Vol 7 (AAC) No 1 |
- ZIMBABWE
- CHINA
With regular power outages and Harare in the grips of a water crisis, the government needs money fast
The inability of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front government to maintain sufficient levels of food production, energy and water supplies is a major problem for locals and...
Vol 7 (AAC) No 1 |
- ZIMBABWE
- INDIA
Negotiations drag on but the relaunch of ZISCO will take place before year's end, according to the Commerce and Industry Minister
Zimbabwe has parcelled out choice mining concessions to Russia and China in exchange for arms – but they may have sold them too cheaply
Deals to trade mining concessions for arms from Russia and China were arranged privately during the period of the coalition government by Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front leaders,...
The President and his wife run a dairy business. A German firm has been supplying them for four years, even though the couple are under EU sanctions
The German firm Wilhelm Guth Ventiltechnik has been supplying components to Robert and Grace Mugabe's dairy in defiance of international sanctions. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Guth South Africa, has...
The ruling party’s skill at winning elections is as great as its grasp of the economy is weak. It is casting about for help and inspiration
It is becoming clear that the cost of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s July electoral victory is the loss of the financial credibility built up by Tendai...
With the election out of the way, the party resumes the postponed battle for the succession – and the knives are out
For a party that could so skilfully engineer the July national election, the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front has been curiously inept at managing its own internal democracy....
Air Zimbabwe is under new management and looks set for privatisation. The new board wants to borrow from the notorious entrepreneur and ZANU-PF donor Nicholas van Hoogstraten
The state-owned national airline, Air Zimbabwe, has approached controversial British tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten for cash to help revive its operations. The programme may result in its privatisation....
Blaming the West and the MDC for the economy’s woes does not get more believable just because it’s repeated in New York and Washington
Zimbabwe celebrated World Food Day on 16 October in its own, idiosyncratic way. The local United Nations office took out an advert in the press pointing out, among...
The indigenisation board claims the commodity trader is financing a local front company to buy the country’s biggest fuel-trading firm
The proposed buyer of the national fuel distribution company Zuva Petroleum, Woble Investments (Private) Limited, is using the global commodities trader Glencore’s money for the acquisition, says a...
The security chiefs and their political allies use diamond revenue to buy up a national fuel distribution company
The head of the firm FBC Holdings, John Mushayavanhu, is at the centre of a mysterious plan to buy a controlling stake in a national fuel distribution company,...
After intense lobbying by Belgium, on 24 September the European Union lifted its ban on diamond imports from the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and its partners – Marange...
Takeover rumours surround the well-connected energy company Sakunda as its role in supporting ZANU-PF comes under ever greater scrutiny
Sakunda Energy, the fuel import and distribution company linked to the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, may be about to be taken over by the major international oil...
The new cabinet is ill-equipped to face the economic and diplomatic challenges ahead but promotes some moderates and brings in some youthful talent
It took President Robert Mugabe and his advisors the best part of a month to name a cabinet that mainly redistributes the top jobs to the old political...
ZANU-PF restrains its exultation at electoral victory and the MDC its gloom as both contemplate the vast challenges ahead
Opposition reactions after President Robert Mugabe’s re-election and inauguration have lacked drama. Movement for Democratic Change supporters in urban strongholds believe they were robbed of victory on 31...
Vol 54 No 18 |
- ZAMBIA
- ZIMBABWE
The Movement for Democratic Change’s application to the Constitutional Court to void the elections created uncertainty over the timetable for the inauguration of President Robert Mugabe and, with...
It was a tactical masterclass from Robert Mugabe and his high command. The MDC floundered, hit by trickery, bad planning and split votes
Harare has been eerily quiet since the elections, in shock at the Movement for Democratic Change's disastrous electoral performance. Former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's triumphalist eve-of-poll rally had...
ZANU-PF may now relish ruling on its own but it will have to dig very deep for answers to a deteriorating economy
President Robert Mugabe’s victory in the 31 July elections has not settled the uncertainties surrounding Zimbabwe’s political and economic future. It may even have heightened them. Post-election nervousness...
Prime Minister Tsvangirai rejects reports of a ZANU-PF victory in the elections, claiming the party had engineered a ‘monumental fraud’
The stage is set for days, perhaps weeks, of confrontation following claims by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and local monitoring groups of extensive rigging in the 31 July...
An investigation by Africa Confidential, The Telegraph and Global Witness has revealed suspicious payments to central bank governor Gideon Gono’s children
The business affairs of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Gideon Gono, are back in the headlines since evidence emerged that three of his children...
A tightened election timetable with almost a third of eligible voters missing from the register leaves plenty of space for a nationwide gerrymander
It was uncharacteristically foolish of President Robert Mugabe to fast-track the election date to 31 July, in the face of protests from some in his own party and...
The prospects for free, fair and transparent elections on 31 July took another knock with the chaotic ‘special votes’ on 14-15 July. The problems were mainly logistical, stemming...
Even if ZANU-PF loses the argument over the election date, its business and military backers put it ahead of the MDC
The Constitutional Court will soon announce its decision on granting an extension to the 31 July election date. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been pressing on...
The death in a car accident of Edward Chindori-Chininga, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Mining and Minerals, came within days of its damning report on revenue...
In a piece of political theatre, President Mugabe asks the Constitutional Court to reconsider its decision on the election date but the vote will still go ahead
Although it now seems likely that the Constitutional Court will bow to pressure and postpone the election for a few weeks beyond 31 July, the beneficiaries of any...
By seven to two, the Zimbabwe Constitutional Court ruled on 31 May that elections must take place before 31 July, a month after Parliament expires under the old...
President Robert Mugabe’s chances of holding elections acceptable to the Southern African Development Community before July have been dashed. This, however, owes more to the partisan zeal of...
President Robert Mugabe is insisting on general elections by 29 June, when the present Parliament ends, despite the objections of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai’s MDC didn’t do enough to prevent the new basic law giving
Mugabe’s party the right to decide who succeeds him
The real winners of the constitutional referendum were the hardliners of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. They now have a document that enshrines ZANU-PF's supremacy, whatever happens...
All parties want the same result in the 16 March referendum but it holds dangers, especially concerning the presidential succession
The referendum on 16 March takes place less than a month after the starting gun was fired. No one doubts a favourable result but only the turnout will...
President Robert Mugabe has placed allies in key positions as the draft constitution finally heads for a referendum
A referendum on Zimbabwe’s new constitution has been set for 16 March. Despite a challenge by the National Constitutional Assembly, a pro-democracy group, which was dismissed by Judge...
A vice-presidency is again vacant, sharpening choices about the constitution and creating openings for those outside the two main parties
Vice-President John Landa Nkomo died after a long illness on 17 January, aged 79. His death set in motion yet another tortuous competition for the vacant post among...
Professor Reg Austin, one of the staunchest comrades of the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), has resigned from the new Human Rights Commission. Austin had been nominated...
This year’s much delayed elections could well yield surprises but companies are nervous about election tactics such as ‘indigenisation’ decreees
After a great deal of brinkmanship, President Robert Mugabe conceded in mid-December that elections could not be held before June 2013. During the first part of the year,...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 12 |
- ZIMBABWE
- ASIA
Chinese investment will dominate Zimbabwe’s economic policy as President Mugabe’s new government finds itself short of friends in the West
President Robert Mugabe’s government has announced that it will be putting even more business the way of its Asian trading partners. This is after refusals by the United...
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Vol 6 (AAC) No 12 |
- ZIMBABWE
- ASIA
Military connections may have helped China Africa Sunlight Energy overcome the opposition of bureaucrats and activists
In May 2012, when the Movement of Democratic Change’s Elton Mangoma was still Energy Minister, he worried that the China Africa Sunlight Energy deal could be a case...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 8 |
- ZIMBABWE
- CHINA
Vice-President Wang Yang’s visit sees scrabbling state media rerun an old warning to Chinese companies from Prime Minister Tsvangirai
Zimbabwe's new constitution finally passed into law on 22 May and the way is now clear for elections. The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front is pushing for the...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 8 |
- ZIMBABWE
- ASIA
The Essar deal, along with many others, is set to languish until after the polls
The early April visit of India's Steel Minister, Beni Prasad Verma, scarcely made headlines in Zimbabwe's media. With elections on the horizon, Zimbabwe is more obsessed than ever...
Vol 6 (AAC) No 7 |
- ZIMBABWE
Deputy Prime Minister, Zimbabwe
Speaking at a conference on China-Africa relations hosted by Frontier Advisory in South Africa, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara urged greater African regulation of Chinese investment.