President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruling party has dismissed as “rubbish” a statement by Western diplomats warning Zimbabwe’s government not to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to stifle citizens' rights. The statement was delivered while more than a dozen citizens are in hiding for fear of persecution or prosecution for organizing an anti-government protest. Seven countries, including the U.S., have urged Mnangagwa to keep the inauguration pledge he made in 2018 to respect human rights. Western diplomats joined forces in a statement saying their countries would continue to assist Zimbabwe in addressing the humanitarian crisis caused by recurring droughts and the COVID-19 pandemic. “But COVID-19 must not be used as an excuse to restrict citizen
AMID rising tensions in the country, authorities plan to fast-track the Cyber Bill which will punish those deemed to have abused social media or peddled falsehoods against the State and citizens once it becomes law. In addition, the government will also soon introduce the Patriotic Act in Parliament – a law which it says seeks to promote patriotism among Zimbabweans. Speaking in an interview with the Daily News yesterday, Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the planned two pieces of legislation had become “priority bills” for authorities. However, government critics fear that both laws will be used to clamp down on dissenting voices in the country – particularly in light of recent accusations that authorities have been guilty of gross human rights violati
The former MDC-T (Tsvangirai) spokesperson Obert Gutu who also became vice president of the now-defunct MDC-T (Thokozani) party, said it would be immoral for the other MDC-T, created by a Supreme Court ruling in March, to replace MDC Alliance MPs and Councillors with its own people. The Khupe-led party recently forwarded a list of 15 candidates it has nominated to fill Senate and National Assembly Proportional Representative seats to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). Gutu believes that even though the recalls of the Nelson Chamisa-aligned MPs and councillors was lawful, it is immoral and incredulous to replace them with Khupe’s nominees. Gutu wrote on Twitter: Recall of MPs and councillors resonates with law’s dictates. However, a moral issue
A Harare magistrate yesterday heard that opposition MDC Alliance vice-chair Job Sikhala was not a suitable candidate for bail as he had evaded police for over six weeks before he was eventually found hiding in the ceiling of a Tynwald, Harare house, which served as his hideout. Lead investigator Collen Makore told the court that they stormed the house last Friday armed with three AK47 assault rifles and a pistol after receiving reports that the opposition leader and his accomplices had machetes and were manufacturing petrol bombs at the property. “While inside, we searched and found nothing and as we were going out we saw footprints on the wall and a panel removed from the ceiling,” Makore said. “We then asked who it was, threatening to throw a smoke canister and
Former Foreign Affairs minister Walter Mzembi, who is now living in self-imposed exile in South Africa, has said MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa avoided taking tea during cabinet meetings during the GNU era for fear of being poisoned. Chamisa and Mzembi were cabinet ministers during the all-inclusive government between 2009 and 2013. Mzembi suggested that opposition political activists, and even ruling party bigwigs who have succumbed to cancer may have been poisoned, therefore, jailed activists should be wary. Mzembi posted on Twitter: I sat next to Nelson Chamisa in Cabinet, he drank Fanta while we guggled tea for the 5 years and explained to me his poison fears. However, his reference to Mugabe may mean the System and its targets, look where I am, happy he pronounced himself on
The shaky alliance between MDC-T rival faction leaders Thokozani Khupe and Douglas Mwonzora is under threat amid reports that the former angered her colleagues in the Supreme Court-created party over the recent nominations to fill vacant legislative seats. Khupe, who is the party’s interim president, stirred a hornet’s nest with her decision to nominate herself and her inner circle for proportional representation seats which fell vacant following her party’s decision to expel from Parliament MDC Alliance MPs. A senior party official said Mwonzora and other senior MDC-T officials were not amused because Khupe made the nominations without consulting anyone. The official is quoted as having said: She has shown that she is purely a factional leader and doesn’t thin
Woes mount for the controversial self-styled popular Malawian prophet Shepherd Bushiri of the Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) Church. He is in another eye of the storm after explosive details of rape allegations leveled against him by two women of his church emerged and were aired on ETV Channel this Wednesday evening. Major1, as Bushiri is affectionately known by his followers, has furiously denied the salacious allegations. He accused the law enforcement agents of extortion and for intimidating women and children to come up with false rape allegations against him and his church members. As per clips aired on ETV last Wednesday, events leading to the unfortunate drama are such that the “Man of God” was in the habit of calling women from his church for private
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has suggested his predecessor Morgan Tsvangirai was poisoned to his death by then-President Robert Mugabe at cabinet meetings the two late top politicians sat in during the now-defunct inclusive government. The opposition politician made comments while addressing hundreds of mourners at a church service for late MDC Alliance national executive member and human rights activist Patson Dzamara on Thursday. The church meeting was conducted in Glen View, Harare. Chamisa also pointed out Dzamara, who had been diagnosed with colon cancer which later claimed his life, could also have been poisoned. Tsvangirai died in 2018 from colon cancer. The two were fierce anti-Zanu-PF figures. Dzamara is also brother to journalist-turned-activist Itai Dzamara who d
A Zimbabwean court on Monday denied bail for the third time to Hopewell Chin’ono, a journalist who was arrested last month on charges of inciting public violence over anti-government protests. Chin’ono, used Twitter to support anti-corruption movements and exposed corruption in the government tenders for COVID-19 personal protective equipment. He also criticized President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration. Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume, president of the Transform Zimbabwe party, were arrested last month when they called for the removal of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party alleging inefficiency in administration. The inflation rate is more than 700 percent, which has led to political tensions across the country. Mnanga
FOREIGN Minister Sibusiso Moyo has emerged as a centre of power in government and the ruling Zanu PF party, and now fancies his chances of becoming Zimbabwe’s next president. This was said by exiled former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo while speaking at the Crisis in Zimbabwe’s Dialogue Series under the theme; “Zimbabwe’s prospects: transition, imperatives and stability” on Wednesday. The Zoom discussion was moderated by broadcaster, Violet Gonda. Jonathan Moyo, who is now in exile in Kenya following a military coup that removed the now late President Robert Mugabe from office, said calls were growing louder for SB Moyo to replace Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe’s next leader. “It’s being whispered widely, and the whispers are getting loud
