Category Archives: Zimbabwe

President Robert Mugabe accused political rivals of seeking to delay elections in Zimbabwe because they fear defeat, after regional leaders urged his ruling coalition to ask the courts to extend a July 31 deadline for holding the vote. His rivals said reforms to restrictive media and security laws were essential for any fair election to be held and that it was Mugabe’s party that was not ready to go the polls. Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader at 89, last week used a presidential decree to bypass parliament and fast-track changes to election laws and declare the voting date, drawing a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. In a clear sign … Continue reading →

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said regional leaders will hold a summit to discuss how to fund an election later this year in which he is seeking to extend his three-decade rule, state media reported on Tuesday. Impoverished Zimbabwe needs $132 million (87 million pounds) for the election but conditions attached to the cash have divided the already fractious unity government, whose main players will be rivals for power in the vote. Mugabe’s ZANU-PF has been pushing for funding with as few strings as possible and withdrew a request to have the United Nations fund the poll, saying the global body was trying to interfere in domestic issues. The MDC of … Continue reading →

Zimbabweans look set to endorse a new constitution curbing the presidency, early results showed on Sunday, in a step toward elections to determine whether Robert Mugabe adds to three decades in power. While the vote on the constitution, which will limit the number of times a president can serve, was largely free from violence, police raided an office of Mugabe arch-rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and arrested five people. Early results posted outside polling stations showed voters had overwhelmingly backed the new document as expected, although polls were marked by low turnout. Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai, rivals in the election expected in the second half of this year, had backed … Continue reading →

Zimbabwe says it is not inviting Western observers to the constitutional referendum and elections due this year. Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi told the state-owned Herald newspaper that EU and US observers lacked objectivity. Zimbabwe is due to hold a referendum on 16 March on a constitution that will limit presidential powers. It will be followed by elections, ending the coalition between Mr Mugabe and his rival, Morgan Tsvangirai. The two, aged 89 and 60 respectively, will run against each other in the election, after reaching a deal over a constitution that they have urged voters to endorse in the referendum. Mr Mumbengegwi said Western observers would not be welcome because … Continue reading →

Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said that the country only had $217 (£138) left in its public account last week after paying civil servants. However, he said that the following day some $30m of revenue had been paid in. Mr Biti told the BBC he made the revelation in order to emphasise that the government was unable to finance elections, not that it was insolvent. Polls are due this year, with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF fighting Mr Biti’s Movement for Democratic Change. Mr Biti has previously complained that diamond mining companies have not been paying revenues to the government. The power-sharing government set up in 2009 ended years of … Continue reading →

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday called for peaceful elections in the forthcoming polls where he is seeking another five-year term as president after his ZANU-PF party chose him as its candidate for elections due this year. Mr Mugabe was speaking during the burial of his former vice president, John Landa Nkomo, whose death from cancer has underscored concerns about the 88-year-old leader’s own health problems and succession plans. Mr Nkomo was Zimbabwe Vice President from 2009 and had been in and out of hospitals on various occassions. In 2011 there was a rumour that he had died but scoffed at such rumours saying they were ‘the work of Western-sponsored … Continue reading →

Zimbabwean rights groups on Friday condemned what they called an escalating campaign against critics of veteran President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party ahead of elections expected this year. A group of 58 civic organisations, including church and legal groups, said in a statement there was a “well-calculated and intensified” assault on human rights activists, journalists and artists through slander, intimidation, raids, arrests, prosecutions and persecution. ZANU-PF, in power for four decades, has long been accused of cracking down on the opposition during elections. Fears of poll violence hang over Zimbabwe which has a history of deadly chaos at the ballot box. No date has been set for the presidential and parliamentary … Continue reading →

Zimbabwe’s government said on Friday it will not seize any more foreign-owned farms after losing multi-million-dollar compensation claims under a treaty aimed at protecting overseas investments. President Robert Mugabe started giving white-owned farms to landless blacks over a decade ago, a policy that had the unintended result of devastating food output in a country that had been a regional breadbasket. An estimated 4,000 farmers were thrown off their land without compensation and, while efforts to get legal redress in Zimbabwe failed, some have successfully sued for compensation in international courts. Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa said that lawsuits brought by foreign investors at the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment … Continue reading →

The farm of the former white minority leader Ian Smith has been seized by the Zimbabwean Government as President Robert Mugabe prepares to seek re-election for what could be his final term as president.  In a move seen as Mr Mugabe’s attempt to close a chapter on the reign of Mr Smith, the farm, Gwenoro, was seized after 12 years of being left alone. It was handed over to a technical college. Mr Smith, who fought to prevent black majority rule in what was once Rhodesia, died in 2007. He lived on the farm and bred cattle after he lost power in 1979. The seizure took place as Mr Mugabe … Continue reading →

Easing of IMF restrictions on Zimbabwe should help it to clear its mountain of defaulted debt and pave the way for foreign investment, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said on Wednesday. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday relaxed restrictions on technical assistance to Zimbabwe, a major step towards normalising relations with the destitute southern African country. Zimbabwe’s voting rights in the IMF were suspended in 2003 over arrears and policy differences with President Robert Mugabe’s government. Voting rights were restored in 2010, allowing Zimbabwe to again participate in IMF decision-making. “The decision basically lifts sanctions against engagement with Zimbabwe. It’s a major step towards Zimbabwe’s debt payment programme,” Biti told Reuters. … Continue reading →