Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Members of the National Constitutional Assembly seen here protesting are unlikely to swayed by the weak statement from Advocate Matinenga today. Matinenga is the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs and he has issued a statement to the media trying to counter another statement earlier this week from ZANU PF's Minister Mangwana in which he demanded that the Ministry of Finance give the Committee US$4 million in order for ZANU PF to participate. The two contradicting statements means that the fight over the funding of the process by donors is not resolved, as the government is so broke it can't even pay attention (to service delivery). Harare, Zimbabwe, 11 September 2009 Advocate Eric Matinenga, a minister in the party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC, called a press conference at which he tried to pick a fight with Minister Mangwana of ZANU PF, who demanded US$4 million from the moribund and broke Inclusive Government in order to allow the process to ...

The strategy behind the disruption of the Constitutional Conference is now clear, despite Mugabe calling a press conference together with Tsvangirai and Mutambara to say he would not "tolerate such nonsense" in future. He is working on his own strategy, which is at variance with the other parties to the GPA, but they all take his assurances at face value Harare, Zimbabwe, 09 September 2009 In a move clearly calculated to scupper all efforts to establish a new Constitution in Zimbabwe, ZANU PF is holding the process to ransom, demanding that the Inclusive Government give more than US$4 million to the Parliamentary Committee in charge of the process if ZANU PF is to participate. Munyaradzi Mangwana, a ZANU PF minister and parliamentarian sitting on the Select Committee charged with leading the process, made the announcement day before yesterday. Explaining the "strike" on which the Committee has embarked, he said that "As ZANU PF", they had taken the positio...

This is Thamsanqa Mahlangu, the MDC-Tsvangirai Youth League Chairman and Deputy of of Youth in the Inclusive Government who stands accused of stealing a US$20 mobile phone that belongs to War Veterans leader Joseph Chinotimba in Harare during the Constitutional Conference. He was in court today, where Chinotimba was testifying Harare, Zimbabwe, 27 August 2009 The trial of MDC Tsvangirai Deputy Minister Thamsanqa Mahlangu started in earnest at Magistrates Court along Rotten Row Road in Harare today. Joseph Chinotimba, the self-styled "Commander of Land Invasions" and War Veterans Association leader, who is accusing the Deputy Minister of the theft, was the only witness to give evidence today at the court. During his testimony, Chinotimba (known as Chinos around Zimbabwe) was asked why he left his phone unattended when he went to get food from the buffet table at the Harare hotel where he was attending a conference with the accused Deputy Minister. Chinos replied that the peop...

Inclusive Cabinet Being Sworn in, February this year. A deputy Minister from the MDC Tsvangirai in this cabinet had been arrested for stealing a cellphone belonging to "War Veterans leader" Joseph Chinotimba. First, apologies, it appears I spoke too soon. No sooner had sung the praises of Nelson Chamisa than Internet connection in Zimbabwe collapsed entirely. While we are back online at the Mavambo offices, with out phones and internet connection restored, my other internet connections went completely dead. Curiously, last night, as I was working on some posts for the blog and doing other housekeeping things, electricity at the office was also switched off. It is almost unheard of for power to go in the city centre and, even more suspicious, the power went only on the block where our offices are (about ten building on one side of George Silundika. As I drove out, everywhere else there was power). But we could never expect anything else from this Inclusive Misgovernment. ****...

Deputy Prime Ministers Thokozani Khupe and Arthur Mutambara are seen here with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Entebbe. The two were taken on a junket by Robert "The Solution" Mugabe as he starts his offensive to charm the MDC-T leadership into submitting to his will. He appears to be winning. Meantime, back home, all hell is breaking loose, with Civil society partners of the MDC-T declaring their marriage to the opposition party dissolved. Former allies of the MDC-T, the Zimbabwe Congress Of Trade Unions and the National Constitutional Assembly have blasted Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe over their failures on not only the constitution but also the running of the country in general. Almost all of the criticism was directed at Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T, signalling that the myopic days of "why criticise Tsvangirai, criticise Mugabe instead" are over. Indeed, it serves no purpose to harp on about the geriatric Mugabe, who everyone agrees...

Is that a "Hardliner" right there standing squarely behind "The Solution" so that there is no mistaking who he is saluting? Still, kudos to Tsvangirai and Mutambara for putting the old man in the spot at State House during that emergency meeting after the fracas at the Constitutional Conference! On the day the Constitutional Conference was disrupted, I broke the story on this blog that Mugabe and Tsvangirai were meeting at State House over the matter. They subsequently emerged at the end of that very same day with Deputy PM Mutambara in tow to announce that they would not tolerate any nonsense. In my scoop on their meeting at State House, I told you that the president basically defended the people who made the disruption and said the MDC-T was railroading other parties by refusing to listen to their concerns (and they can do that because they control parliament and the Speaker's Chair, although not for long, if Mugabe's current strategy bears fruit, as I hav...

Jacob Zuma earlier today at Sharm El Seikh in Egypt where the Non-Aligned Summit started. Mugabe, who is seated a few places away from Zuma (and out of shot), has asked the SA president, who is one of his supporters, as well as the Egyptian president to arrange a "low-key" meeting with Barack Obama who will also be attending the Summit. It is a testimony to the acceptability of Obama that he becomes the first American Head of State to be invited to the Non-Aligned Summit, traditionally very anti-American. FIRST OF ALL, MY APOLOGIES: So many of you have written and complained that I update the blog too late every day. The complaints have really mounted, including the instance a couple of days ago when I was confronted with the "accusation" at an office I was visiting near State House (yes, I mean you guys!) I understand that, but in the last few days, with the launch of MKD and stuff, we have been swamped. I routinely do not get to bed until after 3a.m. these days. ...