Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Patrick Chinamasa, seen here arriving to present the Budget that dollarised Zimbabwe's economy on 29 January 2009, is one of two senior ministers from Manicaland who are unhappy that the politics of tribal balance have kept the people from that Province from the top leadership of ZANU PF. There is now open rebellion in the province, with the leadership there convinced that Mugabe has something against people from the area. Hence those anti-Mugabe SMS messages at the last ZANU PF Congress in Harare. Harare, Zimbabwe, 05 January 2010 You all know about the Manicaland Province Chairman for ZANU PF, Basil Nyabadza, who was forced out of his job by the ZANU PF leadership, ostensibly for threatening to nominate Didymus Mutasa for National Chairman from the floor at the December ZANU PF Congress. Mugabe has previously and publicly (during the last election) stated that the Manicaland province is a reactionary and rebellious province that has thrown up "traitors" like Tekere, Mak...

The talks to brea the impasse in Zimbabwe's coalition are bogged down, with ZANU PF resorting to legalistic arguments to get out of their obligations. This is despite the SADC Troika meeting stating that the talks must be held in order to meet not just the letter, but also "the spirit" behind the agreement that governs the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe. Harare, Zimbabwe 25 November 2009 Negotiators from ZANU PF and the two MDC formations are struggling to find common ground, it has emerged, with indications being that the talks to resolve the impasse that led to Morgan Tsvangirai "disengaging from ZANU PF" are stuck on who has responsibility for which outstanding issues. The Inclusive Government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe had been given the deadline of 15 November to start talking and another deadline of November 30 to finish the talks. Jacob Zuma, the South African President had been scheduled to come to Zimbabwe to be updated on progress this w...

Mutare Prison in March, where Roy Bennett's relatives waited for him to be released after he had been abducted from Charles Prince Airport on the outskirts of Harare as his fellow Ministers were being sworn-in by Mugabe. He is back there now and will have to apply for bail on Monday. A decision will most likely only be delivered on Tuesday, since almost certainly, Harare will have to be consulted on his bail application, since this is a political trial Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 October 2009 In a purely vindictive move, a Magistrate in the Eastern Highlands town of Mutare in Zimbabwe has revoked the bail of Roy Bennett and sent him back to jail. Bennett is Tsvangirai's nominee for Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the Inclusive Government. Robert "The Solution" Mugabe has been refusing to swear him, saying he needs to clear his name in the courts first. The MDC Treasurer-General stands accused to stockpiling weapons of war and plotting to topple Mugabe with them. On Monday...

Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 September 2009 In an extraordinary four-page advertisement in the media on Friday, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who withdrew Zimbabwe from the SADC Tribunal after it ruled against the country in a case brought by white farmers, hurled personal insults at the South African lawyer who questioned the legality of the move. He also attacked the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum. The whole advert, four pages of it, appears to have been taken out to make a single point: the document that the Tribunal refers to as establishing it without need for ratification by member states is null and void because it is not the original that President Robert "The Solution" Mugabe signed. It is a later, amended version, apparently. But it is the language that is astonishing. Here's a taste: "Typical of the patronising nature of Mr Gauntlett he misses the point completely." "Mr Gauntlett is engaging in wishful thinkin...

Ben Freeth, a Zimbabwean farmer from the Chegutu area, is seen here beaten black and blue by Mugabe's thugs in June last year. He and his elderly in-laws had been abducted and then beaten up with the butts of guns to get them to leave their farm so that it could be given to one of Mugabe's high-ranking loyalists, ZANU PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira. Five months later, Freeth and 78 other farmers from the area won a ruling at the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek barring Mugabe from taking over their farms. Mugabe has now reacted by withdrawing from the Tribunal, as he did with the British Commonwealth. As he, in fact, does whenever things do not go his way. Harare, Zimbabwe, 02 September 2009 The government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert "The Solution" Mugabe has pulled out the SADC Tribunal, citing the fact that the protocol establishing the Tribunal has not been ratified by the required two-thirds of SADC member states. The letter of withdrawal was written on 7 August, ac...

Johannes Tomana (above), the Zimbabwe Attorney-General, has now been declared to be above the law by the government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. Since Tsvangirai has publicly stated that "there is nothing Mugabe does without my approval", we can a\only assume that he is fully in agreement with this latest travesty of justice Harare, Zimbabwe, 24 August 2009 The government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe have now publicly stated that Attorney General Johannes Tomana is above the law. The announcement was made by Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice in this moribund Inclusive Government. Here's the background: Last month, parliament (where MDC still hold a sliver-thin majority) agreed to motion by MDC-T parliamentarian Tongai Matutu to "condemn the unwarranted convictions (of MDC supporters and activists) and selective applications of the law" by the Attorney General. The motion also called for the "immediate withdrawal, reversal and q...

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says he did not do it. We are talking about the document quoted in the state mouthpiece, The Herald, yesterday, in which it was said he sought to usurp the powers of the president and cabinet, seeking to have ministers report to him, insisting that he should not have to report to Cabinet and so on. The document drew a sharp rebuke from The Solution's office, with an unnamed official stating point blank that Tsvangirai is just a minister, albeit the most senior one, "But a minister all the same," says the source. Now, reading today's story about Tsvangirai disowning the document, it is clear that the Prime Minister is blaming Tendai Biti. The explanation given by Gorden Moyo, a Minister in the Prime Minister's office (Tsvangirai insisted on Ministers of State in his own office in an effort to try and feel on par with Mugabe, whose office houses several minister's of state) is very telling indeed. And it is the explanation that r...