Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

It was in the Exhibit Room at the Harare Magistrates' Court (above) that two policemen and their civilian accomplices were caught red-handed demolishing a wall with hammers and chisels in a bid to get to US$1.5 million which was being kept there as evidence in a smuggling case. Harare, Zimbabwe, 31 December 2009 Times are still tough for Zimbabwe's underpaid policemen, it seems. Cephas Dumba and Talkmore Manyasha, two Harare-based policemen, tried to break into the Magistrates' Court in Zimbabwe's capital to steal US$1.5 million that was being kept under lock and key as evidence in the trial of that Mozambican who was caught a few days ago trying to smuggle the money out of Zimbabwe. The policemen have since been arrested, together with a University of Zimbabwe Engineering student and two other people, apparently initially attempted  to replace the one and half million US dollars evidence money with fake US dollar notes.A fake note dealer had given them US$400 000 for t...

Passengers are seen riding in a Commuter Omnibus in Harare here. One such omnibus yesterday kidnapped a policeman and the crew could be seen beating him up as they sped off. The omnibus is still to be found and the policeman is still missing. Police in Zimbabwe have mounted an operation called Chenai and are targeting public and private vehicles. The crew clearly had had enough by the time the policeman boarded their bus and asked them to go to Central Police Station with him. Harare, Zimbabwe, 11 December 2009 Police in Harare are still looking for a public minibus (Kombi) crew that kidnapped a policeman on Thursday and beat him up as they drove off to an unknown destination. The incident happened in Harare, where the police have launched an operation called "Chenai" (Be Clean), in which they are trying to clean up congestion in the city by ensuring that public transport vehicles carry and drop off people only at designated points. The police have also mounted roadblocks whe...

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...

After causing havoc at the Chiadzwa diamond fields (above) in Eastern Zimbabwe, the country's authorities have now announced that they are going after "illegal gold panners" in such areas as Shamva and Bindura in Mashonaland Central. The announcement, made by police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena today, is being justified on the basis of looking out for the safety of these "illegal" miners as well as "environmental degradation". We all know what the true reason for this operation is, of course Harare, Zimbabwe, 25 August 2009 Zimbabwe police have revealed that twelve small-scale miners (gold panners) have died across the country as they sought to justify the announcement today of the launch of a crackdown on gold panners in Mashonaland Central Province. Wayne Bvudzijena, the Zimbabwe police spokesman, told reporters: "We have launched operations to stop this vice. Illegal gold panning is resurfacing in areas such as Shamva, Bindura and Concession in M...