Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Botswana's Ian Khama voted with the rest of SADC to keep the MDC demands around "outstanding issues" off the table, instead calling on the West to lift "sanctions" against Zimbabwe. The Botswana leader has made a volte-face since last year, when he openly and loudly supported the MDC leader. His reasons for giving up on Morgan Tsvangirai are quite familiar to those who know the MDC leader, as the Botswana president recently explained to a prominent Zimbabwean politician who is not part of this Inclusive Government deal Harare, Zimbabwe, 16 September 2009 You will recall that last month, I told you about a meeting between Robert "The Solution" Mugabe and Ian Khama when both were in Namibia for the launch of a regional tourism project. My sources for that story said that Khama had sounded conciliatory towards Mugabe and that the two appeared to get along well. It was actually described as a thawing of relations. Khama has now confirmed he has lost faith ...

The heady excitement that greeted Morgan Tsvangirai's swearing-in as Prime Minister within the MDC circles is fast fading as the realisation sinks in that the MDC leader is reverting to old ways, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. A year ago, it was Mugabe who was in a corner, fighting for survival, now it is Tsvangirai who is pushing himself into a corner. At the SADC Summit just ended,the regional leaders did Mugabe's bidding and did not even give Tsvangirai a chance to address them. They also ignored all his outstanding issues, while including Mugabe's issue (sanctions) in their communique Harare, Zimbabwe, 09 September 2009 Robert "The Solution" Mugabe returned home last night looking smug and satisfied after he won out over Tsvangirai at the SADC Summit in the DRC. Truth be told, Mugabe got what he wanted and Tsvangirai didn't. In a move that showed just how much SADC bends to Mugabe's will, the regional leaders, in their communique at the end...

Morgan Tsvangirai, seen here with his Spokesman James Maridadi in the DRC earlier today, has failed to get the SADC Heads of State to deal with the issue of Zimbabwe at the Summit. He was not part of the Summit, telling journalists that he had come there as head of his political party and not as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe. In the end, there was no opportunity for him to address the presidents. Zuma disappointed and gave his own version of quiet diplomacy, praising the two parties in Zimbabwe and urging both of them to remove obstacles to the full implementation of the Agreement upon which the Agreement is based. Harare, Zimbabwe 08 September 2009 Morgan Tsvangirai's plans are in disarray at the SADC Summit in the DRC today. The Heads of State, under intense pressure from Mugabe, have taken Zimbabwe off the Agenda and insisted that the Zimbabwe issue remains the child of the SADC Troika.  This is despite confusing statements issued by Tsvangirai's party in South Africa yesterday...

REPEAT PERFORMANCE? Mugabe, seen here at a SADC Special Summit on Zimbabwe in Swaziland in November last year with then South African president Motlanthe, seems to be holding up his support from within the regional block. Namibia and Angola have come out publicly in support and a few other countries, named in my article below, are known never to go against him. Do not expect much from this. No, scratch that .....do not expect ANYTHING Harare, Zimbabwe, 08 September 2009 Angola and Namibia have come out publicly to support Robert Mugabe's position at the DRC Summit and are already engaged in a propaganda war to ensure that their views carry the day. They told state media in Zimbabwe (which publishes the story story) that the Council of Foreign Ministers, which met ahead of the main summit to set the agenda, had thrown out Tsvangirairai's request to have the Zimbabwe issue on the agenda of the Summit of Heads of State. It is a lie, but most Zimbabweans can not afford the US$1 th...

Robert "The Solution" Mugabe poses with other presidents earlier today in the DRC at the start of the SADC Heads of State Summit. Meantime, the state media back home is making as if Tsvangirai does not exist at all. Mugabe is at the far right as you look at the picture, standing next to the Mozambican president. Harare, Zimbabwe, 07 September 2009 Robert "The Solution" Mugabe is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he arrived yesterday. Meanwhile, back here in Harare, the state media is putting on what I consider a shameful display around the trip. Zimbabwe Television reported on the president's departure but failed to mention that Morgan Tsvangirai has also gone to the DRC at the head of an MDC delegation to press home his case. Even more shameful, the report also gratuitously went on about the fact that Mugabe was going to "speak out against the continued illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and how they are threatening the Global Political Agreem...

Looking in different directions: Mugabe has lost round one in the battle at the SADC Summit in the DRC before it has even begun. The two fighting parties in government will both be at the Summit, but it is also almost certain that Mugabe will refuse to excuse himself during the Heads of State meeting that deliberates on Zimbabwe. He will be at an advantage, because the Tsvangirai will not be allowed in that meeting, since he is not a Head of State. The result may well be same-same, no different to what we have come to expect from SADC in the presence of Mugabe Harare, Zimbabwe, 07 September 2009 Robert "The Solution" Mugabe has lost the battle to keep Zimbabwe off the agenda of the SADC Summit in Kinshasa this week. On Sunday, the Secretary General of SADC, Tomaz Solamao, told the media that there is "no option but to implement the Global Political Agreement." It is now understood that President Jacob Zuma of South Africa will definitely present a "report"...

Last year, Morgan Tsvangirai was reduced to watching from the sidelines as the SADC Heads of State met, amongst them the man he had just defeated in elections in March 2008, whom the SADC Heads of State had welcomed back into their ranks as a bona-fide Head of State. They argued that Mugabe's position had been recognised by Tsvangirai in the agreement that he had signed with Mugabe. At one point, Mugabe point-blank refused to leave the room so that a discussion on Zimbabwe could take place, even after the meeting had asked the MDC leader and his delegation to leave the room because the meeting was one of Heads of State only. Mugabe stayed on to see who would vote against him. No one did and he won out. Now Tsvangirai may have to go through the same thing again at the SADC Summit in the DRC next week. Harare, Zimbabwe 06 September 2009 It has now emerged that the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, has not been officially invited to the SADC Summit to be held in the Democr...

Another picture of the burning farmhouse belonging to Ben Freeth at Mount Carmel Farm in Chegutu. Freeth and others, who continue to be harassed by invaders, have had their stories dismissed by Tsvangirai as "overblown". On Friday the SADC Tribunal ruled that the Zimbabwe government is in contempt of court for the continuing invasions of Mike Campbell farm and others in Chegutu. They referred the government to the full SADC Summit in the DRC and recommended that they take action against the Inclusive Harare regime Harare, Zimbabwe, 06 September 2009 On Friday, the SADC Tribunal ruled that Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai's Inclusive Government was in contempt of the court's ruling regarding the fate of more than 70 farms being forcibly acquired by the government. The tribunal referred the Zimbabwe government to the full SADC Summit to be held this coming week in the DRC and recommended that they take action against the Harare regime. It remains to be seen whether a...