Free Republic

Zimbabwe's opposition says it will bring the government to its knees with Kenya-style mass protests if President Robert Mugabe carries out extensive plans to rig tomorrow's presidential and parliamentary elections. But Mugabe has vowed to use the army to crush any demonstrations and warned Zimbabweans not to waste their votes on opposition candidates who would never be allowed to take power. Mugabe, 84, would struggle to extend his 28-year rule in a clean election, amid widespread hunger, mass unemployment, 100,000% inflation and a currency that devalues so fast that the few people with jobs are paid in billions of Zimbabwe...

http://allafrica.com/stories/200710190699.html [allAfrica.com] 20 Oct 2007--The Anglican Church's Province of Central Africa has expelled the bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga, and declared his post vacant after he withdrew the diocese from the province alleging rampant homosexuality in the church.

Animals Being Slaughtered For Meat Or Abandoned By Owners. Conditions have become so desperate in Zimbabwe that people are said to be eating their pets. Animal welfare groups said it's come to that, with animals being slaughtered for meat or abandoned by owners who can no longer feed them. The African nation's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it can't feed pets who've been turned in or find new homes for them. It's been trying to destroy them humanely but veterinarians are running out of drugs for that purpose. One activist called the situation "too ghastly...

Mugabe has lots of food at local shop Last Updated: 2:38am BST 28/07/2007 Shoppers in the supermarkets of Harare have nothing left to buy. But in Borrowdale Brooke, where the country’s senior politicians live, everything from lobster to single malt whisky can be found — at a price The shelves in Zimbabwe's stores are bare, but in a leafy suburb of Harare it's a different story, Sebastien Berger reports Robert Mugabe's local supermarket is unlike any other shop in Zimbabwe. Elsewhere there are gaping empty shelves where bread, butter, sugar, meat and the staple maize meal should be. But at...

A KEY ally of Zimbabwe's Vice President Joice Mujuru has said he expects President Robert Mugabe to retire before the end of the year, seen as proof of growing disillusionment within his Zanu PF party over his plans to run for office in general elections next year. Mugabe, 83, has been power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980. But an unprecedented economic crisis and growing international pressure has encouraged rivals within his own party to pressure him to quit. Dr Ibbo Mandaza, an influential Zanu PF supporter and adviser to Mujuru, said he expects Mugabe to announce...

Reports from Zimbabwe are indicating that the Armed Forces and other elements that handle internal security are on a state of heightened readiness. This comes to light after a Online News Portal reported that the Government has information that the Opposition Movement for Democratic Change will suffered an humiliating and possibly fraudulent defeat may launch street protests to challenge the outcome. This information is according to the Central Intelligence Organization. The report stated that a joint security command comprising of Army Police and CIO Commanders made the decision to increase security measures following the start of the rumors of a...

There are approximately 30 days until the mid-term elections in Zimbabwe. These elections are very crucial as they may determine not only the future of democracy in that nation, but also the stability of Southern Africa itself. If the elections go as many insiders believe they will then Zimbabwe will be an authoritarian government with a rubber stamp Parliament. One of the first areas that should be watched with great scrutiny is the assault on the independent media. Within the last two weeks, four journalists have been forced to flee the country. Also another independent newspaper, the Weekly Times has...

Without pressure from outside nations, upcoming elections in Zimbabwe are almost certain to hasten the country's slide into dictatorship under longtime leader Robert Mugabe. Pressure must be brought to bear on Zimbabwe 's Southern African neighbors to enforce the agreed election protocols or they, and not just Zimbabwe, should face the withdrawal of aid, trade deals, and other U.S. largesse. His Excellency Comrade Robert Mugabe remains president of Zimbabwe because he is a tyrant who stole two elections. The international community is absolutely convinced of this, but South Africa and most of Zimbabwe's neighbors have refused to condemn him. Instead,...

The police today disrupted a training session of the MDC’s 120 candidates which was being held at the Sheraton Hotel in Harare. They arrested MDC Director of Elections Ian Makone who is currently being held at Harare Central Police Station. At the time of writing the police have yet to inform Mr Makone of the charges he is facing. The meeting, which started at 10.30 a.m., was attended by all 120 of the party’s candidates for the 2005 elections. It was a strategic planning and training session ahead of the nomination court on Friday 18 February and the launch of...

On Saturday 5th February, far beyond the reach of any reporters or the probing lens of any cameras, an event of major significance took place. In the prison compound at Mutoko, some 140 kilometers north-east of Harare, one of Zimbabwe's leading clerics and outspoken critic of the Mugabe regime, met and talked with a prominent member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), now a prisoner of conscience incarcerated by that regime. Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo met Roy Bennett the imprisoned opposition MDC member of parliament for the Chimanimani constituency. Roy Bennett is serving out in the Mutoko...

While United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was patently ignoring a President Robert Mugabe oppressed Zimbabwe, his son, Kojo was making money building the Zimbabwean capitol’s airport. Mugabe runs the ZANU-PF, a regime that Condoleeza Rice labels an outpost of tyranny. Why Kojo Annan’s business activities in Zimbabwe have not surfaced in the ongoing probe of the Oil-For-Food Program should surely raise concern about both the integrity and sincerity of the investigation. It’s a global village as far as Kojo’s business agenda is concerned. First came West Africa where Annan’s youngest son was working for the Swiss-based Cotecna with ties...

The blistered hands are testimony to the hard labour that Roy Bennett is now enduring on a daily basis. He is no stranger to physical work, but the sheer exertion of labouring on the prison farm is leaving its mark on Roy. However, his spirits are high and he is enjoying working outdoors but he never forgets the injustice that he is suffering. An injustice made worse with every day he spends in prison, especially in light of the fact that Zimbabwe's courts are continuing to reserve judgement or are delaying hearing cases relating to the imprisonment of Roy Bennett....

Harare - Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper on Saturday launched a vitriolic attack on US secretary of state nominee Condoleezza Rice, calling her anti-black and an apologist for "white sins". A weekly column compared Rice to her predecessor, Colin Powell, whom it called an "Uncle Tom", a put-down of a black who is overeager to win the approval of whites. "She is a black woman who will be manly and white in her relentless assault on blacks, their liberties and their remnant and dwindling sovereignities," said the column. "She will be a black who washes away the sins of white power...

Harare - Zimbabwe authorities have resuscitated a three-year-old charge for a minor misdemeanour against the wife of a jailed opposition MP, her lawyer said on Wednesday. Heather Bennett, whose campaign for the release of her husband, Roy, has aroused international condemnation against President Robert Mugabe's regime, was summoned to appear in court Tuesday on charges of possessing two-way radios without a licence, said lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa. The radios were discovered during a police raid on a farm that Bennett, MP for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, was living on in 2003, she said, and the summons that arrived last...

If you are one of the average Canadians or Americans who responded to Canadafreeepress.com’s request for emails of hope and encouragement to Heather Bennett during the recent holidays, it worked. As the months of her husband MP Roy Bennett’s imprisonment by the Robert Mugabe Government wore on, Heather, facing life without him, was getting depressed and discouraged. Just before December 25, there was a surge in incoming emails from North America to FreeRoyBennett.com, and it made Heather and her two children feel a little less alone. "We take it one day at a time. We try to be positive but...

Harare - The government's Media and Information Commission has threatened to close down Zimbabwe's latest newspaper, the Weekly Times, within seven days. In a letter to Mthwakazi Publishing House, publishers of the community-based paper, commission chairman Tafataona Mahoso, accused the publishers of lying that their paper would be a general news product when according to him it was "running political commentary through and through." Mahoso also accuses the Weekly Times of partiality and takes offence that the paper, which published its first issue last week, had given space to Catholic archbishop Pius Ncube, who is a known government critic. The...

HARARE - The ruling Zanu PF is currently reeling from a severe financial emergency, Zimdaily heard this week.Whilst the party generally commands huge state and non-state resources, it currently is reeling from a severe financial crisis. Documents obtained by Zimdaily reveal that the ruling party is in dire straits because its companies, which used to be a major source of income, are performing badly due to a combination of gross mismanagement, corruption and incompetence. The ruling party recently made a whopping $15.5 billion loss, underlining the poor performance of its vast business empire. Its accumulated deficit since 2000 is about...

HARARE- John Bredenkamp, a super rich white Zimbabwean business tycoon has kept the Zimbabwean army afloat by facilitating the clandestine supply of aircraft parts to the Zimbabwean Air Force, breaking a UK and European Union arms embargo slapped on Harare two years ago, Zimdaily heard yesterday. Bredenkamp, one of the richest men in Britain, has been at centre of arms dealing and gun-running with Harare in a move that has seen the international financier misusing or diverting UK-exported equipment. Top army sources told Zimdaily yesterday that Bredenkamp, founder of the Ascot-based sporting agency Masters International, "has been engaged in clandestine...

Dear Family and Friends, Events in Zimbabwe this week have left us all open mouthed and shaking our heads in disbelief, surprise and shock. Every day and every hour the talk has been of mercenaries, conspiracies, terrorists and coup plots. No one seems to be able to explain why an aeroplane landed in Harare with people, described by local television as "burly, heavily built men" of assorted nationalities. At first the talk was of 64 mercenaries, later in the week it became 67. Reports as to what these men were doing here varied from collecting mining equipment to guard mines...

Harare accuses ex-SAS man of links to detained 'mercenaries' By Tim Butcher in Johannesburg and Peta Thornycroft in Harare (Filed: 10/03/2004) Zimbabwe yesterday accused a former SAS officer from Britain of being involved with an aircraft detained at Harare airport allegedly carrying military equipment and 64 "suspected mercenaries". Kembo Mohadi, Zimbabwe's home affairs minister, alleged that Simon Mann, a former SAS officer living in Cape Town, where he is in the security business, had travelled earlier to Zimbabwe and went to Harare airport to meet the aircraft. But when the authorities searched the aircraft it was found to have filed...

Zimbabwe's embattled independent daily Friday filed contempt of court charges against police after they refused to allow staff to re-enter their offices, defying a High Court order, a company official told AFP. Police on Friday barred staff members at the Daily News from returning to their central Harare offices despite a court ruling on Thursday allowing the paper to reopen. The Daily News, Zimbabwe's best-selling daily, was shut down a week ago for operating illegally. It has not appeared on the streets since. "We filed our papers before lunch. We're waiting for the registrar to set the matter down for...

Military police barred journalists from entering their offices Friday, defying a court order to allow the country's only independent daily newspaper to resume publishing. Police shut down the Daily News a week ago for failing to register under the strict media laws imposed by President Robert Mugabe's government. Police evicted the staff, removed the newspaper's computers and occupied its offices and printing plant. On Thursday, High Court Judge Younis Omerjee ordered police to halt their operation. But police prevented the newspaper's staff from returning to work Friday. Newspaper bosses had pledged to publish an eight-page newspaper but employees remained on...

Zimbabwe's High Court on Thursday ordered that the country's sole privately owned paper, the Daily News, be allowed to resume publishing almost a week after police shut it down for operating illegally. Judge Yunis Omerjee granted a court order requested by the paper, which has often been critical of President Robert Mugabe, allowing it to resume operations pending the outcome of an application to register under tough media laws. "The provisional order is granted in terms of the order sought," Omerjee said in the central Harare fourt. Earlier, the newspapers' lawyers had argued before the court that Zimbabwe police had...

Police blockaded the offices of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper Friday after it refused to register with the government to protest sweeping media laws. President Robert Mugabe's increasingly authoritarian government has cracked down on the independent press, the judiciary and opposition officials during more than three years of political and economic chaos. Editors of the Daily News said they refused to register to protest against media laws they see as an effort to stifle independent and foreign journalists and news organizations. The Supreme Court, which has been criticized for favoring the government, ruled Thursday that the paper broke the law...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 12/18/02 - Haifa, Harare, Kuwait, Moscow, Al-Taji, RAF, Kabul BREAKING: Haifa, Israel - Accidental explosion BREAKING: Kabul - Islamic grenade thrower linking al Qaeda and Arafat BREAKING: Harare, Zimbabwe - The starvation and the Elite BREAKING: Kuwait - Operation Desert Spring BREAKING: Moscow - Salman Raduyev dead BREAKING: Iraq - University of Baghdad, Al-Taji - Inspections BREAKING: British Royal Air Force (RAF) on patrol ========= Kuwaiti desert ========= Somewhere in the Kuwaiti desert, with military exercise Internal Look. Somewhere in the Kuwaiti desert, heroes with Operation Desert Spring. in a 'Sand Table'...