THE role of the military has risen to the top of the political agenda as Zimbabwe’s fractious coalition debates the prospect of fresh elections in 2013 or, if President Robert Mugabe has his way, before then. The question haunting members of the MDC, the opposition party that joined Mugabe’s Zanu PF in a coalition government after violently disputed elections in 2008, is how the security establishment will react if the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister, wins and becomes commander-in-chief. Serving and former commanders have been making menacing comments. Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba, a commander in the national army, once accused Tsvangirai of being a “national security threat” and stooge of Western powers. He added in comments to the Herald, the state newspaper, that: “We will die for him (Mugabe) to make sure he remains in power.” Although many observers suggest such bellicose statements are posturing and that even Zanu PF has distance...
Police have arrested two more members of staff from the Prime Minister’s Communications Office, caretakers, Spiwe Vera and Elizabeth Banda. This brings to six the number of staff members from the Office of the Prime Minister arrested inside five days. Lawyers have been dispatched to Harare Central Police Station to attend to them.Four party officials were arrested Sunday, along with prominent rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa who was trying to represent them during police searches of their offices and homes. The four top officials are accused of compiling information on the state’s failure to prosecute cases of high level corruption. Critics accuse ZANU-PF of abusing state security organs to intimidate its rivals ahead of crucial elections. The harassment of ZANU-PF’s perceived opponents extends to civic society groups, human rights lawyers and the private media.While the police have been quick to arrest suspected MDC-T perpetrators of violence, they have not done the same to ZANU-PF sup...
I would like to extend my congratulations to His Eminence Pope Francis 1, for his inauguration and I hope and trust that he will be a good leader for his religion. I was disturbed to see the Pope hand-in-hand with a well-known dictator Robert Mugabe, a man who has caused untold sufferings to his own people. The man has inflicted pain and suffering to the people of Zimbabwe with great relish. The pope is quite aware, that the Mugabe is under a travel ban, and it is with good reason. It could be that His Eminence is still new to matters of the state, nonetheless, stupidity and immorality are the properties of such man as Robert Mugabe, we would have expected the Pope to be a man of good morals and where possible of awesome intellect. It would be fair to conclude that His Eminence has failed so far to exemplify good morality. Mugabe attended the Pope's inaugural mass on Tuesday despite a ban on him travelling to most European countries to protest his human rights record ...
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