Zanu PF has perfected its intimidation and coercive electoral machinery ahead of Zimbabwe’s next elections, an investigative visit to Mutoko, Mashonaland East province has revealed. - Located 142km North East of the capital Harare, Mutoko has a history of covert violence being met against perceived Zanu PF opponents. Now, tactics seem to have changed. Terror and intimidation are now taking place in an overt, hidden manner. When this reporter arrived at Mutoko Growth Point, a tranquil and serene atmosphere engulfed the growth point with most people concentrating on tilling their fields and other livelihood chores. At the Growth Point, a significant number of people could be se…

The house building boom across Harare, Zimbabwe has caused land degradation as the scramble for building sand has fuelled rampant sand poaching. Truck loads of sand are transported daily from illegal extraction locations dotted across the city to construction sites; but as the sand poachers smile all the way to the bank they leave behind yawning craters on the earth's surface. - Harare Residents Trust Director Precious Shumba blamed the absence of law enforcement agencies in the community as a major driver of the uncontrolled sand poaching. Shumba added that there was need for concerted efforts from the City of Harare, civic organizations and the government to combat sand poaching. …

- By Jeffrey Moyo The adage to obey is better than to sacrifice has come to its own interpretation across the country when hundreds of homes built on wetlands fell prey to persistent rains that recently pounded the nation. The rate of destruction of wetlands in Zimbabwe's urban settlements has reached alarming proportions as the majority of them are being turned into residential and industrial stands. Most of the homes apparently on wetlands were built in brazen disregard of city bylaws, which do not allow construction of any structures on wetlands. The rains which have continued against all odds have left hundreds of homes marooned in rising floods, with some temporary residen…

- By -Anna Chibamu The emerging trend of celebrating women with hips has left the slim ones running in all directions as they seek to imitate their foes. This has resulted in the emergence of women who are now wearing pampers with some stuffing shorts to create the much needed hip line. Stories of young ladies being spotted wearing pampers to enlarge hips are awash in the streets of Harare. A cross section of people in Harare expressed mixed feelings over this new wave of enhanced beauty that has gripped Harare. Ephraim Mambare, a vendor in the streets of Harare attacked this new culture of enhancing beauty saying it was a sign of desperation. “It’s very strang…

- By Jeffrrey Moyo HARARE: Traditionally, Zimbabwe’s aged persons belong to the countryside, where poverty is often rife, but containable. But for Harare’s poverty-stricken geriatric couple, with the husband living with HIV and AIDS, non other is their home besides the capital city, which fuels their plight in the face of unaffordable cost of living. The Brightons family resides in Harare’s Budiriro five High density suburb, with their three daughters and a mentally disturbed son, who is aged 32 and seven school-going grandchildren, and an HIV positive toddler grandchild. Ellen Brighton (73), wife to Governor Brighton (76) has an exposed uterus (chibereko in Shona)…

- By David Chidende Mt Darwin–Traditional leaders are becoming de facto political commissars for Zanu PF in Mount Darwin, Mashonaland Central Province, and are reportedly spearheading terror in villagers ahead of the general elections President Mugabe wants next year. This is despite Article 14 of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which restricts them from engaging in political activities at national and community level. Investigations carried out by this reporter in Nyamazizi and Karanda, Mount Darwin East, approximately 50km from the main town revealed that Chief Dotito, war veterans and the Zanu PF militia are threatening to kill and evict suspected MDC supporters in N…

- By Jeffrey Moyo CHIWESHE-Zanu-PF has set up fresh torture camps in Mashonaland Central Province, which village leaders have said is a ploy by the former ruling party to force them vote it back into power in elections President Robert Mugabe wants held next year. According to human rights activists, the province which has eight districts suffered the worst cases of murder, torture and displacements in the June 2008 presidential run-off elections. Statistics from the Human Rights Watch showed that there were 102 murder cases reported in Mashonaland Central Province in 2008. Villagers in Chiweshe, 75 kilometers north east of Bindura, which is 110 kilometers from Harare northward a…

- By David Chidende The Government of Japan has donated US$4, 8 million grant to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) for the procurement of children vaccines and programmes aimed at addressing violence against women and children. The support for the UNICEF project titled, “Improving Child Health and Addressing Gender Based Violence,” will go a long way in helping Zimbabwe’s battle against high under five years mortality rate which stands at around 100 deaths per day. Speaking at the announcement of the project, Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Yonezo Fukuda said Japan has been an active partner in the prevention of infectious diseases in children, particular…

- Chinese businessman face death threats By Jeffrey Moyo A Harare-based Chinese businessman who featured in the newspaper last month on allegations of abusing workers has come out claiming he is facing death threats from his workers. Guo Qing Feng, director of Jing Hua Investments, a private company specializing in distributing glass said his workers were putting his life at risk as they threatened to beat him up or kill him, accusing him of being too bossy. He complained that when he showed his workers evidence of their misconduct, they would retaliate by threatening to kill him. “Leonard Moyo who lied to NewsDay that I threatened to get him eliminated by hired thugs i…

- By David Chidende President Robert Mugabe’s erratic treatment of foreign economic interests could see China change its uncritical stance towards pariah states like Sudan, Zimbabwe, Burma and Iran. This was said by the former United States ambassador to Beijing Clark Randt two years ago after he looked at the relations between the United States and China over the past 30 years and also at the 30 years to come. Randt was the longest serving US ambassador to Beijing. China has shown that it is willing to put its need for markets and raw materials above the need to promote internationally accepted norms of behaviour. According Wiki leaks cables released on the 13th of April…

- By David Chidende With the constitutional debate still raging on, Zanu PF hardliners have described the process as a sham and tantamount to treason as it seeks to destroy the state. Former Zanu Pf government representative to China Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa said the MDC and other political parties are trying to use the constitution making process as an excuse to effect the regime change in the country. Zimbabwe has been without a proper constitution for the past three decades has been using the Lancaster House Constitution, a transitional document and a compromise meant to bridge the gap from minority rule to the majority rule. The constitutional debate has become the subjec…

- By David Chidende With the escalating cost of living, high unemployment and poverty, illegal panners from all over Zimbabwe have flocked Shurugwi, located in the mineral-rich Great Dyke belt 33km outside Gweru in search of precious stones. Minerals such as gold, chromite, nickel and platinum are mined around the town. These minerals have become a magnet for people from across the country with the notorious makorokoza turning the area into a scavenging ground despite frantic efforts by the police to stop them. They leave behind a trail of destruction; devastated fields and forests, mud-choked rivers, and mercury-tainted water. The Great Dyke area is the richest mineral be…

- By Wendy Muperi At 70 Amos Matambo is still sexually active and lustful but he is not very much aware of the HIV/AIDS issues that are currently skewed towards the younger generation. “My wife is old and I often engage in sex with younger women, but I do not use condoms because I do not think there are safe and I do not have the heart at this age to go for circumcision,” said Sekuru Chauke. But it is not his fault fighting as initiatives in Zimbabwe often target the young ones who are considered more sexually active. Since the late 1980s Zimbabwe has been fighting the pandemic with notable successes recorded. According to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare stat…

- By David Chidende “Tears trickled down my cheeks as I helplessly watched the bulldozer graze my house to the ground, I knew that was the end of me,” said Muchaneta Marwei. Seven years after the controversial clean up campaign dubbed Operation Murambatsvina which saw the demolition of “illegal” settlements and structures across the country; it has become a dreary endeavor for many to have proper roofs over their heads. The clean up exercise have left an indelible mark on the people in Mabvuku, Highfields, Mbare and other high density suburbs. Muchaneta Marwei (40), a single mother of three sadly narrated how the clean up campaign has grossly impacted on h…

- By David Chidende “Tears trickled down my cheeks as I helplessly watched the bulldozer graze my house to the ground, I knew that was the end of me,” said Muchaneta Marwei. Seven years after the controversial clean up campaign dubbed Operation Murambatsvina which saw the demolition of “illegal” settlements and structures across the country; it has become a dreary endeavor for many to have proper roofs over their heads. The clean up exercise have left an indelible mark on the people in Mabvuku, Highfields, Mbare and other high density suburbs. Muchaneta Marwei (40), a single mother of three sadly narrated how the clean up campaign has grossly impacted on h…