Zimbabwe

After much stalling, the first privatisation deal with the Zimbabwe government has finally been sealed. An estimated 53% of the country’s largest public company, the Zimbabwe Iron and...

George Charamba is President Robert Mugabe’s official spokesman and information supremo. The job description is not well defined and Charamba feels free to ennunciate what he thinks policy...

The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has assembled in Mutare in full battle array for its annual party congress on 15-18 December. General mobilisations, once started, take on...

The 2011 elections are billed as the fourth and final Chimurenga (revolutionary struggle) to consolidate the gains of the revolutionary process. Nowhere have the gains been more substantial...

A key player in the Marange diamond fields dispute, businessman Andrew Cranswick, has been declared bankrupt in Australia after failing to pay a tax demand of Aus$1.1 million (US$1.07 mn.). Cranswick...

The growing political crisis over the management of the rich Marange diamond fields shows how important this huge new revenue source is for President Robert Mugabe, politically and...

Grace Mugabe, widely known as the country’s First Shopper, has, like Marie-Antoinette, a penchant for diamonds and playing at milkmaids. Her model farm, Gushongo Dairy, is so named...

The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front approaches its annual congress in better shape than a year ago and owing much to Jonathan Moyo’s tactical thinking. He will probably...

As Harare steps up pressure for the European Union to abandon its sanctions on Zimbabwe, it has emerged that a British-based bank has found a legal way to...

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is staying away from cabinet meetings in protest at President Robert Mugabe’s move to extend the tenure of the ten provincial governors without consulting...

Arms smuggling, drug trafficking and questionable clergymen all provide clues as to why President Robert Mugabe was planning a foray to Ecuador after his annual trip to the...

The controversial statue honouring Joshua Nkomo on Main Street in Bulawayo could not wait to be officially unveiled by President Robert Mugabe (AC Vol 51 No 16). One...

A chipper-looking President Robert Mugabe arrived in New York for the United Nations summit this week despite the strike by Air Zimbabwe’s pilots. Defying reports of his imminent...

A black shroud materialised on Bulawayo’s Main Street a month ago in the dead of night and has since been guarded around the clock by uniformed and plainclothes...

Robert Mugabe’s bid for Kwame Nkrumah’s pan-African kente cloth won mixed reviews at the African National Congress’s Youth Conference near Johannesburg. Tongai Kasukuwere, Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front...

The National Indigenisation and Empowerment Board is supposed to ensure that 51% of the economy is indigenised by 2015. However, its original target of a blanket 51% indigenous...

The Politburo of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front has always regarded the award of hero status as within its sole gift, something hotly contested by the Movement...

Robert Mugabe has earned a reputation as one of the globe's leading gatecrashers but his poise, self-confidence and chutzpah have not rubbed off on his travelling entourage. Officially...

Sibangilizwe Nkomo, the sole surviving son of Joshua Nkomo (1917-99), is campaigning to exhume his father's remains from the 'foreign' soil of Heroes' Acre in Harare and transfer...

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma is beginning to tire of the political impasse in Harare. We hear that Zuma’s office has just sent a stern note to the...

The new Media Commission is finally operational and is issuing licences to publish newspapers. After a year’s foot-dragging, during which the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) tried...

The recommendation by Abbey Chikane, a monitor for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for diamonds, that Zimbabwe be allowed to resume exports from the much contested Marange fields...

The acquittal of Roy Bennett, Deputy Minister-designate of Agriculture and Treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on 10 May gave President Robert Mugabe the chance to...

The Harare legal profession is enjoying itself at the expense of fellow practitioner Jonathan Samkange, a favourite in the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front who shuns the human...

There are not many ways to get rich in Zimbabwe just now and the best is diamond mining. The business is dominated by the ruling clique in the...

Backed by Police Commissioner General and junta member Augustine Chihuri, the Governor of Manicaland Chris Mushohwe has barred the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy from visiting...

The royal reception accorded to South Africa’s firebrand youth leader Julius Malema in Zimbabwe over the Easter weekend has proved counterproductive (AC Vol 51 No 7). As President...

Hot Springs, some 100 kilometres south of Mutare, once aspired to be a spa resort but the gouty planters in its colonial-style hotel have been replaced by Lebanese...

After South African President Jacob Zuma's 16-18 March trip to Harare, the abrasive Chairman of the African National Congress Youth League, Julius Malema, is due to arrive in...

President Jacob Zuma’s suggestion that fresh elections might offer a way out of the current impasse has sparked off a complex game of ‘call my bluff’ amongst the...

The crisis at Telecel Zimbabwe points to the political and economic problems with the new indigenisation laws, which many see as yet another form of patronage for the...

The formulation of foreign policy in Zimbabwe is the jealously guarded function of the President’s Office and, through it, the Central Intelligence Organisation. The Foreign Ministry is more...

The old ruling party’s new Politburo, announced on 11 February, is anything but new. The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s 49-member policy-making committee, announced by Robert Gabriel Mugabe,...

Hefty political obstacles block further economic progress in Zimbabwe after last year’s impressive turnaround. Mining operations, such as those involving gold and platinum, will grow faster, boosted by...

The first anniversary of the power-sharing agreement was inauspicious, as all three parties in government argue over the pace of political reform and blame each other for holding...

The uneasy coalition government will rumble on into 2010, making painful but discernible progress on economic reform. It is in none of the three main parties’ interest to...

The key issue for the power-sharing regime is reviving the economy. According to the 2010 budget, the government is aiming for 7% gross domestic product growth, underpinned by...

The Chiadzwa/Marange alluvial diamond fields remain off limits to Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy. Amid growing reports of Chinese involvement, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu remains...

The National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board, whose mandate is to ensure that 51% of the economy is indigenised by 2015, is swinging into action. David Chapfika, the...

Seeking hard cash and a platform for his disavowals of the West, President Robert Mugabe flew to Shanghai's spectacular trade expo, where on 11 August he thanked Beijing for being...

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s 24-26 May visit to South Korea was intended to drum up much-needed business for Zimbabwe. An investment promotion and protection deal was agreed with...

Isaak Stanislaus Gorerazvo Mudenge’s role as Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s Secretary for External Affairs keeps him in the foreign policy loop and he took part in Zimbabwe’s...