Process Scheme, Benhard Esau, is leading a team currently visiting Zimbabwe and he held a press conference here in Harare today. During the press conference, he said: "There are members of the Kimberley Process trying to convince other ...