Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

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...

Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono (above), is still operating pretty much as though he were the de facto Prime Minister he was before the formation of the coalition Government between Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. Harare, Zimbabwe, 07 February 2010 Senior staff at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, headed by Mugabe's blue-eyed boy, Gideon Gono, have spent US$215 000 on food in the last month, with the money having been authorised by officials in Tendai Biti's Ministry of Finance. Biti is also the MDC-Tsvangirai Secretary-General. The Minister claims that this expenditure is being made without his knowledge and that he is being "circumvented"! Gono has been emboldened by Biti's failure to have him fired. Mugabe has personally and publicly said "Gono is not going anywhere, show me what wrong he has done." Quite a lot of wrong, he as done, it turns out. Recently, as Tendai Biti toured the world, going to America to lobby Congressmen to rem...

This is the current Zimbabwe parliament, a place filled with history and a perfectly acceptable home for our legislature. But no, Mugabe and Tsvangirai now want to build a US$120 million brothel somewhere in the Kopje area, motel and everything, to house an even larger contingent of MPs. The word "priorities" seems to mean nothing to these people, both MDC and ZANU PF. One is like the other and they are now cheering each other on in their glutton. Instead of tightening their belts, they are having their stomachs surgically expanded in order to gorge themselves Harare, Zimbabwe, 10 January 2010 While teachers threaten to go on strike because they are being paid poverty wages, while nurses and doctors moonlight because government pays them slave wages, the Inclusive Government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe has announced that it will build a new "state of the art" Parliament Building in Harare this year. Finance Minister Tendai "Kiya Kiya" Biti confi...

Robert Mugabe and Gideon Gono inspecting farming equipment that was being distributed by the Reserve Bank to farmers all over Zimbabwe last year. Mugabe has now come out in support of the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar and says it will be back by the end of the year. He was speaking after accepting 60 tonnes of maize presented to him in gratitude by the villagers of Zhombe yesterday. Harare, Zimbabwe, 05 November 2009 Robert "The Solution" Mugabe yesterday told villagers in Zhombe that the Zimbabwe dollar will be back by year-end in order to mitigate the suffering of rural people. Mugabe was speaking in the area at a ceremony where he was given 60 tonnes of maize by villagers who said they wanted to thank him because they had managed to get a very good harvest as a result of the inputs they got last year from Gideon Gono and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Mugabe's said that it was unacceptable that people in the rural areas are now "forced" to hand over go...

While Morgan Tsvangirai tours the region looking for diplomatic support, Mugabe and ZANU PF are busy buying votes and loyalty as evidenced by their actions in the last two days. Mugabe's party is telling struggling farmers that they can not get farming inputs because the MDC-T and the Prime Minister are still campaigning for sanctions in order to continue hurting the people so that they vote for the MDC. Harare, Zimbabwe, 23 October 2009 Only a day or so ago, I reported on this blog that ZANU PF was distributing 10 000 bags of farms inputs (seed, fertiliser and the like) in Uzumba, which is a stronghold of theirs. I said it was quite clear that ZANU PF was busy buying the loyalty of voters now, preparing the ground for the next election. As most of you know, ZANU PF campaign tactics hinge on two things: buying loyalty/votes and intimidation (which often escalates into violence). Now, it emerges that just yesterday, Ephraim Masawi, a senior ZANU PF member and Mugabe confidant, was a...

A diamond dealer holds out a rough diamond wrapped in a US Dollar note at Chiadzwa. The area is now a magnet for all sorts of shady characters, including armed robbers, who shot and killed a shopkeeper on Friday. They come in search of the wealth (in US Dollars, now Zimbabwe's official currency) they believe pervades the area as diamond dealers splash out in shops or hoard cash at home from their illegal diamond sales Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 October 2009 The Chiadzwa Diamond Fields are proving to be a hunting ground for violent criminals. It emerges today that a young man has died at the army-controlled Diamond Fields, shot in the stomach by armed robbers. Three men showed up at a shop at Chiadzwa and bought drinks and cigarettes, apparently. And then they hung about until after 10p.m., when the shop was closing. Instead of asking them to leave, an assistant to the shopkeeper decided to lock them in, so that no one else could come in. He would have unlocked for them to leave. Instead ...

Lavish lifestyles: The MDC now says it is OK for them to use taxpayer funds to splash out on the lavish living of the Speaker of Parliament who spent a year at taxpayers' expense at the 5-star Miekles Hotel (pictured above) because ZANU PF also use taxpayer money to fund their lavish lifestyles. Greed in the MDC is now encouraged because ZANU PF is also greedy. It is a twisted logic that will ensure that this country is doomed for the generations to come unless the people of Zimbabwe come to their senses. Harare, Zimbabwe, 05 September 2009 One of the most senior confidants of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in the MDC, Eddie Cross, who even managed to get a ministerial post before Mugabe put a stop to his nomination on the grounds of his previous criminal convictions says the Speaker of Parliament's scandalous expenses and greed is justifiable because ZANU PF and Mugabe also behave in the same manner. In a letter that he distributed widely to the media, Cross says the speaker...

This was Mupedzanhamo Market in Mbare, Harare, this morning. Despite attempts by the MDC-dominated Harare City Council to rectify the ZANU PF patronage and corruption, Mugabe's home-boy and Minister of Local Government, Ignatious Chombo, has blocked that move, saying only Central Government can allocate stands there. ZANU PF loyalists protested last week about the proposed Council actions and one of them died after being hit by a stone on the back of the head. Now, moves are afoot by ZANU PF to mete out retributive violence on MDC supporters in the capital. Harare, Zimbabwe, 05 September 2009 A bloodbath looms in Harare as ZANU PF activists plot "revenge" for the death of one of their own at a market in the dirt-poor township of Mbare in in the capital city. The death of the ZANU PF supporter, Mrs Martha Chitambira, who was 70 years old, is being blamed on MDC supporters by ZANU PF, including President Mugabe himself. The background is rather strange. The Market, known as...

Sitting Pretty: The Speaker of Parliament (pictured in the Speakers Chair in Parliament) has been splashing out on suites at the Miekles, a 5 Star hotel in Harare, to tune of US$6 000 per month for bed and breakfast only since August last year. No wonder they all want this to last another four or so years. Harare, Zimbabwe, 27 September 2009 While Parliament and government plead poverty and refuse to pay doctors even just a paltry US$300 per month, it has been revealed today that the Speaker of Parliament has had a permanent suite at the Miekles at a cost of more than US$6 000 per month since he was sworn in. This is happening as MPs have also gone for a year without their allowances, making it difficult for the most dedicated to see to their constituencies and giving the crooks an excuse to steal the people blind. The story dominates the Sunday Mail front page today. It simply goes to prove that the best form of leadership is leadership by example. Why should doctors and teachers not ...

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...

Not only did the MDC lie that their MPs had returned the blood-stained cars from the Reserve Bank, but now, those MPs are refusing to give back those cars, as reported today by The Standard. They want to buy them "at book value"! This despite the fact that they each got brand new US$30 000 cars recently Harare, Zimbabwe, 21 September 2009 When I exposed here the fact that MPs from the MDC had defied Morgan Tsvangirai and refused to hand back the cars that Gideon Gono gave them ("on loan", it was claimed.), we had all sorts of people saying we were wrong. Even the Prime Minister and his ministers lied to the people and some publications with MDC agendas duly parroted that with headlines such as "MDC MPs return Gono Vehicles". Now The Standard reports that the MPs never returned the cars at all. In fact, after they were given US$30 000 each to buy new cars from local garages, they are now refusing to give back the ones "on loan" from Gono. The Stan...

Not only is Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council abusing money meant for ARVs for AIDS patients, but they are also condemning AIDS orphans, such as the one in the photo above, to misery. State media reports that out of US$1.7 million collected through taxes by the AIDS Council, only US$20 000 has been spent on ARVs this year. The rest bought cars and funded foreign junkets. Not a surprise, considering bodies like the NAC are staffed with ZANU PF loyalists, appointed by Mugabe's party to spread patronage. I hope they burn in hell. Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 August 2009 The shamelessness of ZANU PF never ceases to amaze even jaded observers. Today, state media carries a self-righteous report on the abuse of funds meant for AIDS patients by the National Aids Council in Zimbabwe. It emerges that out of US$1.7 million collected since January, only US$20 000 has been spent on desperately needed ARVs , which can significantly alleviate the suffering of AIDS and HIV patients. The rest was spent ...

This is a photo of the Zimbabwe Independent newsroom. The paper has confirmed in today's issue that they got money from Gono "to buy newsprint". But questions surrounding whether this has compromised the paper's reporting on Gono (especially with regards to his fight with Finance Minister Tendai Biti) remain . The Zimbabwe Independent, which I revealed on this blog last week had accepted money from Gideon Gono, confirmed the accuracy of that statement in their Editor's Memo in today's issue. The paper really does not address the issue, only saying that Gono himself has previously revealed the information and that it is not a secret. Granted, it is not a secret and my story also made revealations about how Gono gave government money to his own paper, The Financial Gazette, which money he immediately claimed back from the paper in his personal capacity as shareholder. He claimed the paper owed him dividends. At issue, however, is not whether the paper accepted o...

This is Mugabes US$5 million three-story villa in Hong Kong, where his daughter is at University. The home is not a retirement home for Mugabe, as most people the world over would like to believe. The house is simply a fall back for his family when he is no longer around. His kids will have a bolt hole then, because it is likely that Zimbabwe may prove too hot for them without the old man's protection. The villa is housed in the Jackie Chan Centre in Hong Kong. I promised a few days ago to share with you information from impeccable sources on just how Robert Mugabe amassed a fortune during his tenure. So here goes: Few people know that, when Mugabe travels overseas, the Chief Secretary to the Cabinet goes to the Reserve Bank and asks for cash, hard cash, for the trip. It is given in US dollars. In the 1980s, the figure was US$50 000 per trip. This money would be put in a black hold-all bag and carried by either Mugabe's long-service bodyguard or one of the three people that alw...