The sad queue for the kidney machine

As medical facilities decay, as equipment breaks and is not replaced, what hope for those who must have treatment?

There are many ways to die in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe today, starvation, riot, a visit from your friendly neighbourhood policeman... But one of the saddest now threatens a group of people already suffering from a life threatening disease.

They are patients with renal failure. In the past there have been sufficient dialysis machines in the country to cope with demand, even though patients often had to supply their own equipment and fluids bought for them by kind family members in South Africa.

Now the chiefs are the target

Mugabe is searching out those traditional leaders who might opposite him - and he knows just how to deal with them

Stark warning for the President

This week I saw clear evidence that the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Mugabe's much feared and fiercely loyal secret police force, is alarmed by the government's latest attempt to control inflation, and has warned top politicians that it could lead to total economic collapse and a mass revolt against the President.

Three weeks ago, in a desperate bid to control an inflation rate of 5,000 per cent, the ruling Zanu-PF party ordered shops, businesses and all commerce to slash prices of basic commodities by 50 per cent or more.  CIO hit squads and other paramilitaries went from shop to shop enforcing the order. The result was a desperate rush to buy by the hungry populace.

The story of Takawira

I was arrested by Mugabe's police the other day. They caught me dealing in foreign currency, and threw me into the Harare Remand Prison. After six hours I bribed my way back out onto the streets, but during that time I met a man who's plight made me forget mine.

His name is Takawira Mwanza; he is 35, a tall, dark and softly spoken man. I laughed when Takawira told me his story. As is so common in today's Zimbabwe,  I laughed to keep from crying.

Takawira is in jail because he committed the ultimate Zimbawean crime. He stole from our President. Mugabe hasn't forgiven him, and probably never will.

Honey trappers double-crossed

The two men who engineered the honey trap that caught Bulawayo Archbishop Pius Ncube in bed with Rosemary Sibanda have now told me: "We are very bitter. We were promised big money when the job was done, but we've received nothing."

The men are private investigator Ernest Tekere and the woman's husband, Onesimus Sibanda. It was Sibanda who first approached Tekere with the plan to film the Archbishop (left) secretly.

Should the UK invade Zimbabwe?

British paratroops descending from the blue skies of Zimbabwe to knock-out Robert Mugabe's evil and corrupt government and restore true democracy in our country - it's a thrilling and yet a frightening vision for we Zimbabweans.

But it is the vision of one of the most respected and best-loved figures in the country. He is Pius Ncube, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo - a man who, in standing tall against the forces of oppression, has always previously advocated non-violent resistance only.

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Left for dead by secret police

4,500 per cent – and rising

The First Post's exclusive news revealing the latest Zimbabwe inflation statistics will infuriate the government of Robert Mugabe, especially as it has taken considerable steps to make sure they remained a secret. And the possibility still exists that an attempt will be made to massage, or even falsify, the figures.

The Minister of Finance, Samuel Mumbengegwi, issued a confidential departmental directive to delay the announcement, because, he wrote, "they will cause major embarrassment".

Coup attempt nipped in bud

The executioner talks

On May 22 I reported for The First Post on the five Zimbabwean mounted soldiers who made a dash for freedom in South Africa only to be captured by Mugabe's men, brought back, and tortured. I wrote that their families feared the young men had been executed.

These fears were confirmed this week by a man who took part in the executions. He is Michael Nyathi, 47, a member of a Central Intelligence Organisation hit squad for the past ten years. Nyathi, finally sickened by his own deeds, and fearful for his life, has deserted from the CIO and is on the run. This is his story as he told it to me, in all its brutal and horrifying detail.

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