Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Simba Makoni holds up the Finance Minister's Briefcase in 2002, just before presenting Zimbabwe's national budget for that year. Even back then, Makoni was reluctant to take the job and hesitated until Mugabe called him to say he could not wait announcing his cabinet any longer and that he would announce the cabinet without a Finance Minister if he did not get a response from Makoni by the end of that day. Harare, Zimbabwe, 18 July 2010 Dr Simba Makoni paid what was dubbed a "courtesy call" on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week, amidst persistent reports from within the MDC-T that Morgan Tsvangirai has proposed him for the Finance Minister position in a bid to get rid of Tendai Biti, whom the Prime Minister is in a bitter fight with for control of the MDC-T. Sources in the Prime Minister's office say Tsvangirai proposed Makoni to Mugabe for the second time just last week, with the president refusing flat out to entertain the idea of the former Finance Mini...

Simba Sakutukwa (centre in the above photo) has died. He was one of Dr Simba Makoni's most trusted confidants. He passed away on Monday night after a rather short and sudden illness Harare, Zimbabwe, 10 July 2010 A close confidant and friend of Dr Simba Makoni passed away on Monday night in Harare after a short illness. Simba Sakutukwa was Head of Logistics during Makoni's campaign for President in 2008 and headed the Administration Cluster of Makoni's party, Mavambo. He fell ill two about two weeks ago upon his return from Bulawayo where he had gone to set up structures of Mavambo in the company of other party activists. Sakutukwa was 57 years old and the details of his demise are still coming in. Dr Makoni issued the following statement on Tuesday: "Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn (M.K.D) President, Dr Simba Makoni, on behalf of M.K.D and his own behalf would like to extend heartfelt condolences to the Sakutukwa family on the untimely death of a National Steering Committee (NSC...

Dr Simba Makoni, pictured here at a World Economic Forum Summit, was at the Quill Club in Harare last week, where he attacked the government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert for wasteful expenditure, wrong priorities and "failing the nation"on a host of other issues. Makoni directly took on MDC-T's Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, Jamieson Timba, who was in the audience, leading to a spirited public exchange in which Timba conceded that most of Makoni's accusations were "valid". Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 May 2010 At a gathering of journalists of last week, Mavambo interim president, Dr Simba Makoni, who ran for president in Zimbabwe's last General Election, clashed with the MDC-T's Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, who was also present to hear him speak. Makoni kicked off the confrontation by publicly accusing Timba, who I was sitting with in the audience, of "presiding over POSA and AIPPA." POSA (Public Order and Securit...

New Year Message from Dr Simba Makoni – Interim President, Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn (MKD)   As 2009 has drawn to a close, and we welcome the year 2010, I take this opportunity, on behalf of the National Steering Committee ( NSC ) of our Party, to extend cordial greetings to all the people of Zimbabwe . The year 2009 started on a positive and optimistic footing for all of us, on the back of two landmark occurrences, viz : ·                     the abandonment of the worthless Zimbabwe Dollar, on January 29 2009 , by the then ZANU (PF) regime; and, ·                     the installation of the Inclusive Government, on February 13 2009 .   Unfortunately, that optimism quickly faded away, as members of the so-called Inclusive Government wasted no time to settle into their relatively more comfortable positions, and engaged themselves in fierce struggles for power, and bigger shares of the meager national resources.   Much to the dismay and disbelief of all of us, the new me...

The new leadership of the University of Zimbabwe Student Representative Assembly pose for a group photo today at the University. They are from left to right as you are looking at the picture: Tafadzwa Mazonde (Committee Member), Stephen Zvinavakobvu (Head of Disciplinary Committee), Stuart Mwale (Secretary-General), Misheck Mugabe (Vice-Chairperson), Samuel Matikiti (Chairperson), Emmanuel Muzanenhamo (Committee Member). They are also the leaders of the Mavambo-aligned Amalgamated Students Union of Zimbabwe (ASUZ) and are active members of the Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn youth structures. Harare, Zimbabwe, 27 October 2009 Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn, the party led by Dr Simba Makoni, has taken control of the University of Zimbabwe Students Assembly. The SRA is now controlled by the Mavambo-aligned Amalgamated Students Union of Zimbabwe, whose leadership is also active in the Youth leadership of the Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn party. Out of the 22 positions in the Council (which popularly elected by the studen...

The launch of Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn on July 01 this year. The party, led by Dr Simba Makoni, a presidential candidate in March last year, has been denied permission to hold a march and a meeting in central  Harare by the police, even though, at law, the police have no right to ban the meeting. They have simply said that they can not provide an escort, which means there would be no one controlling traffic in the city centre. The party leadership is in meetings at the moment trying to strategise on the way forward. That is the Inclusive Government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert "The Solution" Mugabe for you. Harare, Zimbabwe, 15 October 2009 The police have refused to grant permission to the Mavambo. Kusile.Dawn party led by Dr Simba Makoni permission to hold a meeting scheduled for Saturday, 24 October in Harare. Makoni's party had notified the police that they would be marching through the centre of Harare on the day, culminating in a gathering at Africa Unity Square, in f...

At a luncheon after the opening of parliament, Mugabe not only admitted that he did not know how many ministers his and Morgan Tsvangirai's bloated Inclusive Government has, but also distanced himself from his own parliament-opening speech saying "That was not my speech, I was forced to read it. I was reading other people's views." He also falsely claimed Mavambo, the party of Simba Makoni was complaining about being left out of the Inclusive Government, which he said was "also Exclusive". Harare, Zimbabwe, 07 October 2009 Robert "The Solution" Mugabe has admitted that his and Morgan Tsvangirai's Inclusive Government is bloated. So bloated, in fact, that he says "I don't know how many minister we have and thoughts they have on development." Admitting to my assessment here yesterday that hi speech was largely a load of nonsense, Mugabe also tried to disown the speech that he delivered in parliament yesterday: "The speech I mad...

Harare, Zimbabwe 12 September 2009 For three months now, I have been forbidden to publish this extraordinary occurrence, but now I can go ahead, respecting the conditions that I have been given. Three months ago, two very senior MDC figures, both of them serving as high-profile ministers, asked me personally to "sound out" Dr Simba Makoni on thoughts that they claimed had gained widespread acceptance within the MDC. Specifically (and I will never forget this question), I was asked to ask Dr Makoni the following: "If Morgan Tsvangirai was to be removed as president of the MDC, would Dr Makoni be interested in taking over the leadership of the party?" Yes, I was as surprised as you are right now when I was approached on the subject. Now, I had to ask where this was coming from. As far as I am concerned, even to this day, the MDC is entangled with Tsvangirai in a death grip. His political demise will also signal the demise of that party. Like Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsva...

Dr Simba Makoni, the interim president of Mavambo, seen here at the July 01 launch of the party, visited the Msika family home in Mandara last night and delivered a condolence message Harare, Zimbabwe, 07 August 2009 Dr Simba Makoni, the Interim President of Mavambo.Kusile. Dawn party. last night paid a visit to the Msika home in Mandara to pay his respects and console the family on the passing of the Vice-president. Below is the full text of the Condolence Message sent by the party. The message is also going to appear in the local press on Sunday: HARARE 06 August 2009 Press Statement: Condolences To The Msika Family And The Nation The Interim President of Mavambo•Kusile•Dawn, Dr Simba Makoni, the National Steering Committee of the Party and our members join a shocked and grieved nation in consoling the family of Vice-president Joseph Msika, the President, Prime Minister and Government of Zimbabwe as well as the entire nation on his passing away. We will forever ch...

While the Inclusive Government of Mugabe and Tsvangirai says it has no money to collect such rubbish as in this picture, which is piling up in cities all over Zimbabwe, they can find the resources to waste on bugging the Mavambo phones and the like. I told you a couple of days ago that our phone lines went dead and our Internet connection also disappeared. The lines came back yesterday of their own accord, after TelOne said as far as their systems were concerned, everything was working fine and they had no idea what had happened to our switchboard. It turns out now that a group led by a CIO operative named Cleopas Chidhakwa intercepted our lines at a "green box" along Fourth Street and did their thing. One of the people who assisted him was Givemore Murapa, also of the President's Office. They were in two cars as they did the job over the weekend and into Monday: a black Toyota Yaris and a Mazda B2200 pick-up, both of which had no number plates (the President's Office...

After the All Stakeholders Conference on the Constitution, the National Constitutional Conference (NCA) has now convened its own All Peoples Congress on the Constitution. It started today and there were no kind words for Mugabe or Tsvangirai in that hall. Had a visit today from a resident of the Pfungwe area in Zimbabwe and he told me something that would be funny if it were not so sad. This is the area where an MDC supporter was beaten so thoroughly a week or so back, that she can hardly speak. Apparently, the "talk" amongst ZANU PF hardcores is: " Makabatana kutown ikoko , kwete kunoku " - meaning, "Your unity applies only in the towns, not out here." Mugabe's party enjoys crushing majorities in the area and has done so since Independence. Last year, for the March elections, Mugabe had the bright idea of splitting the area into three constituencies, thereby gaining three seats where he would have got just one. But that was aside. Now, two thing...

Members of the MKD National Steering Committee sing the Zimbabwe National Anthem at the launch of the party at Stoddart Hall in Mbare on July 01 2009. Interim provincial structures are now being elected all over Zimbabwe, starting with Mashonaland West and Manicaland tomorrow. Tomorrow, Saturday 25 July 2009, members of Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn will gather at Orange Grove Motel and at the Mavambo Provincial offices in Mutare to elect the Interim Provincial Executives for Mashonaland West Province and Manicaland Province respectively. These are the first grassroots elections to be held by the new party, led by Dr Makoni as interim president and Mr Godfrey Chanetsa as interim chairman. On Tuesday, Harare Province will also meet to elect a Provincial interim team. It is expected that once this is done, the interim provincial structures will then roll out the rest of the process, overseeing the election of interim structures at ward, district and village levels across Zimbabwe. By the end of A...

Dr Simba Makoni has just finished an interview with SAFM, the Talk Radio station of South Africa. During the interview, Dr Makoni told listeners, "The people of Zimbabwe did not elect Robert Mugabe on March 29 2008 and it would have been appropriate that he be not in government at all." He said he was disappointed that the African Union endorsed Mugabe's presidency, saying they should instead have listened to what the people of Zimbabwe had said in March 2008 and not take into account the June "run-off" in which, "Mugabe beat his way back into the presidency." While acknowledging that through mistakes made in negotiating with him, Mugabe is now part of government, the Mavambo leader said what was needed was for a truly democratic constitution to be put in place, "so that we can have free and fair elections that will produce a credible winner. I am certain that winner will not be Robert Mugabe." Listeners also called in and asked Dr Makoni que...

Dr and Mrs Makoni arriving at Stoddart Hall in Mbare for the launch of MKD. Members of the audience reading up on MKD literature . Part of the guests at the launch of MKD Members of the National Steering Committee of MKD chat to a diplomat who had attended the launch The MKD choir in full flight Dr Makoni listen to the Welcoming Speech given by the party's Interim Chairman, Mr Godfrey Chanetsa. A diplomat who attended the event congratulates Dr Makoni at the end of proceedings MKD Interim Chairman, Mr Godfrey Chanetsa delivering his Welcoming Speech at Stoddart Hall in Mbare

I have never experienced the sort of difficulties I am experiencing with internet yesterday and today and the photos from the launch simply refuse to load onto the blog. I am not sure if it is Blogger themselves or the internet connection in Zimbabwe. So, fo now, you will have to make do with the above photo, showing Dr and Mrs Makoni being welcomed to the launch ceremony by the interim leadership of MKD The vitriol that is already being directed by the MDC-PF state media (Herald, ZBC, ZTV etc) is working wonders for Makoni. People know that whatever is criticised by the state media is in the interests of the people. It would have been fatal if the state media has started praising the new party and Makoni!! More photos will follow.

A strong contingent of diplomats, media and activists of Mavambo.Kusile.Dawn turned out at Stoddart Hall in Mbare today to witness the official launch of MKD as a political party. This was an "invitation-only" affair and consisted of invited diplomats, media and registered delegates of MKD Interim Provincial Structures. The launch was held under the theme of "Real Change". The theme was informed by the fact that, although the MDC campaigned on a platform of "Change you Can Trust", it turns out now that there is no change after all. People are still being arrested, media is still restricted, there is still no freedom of assembly unless you get police clearance, cholera looms large still, unemployment still hovers around 90% and capacity in industry is still well below 50%..... People are still afraid (three video production companies refused to take on the assignment of filming the launch, saying they were afraid of reprisals, that their companies could be ...