Vol 48 No 25 | ZIMBABWE Mnangagwa momentum 14th December 2007 Alongside the main business of endorsing President Robert Mugabe as its flagbearer in next year's elections, the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front Congress is this weekend expected...
Vol 48 No 24 | SOUTH AFRICAZIMBABWE Mbeki to the rescue 30th November 2007 Restarting talks between Mugabe's government and part of the opposition may not be a triumph for quiet diplomacy South African President Thabo Mbeki stopped over in Harare on 22 November and persuaded Zimbabwe's main opposition party to carry on talking to the ruling Zimbabwe African...
Vol 48 No 23 | ZIMBABWE This time I'm going. No, really 16th November 2007 President Mugabe has assured some of his henchmen that he will go next year, but don’t hold your breath At a sombre gathering before his party's Central Committee meeting on 26 October, President Robert Mugabe solemnly assured some long-time comrades that he would retire from politics within...
Vol 48 No 23 | ZIMBABWEBRITAIN Sanctions sense 16th November 2007 Western sanctions on Zimbabwe appear to be unravelling ahead of the European Union/African Union summit in Lisbon on 8-9 December. The Harare delegation is to push for the...
Vol 48 No 22 | MALAWIZIMBABWE His friend Bob 2nd November 2007 President Mutharika seems to be buddying up to Zimbabwe's failing boss, which looks a bad move Since he became President in 2004, Bingu wa Mutharika has confounded expectations that he would go on governing as his predecessor, Bakili Muluzi, did. His management of the...
Vol 48 No 22 | ZIMBABWEINTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND Fund furore and banking bailout 2nd November 2007 Against the advice of their own senior staff, the Boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are blocking the restoration of voting rights to Zimbabwe,...
Vol 48 No 22 | ZIMBABWEEUROPEAN UNION Brown's boycott 2nd November 2007 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s refusal to attend the European Union summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on 8-9 December alongside Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe plays well with Britain’s conservative...
Vol 48 No 22 | SOUTH AFRICAZIMBABWEBRITAIN Scrum half 2nd November 2007 Relations between Britain and South Africa, not helped by the Springboks’ 15-6 defeat of England in the Rugby World Cup in Paris on 20 October, have become poisonous...
Vol 48 No 19 | ZIMBABWE Signs of movement 21st September 2007 After a surprising political deal, reformers hope that at last the opposition’s talks with government are leading somewhere This week’s deal in parliament between the government and the opposition parties over constitutional changes shows the desperation on all sides after five months of stagnation in the...
Vol 48 No 19 | ZIMBABWE Turbulent priests 21st September 2007 Just when President Robert Mugabe thought it was safe to go back to the altar, another troublesome priest has lambasted him for running an oppressive and corrupt regime....
Vol 48 No 19 | ZIMBABWE The banishing of Billy 21st September 2007 Influence over the intelligence services has become a crucial front in the African National Congress’s succession battle. The biggest casualty so far has been the former Director of...
Vol 48 No 18 | ZIMBABWE He keeps on winning 7th September 2007 Mugabe's cunning but ruinous regime is smarter than its quarrelsome critics Zimbabwe defies political gravity. Almost nobody in Harare or Tshwane takes seriously the South African-mediated negotiations between government and opposition. Next year's elections will be held using a...
Vol 48 No 18 | ZIMBABWE Mugabe's people in the provinces 7th September 2007 Soldiers and politicians may grumble but President Robert Mugabe and his apparatchiks maintain a wrestler's grip on the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front's organisation in all ten provinces....
Vol 48 No 17 | ZIMBABWE Neighbours undercover 24th August 2007 Zimbabwe's highly effective Central Intelligence Organisation worked to ensure the Lusaka discussions on Zimbabwe went its way. Four days before the 16-17 August Southern African Development Community summit,...
Vol 48 No 16 | ZIMBABWE Death of a general 3rd August 2007 The military is losing out in its power struggle with the intelligence services, and President Mugabe is the beneficiary More than 15 senior officers have been purged from the Zimbabwe Defence Force following investigations into plots to oust President Robert Mugabe, a group of military officers told...
Vol 48 No 16 | ZIMBABWE More blood, more cash 3rd August 2007 The market principle of ‘'buy when there’s blood on the streets’ has drawn new investors to Zimbabwe Africa Confidential reported early this year on highly lucrative British banking operations in Harare and the Botswana-based Imara Capital's recovery fund (AC Vol 48 Nos 2 & 6)....
Vol 48 No 14 | ZIMBABWE Good week, bad year 6th July 2007 While President Mugabe has been glad-handing his counterparts in Accra, political and security problems proliferate at home It's been a good week for President Robert Mugabe in Ghana at the African Union summit. Away from the economic and political meltdown back home, he played elder...
Vol 48 No 7 | ZIMBABWE Trouble in the neighbourhood 30th March 2007 Most countries in the region now want to see President Mugabe's early departure and will start to say so loudly The timing could hardly be better or the message clearer. Just as President Robert Mugabe touched down at Dar es Salaam airport for the Extraordinary Summit of...
Vol 48 No 7 | ZIMBABWE How to put it together again - as the Mugabe regime totters 30th March 2007 When the reign of President Mugabe and his henchmen comes to an end, Zimbabwe will have much to do to recover from the damage to its economy – and to its people Change is in the air and people are starting to think hard about how Zimbabwe can recover its wasted political and economic impetus. If the transition after President...
Vol 48 No 6 | ZIMBABWE Beware the Ides of March 16th March 2007 Some of President Robert Mugabe's oldest allies want him to leave – but who will play Brutus? By overreacting to an opposition demonstration and savagely beating its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the police in Harare served their master badly. President Robert Mugabe was already under stiff...
Vol 48 No 6 | ZIMBABWE Cash and blood on the streets 16th March 2007 The lack of serious diplomatic pressure for change in Zimbabwe goes together with an almost total lack of planning for the aftermath of President Robert Mugabe's exit from...
Vol 48 No 4 | ZIMBABWE Shuffling the deckchairs 16th February 2007 Ministers may change but economic policy still defies reality, as the currency crashes A 'fusion of new and old blood' to reinvigorate the economy was President Robert Mugabe's hopeful description of his cabinet reshuffle on 6 February. His real economy chief,...
Vol 48 No 2 | ZIMBABWE Bailing out President Mugabe 19th January 2007 Despite its cold war with Whitehall, Harare's biggest financiers are London-based banks and insurance companies British and South African banks have provided a more than US$400 million financial lifeline to President Robert Mugabe's government over the last two years, much of it targeted...