Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

A delighted Robert Mugabe arrives at State House earlier today for the swearing-in of John Nkomo as Zimbabwe's 2nd Vice-president. Nkomo was sworn in to replace the late Vice President Msika. Mugabe yesterday announced one of his most ambitious vote-buying projects, saying his party will spend 10 million this month and early in January to distribute thousands of tonnes of seed and fertiliser to farmers all over Zimbabwe. "This is a purely ZANU PF project", he said. Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 December 2009 After lambasting Tendai Biti for "sabotaging" agriculture in Zimbabwe, Robert "The Solution" Mugabe has now unveiled a US$10 million agriculture aid facility, designed to be a massive vote-buying exercise targeted at new and Communal farmers. Mugabe says he is targeting 190 000, which translates to about 900 000 voters. They will be given free fertiliser and maize seed. And they are sure to be told that this is coming from Mugabe and ZANU PF and that the MD...

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...

Villagers in Uzumba, a stronghold of ZANU PF, have started getting patronage from ZANU PF with the distribution of the party promises to be thousands and thousands of bags of fertiliser and seed. It is a clear indication that Mugabe is now in electioneering mood and has started buying votes. Harare, Zimbabwe, 21 October 2009 That money ZANU PF has been stockpiling from the plunder of the Chiadzwa Diamond Fields is now being put to use buying votes. Yesterday, the Member of Parliament for Uzumba, Simbaneuta Mudarikwa, distributed 100 bags of fertiliser in the ZANU PF stronghold while promising the delivery of 10 000 more bags. The gypsum fertiliser is being distributed to communal farmers only, identified as "deserving" through the ZANU PF structures in that constituency. This is a boon at a time when most other ordinary farmers are failing to access inputs such as seed and fertiliser, with banks demanding collateral to the extent of forcing farmers to use their livestock as s...

Morgan Tsvangirai announces his alleged pull-out from the Zimbabwe Cabinet on Friday. Mugabe has now upped the stakes after convening an urgent meeting of JOC in Harare on Saturday, when he is normally to be seen tending his fields at his rural home in Kutama. Elections are the threat now and he knows Tsvangirai considers elections under the current constitution and without UN supervision (which would violate Zimbabwe's sovereignty, Mugabe says) a waste of time and effort. Tsvangirai will be back in cabinet before two weeks are up. And despite erroneous reports about the pull-out, MDC ministers are still in their offices and still reporting for work, but just not attending cabinet, where government policy and decisions are made and approval for ministerial actions is given. It appears the MDC has not thought this through Harare, Zimbabwe, 19 October 2009 Robert "The Solution" Mugabe will tell the MDC Tsvangirai today that ZANU PF is ready to go to elections as soon as Mar...

This was Morgan Tsvangirai launching a fresh, new 100-day plan (more like a wish-list I said back then and I have been proved right). Now he tells us he can not fulfill any of his promises unless he gets Governors, ambassadors and Roy Bennett is sworn in as Deputy Minister of Agriculture. But, more disturbing is the move to boycott new elections that Mugabe hinted at during his address to the ZANU PF Women's League last week Harare, Zimbabwe, 22 September 2009 First of all, you should know that we are having immense challenges with our internet connections in Zimbabwe right now. Even normally reliable routes are proving a challenge. So much for Nelson Chamisa's promise of having improved the internet connections by 60% within 100 days. Those 100 days are gone and we are back to square one. It is ZANU PF all over again. Except this time, it is a creature called MDC-PF. But to my point here today: This is a poser, is it not? Yesterday, the MDC, through its spokesman, the Minister...

Photo handout given on July 11, 2008 by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) shows according to the MDC, the body of a polling agent Gift Mutsvungu, whose body was found in a suburb of Harare on July 10, after he was reported missing the previous week, the MDC said in a statement. "His body shows signs of intense torture, his eyes were gouged out and his backside suffered serious burns before his abductors killed him." The MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai appear to be ready to grant Robert Mugabe's dearest wish: new elections and an opportunity for him to reverse the MDC majority in parliament by means fair or foul. Zimbabweans will be killed again next year in yet another election largely because of commission and omission on the part of the MDC. Please spare me your twaddle. It will be Mugabe doing the killing and the maiming, yes . It will be Mugabe doing the cheating, yes . So, as usual, you will tell me that "why criticise Tsvangirai when it is Mugabe who........ ...

One of the reasons I absolutely admire Tsvangirayi Mkwazhi, the Zimbabwean photographer : A Zimbabwean man scrounges for food in a birds' nest. Yes, these little birdies are destined for the pot ! And Mugabe thinks a new election will solve Zimbabwe's problems if he "wins" them? A little less than a month ago, a brave and quiet man was found dead and brutalised in some bush in Zimbabwe. This man, Mushangwe, was a member of Zimbabwe's electoral body, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.  This was the man whom the opposition parties in Zimbabwe said was the most reasonable and professional man on the staff of that disgraced and discredited body. He is the man who told the Simba Makoni campaign that it had actually come second in the elections of March 29, with 31% of the vote. He was abducted from his home, disappeared for a couple of months and his decomposing body discovered later in a bush somewhere. It is said he suffered. His death was not painless, as evidenced ...

I did not know this until a few days ago, but Starbucks, the phenomenally succesful coffee shop chain in the United States was giving away free coffee on November 4 to anyone who voted in the presidential election that saw Barak Obama walk into the Oval Office! Now, Starbucks people made no secret of their support for Obama and they reckoned that the more people voted, the better the chance of America getting its first black president. This is a fully understandable gimmick to use for such a popular chain of shops. Although they were not saying only those who voted for Obama would get the free coffee, their public support for the candidate had a big weighting. Clearly, anyone who runs such a massive enterprise would be an opinion leader and shaper. That would mean a bit of influence. Think a caffeine-merchant Oprah and you have the right idea. But it is only because Starbucks is run by idealists that this was able to happen. Idealists are routinely dismissed by pessimists as impractica...