A United States public relations firm hired by the Zimbabwe government to repair its image in Washington engaged in intense lobbying to project MDC-T president Thokozani Khupe as the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition, documents seen by ZimLive reveal. The campaign began last September, shortly after New York-based Mercury Public Affairs LLC began working for Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as a subcontractor to Mercury International UK. Mercury was planning a trip by Khupe, who was due to lead a delegation of the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) to the United States from March 25 to March 27 this year, but the trip was cancelled following the outbreak of the coronavirus. President Emmerson Mnangagwa set up POLAD to placate his r
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has once again shocked Zimbabweans after Vice President Kembo Mohadi on Wednesday commissioned a ‘small’ Pembi Bridge in Mvurwi, Mashonaland Central, reportedly constructed using US$1,8 million. The State media reported that the government spent US$1,8 million to construct the bridge which it claimed would be a key enabler of economic development in the province. “The bridge and its road approaches were constructed between August 2017 and September 2019 and links various districts in the province as well as other areas in the country,” the report said. “The old low lying single-carriage bridge was a high accident zone with 47 accidents being experienced there in the past years,” the report added. Ode
Thokozani Khupe gets $7.5 million from the government. The government believes Khupe is the legitimate leader of the MDC Alliance and is entitled to the $7,4 million despite her having lost the 2018 elections to the same party he now claims to lead. Thokozani Khupe led minority party MDC-T received $7.5 million on Friday from the government despite the Nelson Chamisa led MDC Alliance having obtained a provisional court order barring the Zimbabwean government from disbursing the funds to MDC-T according to the Political Parties Finance Act. Every political party represented in parliament is entitled to receive the funds as required by the Political Parties Finances Act Chapter 2:11. In the provisional order, High Court judge Justice Munangati Manongwa instructed the respondent
Zimbabwe's most populous cities Harare, Bulawayo and Chitungwiza will go into full scale lockdown before 31 July, according to sources.Harare, Bulawayo to go into full scale lockdown before 31 July Zimbabwe’s most populous cities Harare, Bulawayo and Chitungwiza will go into full scale lockdown before 31 July, according to sources. Zimbolivenews is on good authority that the security sector has resolved to lockdown Harare, Bulawayo and Chitungwiza for at least a week before the planned July 31 protest against the Zanu PF government. “The public demonstration will not see the light of the day. The police and the army has the situation under control. There is not much that needs to be done besides the current lockdown measures which will be scaled up. Movem
ZIMBABWE has officially asked Kenya to expel a Mugabe-era Cabinet Minister amid claims that that he is organising mass protests against the southern African country’s government. Prosecutors have approached Kenya seeking the extradition of Jonathan Moyo, who fled during the 2017 coup that saw Robert Mugabe toppled from power and Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa installed as Zimbabwe’s president. Prof Moyo, a former Higher Education Minister, was charged with fraud involving over $400,000 in public funds, but he argues that the case is politically motivated. Mr Moyo is believed to have been the brains behind G40, which was a faction within the ruling Zanu-PF party that was scheming to propel Grace Mugabe to take over power from her husband, at the expense of then VP
THE Thokozani Khupe-led MDC has demanded Nelson Chamisa to stop using the name MDC Alliance saying they are the rightful owners of the name. This comes after the Supreme Court annulled Chamisa’s MDC presidency after ruling that Khupe should be the party’s interim leader – with the mandate to organise an extraordinary congress to elect new party leadership using its 2014 structures. In an interview with the Daily News yesterday, reinstated MDC secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora said Chamisa doesn’t have the right to use the name. “It is our name because the MDC Alliance is a group of political parties. We are the major political party in the alliance, they must stop using this name, they must look for another name. We will deal with this issue at the righ
MDC-T Secretary-General Douglas Mwonzora has intimated that his predecessor Tendai Biti and colleagues embezzled US$23 million which was stashed for the party in a bank in Botswana and also stole 150 party vehicles after the 2013 elections, but all paperwork was available and the matter wiol be dealt with in the courts very soon. Biti left the party after its loss to Zanu-PF in the 2013 harmonized elections, but not before he accused founding party President Morgan Tsvangirai of being a dictator worse than Mugabe and of having overstayed in power leading to the party’s poor performance in elections. But addressing party structures this weekend in Mashonaland East, Mwonzora said Biti went away with party assets and there was sufficient paper trail to demand the stolen assets ba
MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa has threatened to boycott the 2023 elections, saying there is need for electoral reforms before participating, while also hinting that the opposition party will soon embark on massive protests to deal with the economic and political crises. Speaking at an e-rally in Harare yesterday, the youthful opposition leader said they will not participate in the next election if electoral reforms are not implemented. “There is no 2023 or next elections without reforms. We have the capacity to stop elections,” Chamisa said. Chamisa said Zimbabweans must prepare themselves to confront President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime, which has caused them untold suffering. “We came up with the Breaking Barriers Initiative (BBI), this year act
Khupe barred from holding her MDC-T Congress. The decision by authorities to stop the party from going ahead with its extra-ordinary congress followed a recent letter to the government by Khupe – in which she asked for clearance from the Health Ministry for the gathering, which was due to be attended by 4 500 delegates. The government has barred interim MDC Leader Thokozani Khupe from holding the party’s planned extra-ordinary congress slated for July 31 – until the coronavirus pandemic is under control in the country, the Daily News reports. The acting permanent secretary in the ministry of Health and Child Care, Gibson Mhlanga, said in response to Khupe that it was impossible for the MDC to hold its congress as the gathering would violate
She was Zimbabwe’s golden girl for years, until she was enticed into Mnangagwa’s toxic and corrupt regime. Her name is Kirsty Coventry! The Times of London Africa Correspondent Jane Flanagan says, “Zimbabwe’s Olympic heroine under fire.”Kirsty Coventry: Zimbabwe’s Olympic heroine under fire for accepting invaded farm. For years Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwe's sports minister, was fêted for her swimming achievements but Zimbabwe’s minority white community feel angry and betrayed by news that she has now accepted a prized farm from Mugabe’s vicious successor. Jane Flanagan reports, The feats of Africa’s greatest Olympian echo daily as teachers in Zimbabwe’s creaking classrooms call the register.
