Mugabe survives assassination plot

Two men die in a crash involving the President's motorcade, in what security forces believe was an attempted assassination

President Robert Mugabe's motorcade - notorious for its strict security procedures and high-speed travel - came to a sudden halt in Harare today when a mystery vehicle evaded outriders and guards before smashing into a security vehicle. Both drivers died at the scene.

The incident happened on Harare's Seventh Street, only a few hundred metres from the official residence of the Zimbabwean President. Mugabe was unhurt, and continued his journey to the airport, where he left for a diplomatic visit to Mozambique.

Officers of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and the Presidential Guards, Mugabe's personal security men, remained at the scene and cordoned off the area. Tipped off by a CIO source, I arrived minutes later, and was able to see the two body bags and the damaged vehicles.

One movie not to be missed

"Gukurahundi" was a crime against humanity. Now at last one brave film-maker is putting it on record

Zenzele Ndebele is a 29-year-old Zimbabwean journalist and film producer, and he is a man to admire. His latest video, which is becoming available in Zimbabwe at this time, documents the appalling massacres in Matabeleland, when, in the mid-Eighties, upwards of 20,000 people of the Ndebele community are believed to have lost their lives.

The killers were Mugabe's infamous North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade. The term "Gukurahundi" is a Shona expression meaning "The first rain that washes away the chaff of the last harvest before the spring rains." But today to the Ndebele people the word evokes a mixture of dark emotions - terror, anger, even shame.

So terrifying, so brutal was the experience, it has for years remained undiscussed, unexamined. But now Zenzele Ndebele has courageously put together a video documentary, titled "Gukurahundi: A Moment Of Madness." At last the truth is being told - and that truth is terrible.

Elections - now the violence begins

Intimidation, threats, evictions, all the trappings of a Zimbabwe election are starting to show themselves once again.

Things may seem quiet now, with the elections still at least a couple of months away. No meetings or rallies, a few posters... but don't be deceived. The savage thuggery that Zanu-PF operators regularly employ to make things go their way has begun yet again.

This week I talked to Terence Marime, a young activist for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who lives in Mamutse Village in Bikita West, Masvingo province. Or at least he did, until two weeks ago when a gang of young Zanu-PF hitmen turned up at his door.

They gave Terence - and 14 other local MDC activisits - a simple choice. Move out of the district. Or stay and be killed. "They accused me of working for a puppet party which is pursuing the interests of the West. I thought of going to the police for help - but when I realised who was behind these evictions, I knew I would be wasting my time."

Mixed emotions as Smith dies

The last white Prime Minister of Rhodesia dies aged 88

Ian Smith died yesterday in a clinic near Cape Town, South Africa. His death was hailed as "good riddance" by Zimbabwe's deputy information minister, Bright Matonga, but some Zimbabweans were more nostalgic about his rule. Smith declared independence for Rhodesia - as Zimbabwe was then called - from the UK in 1965 and was lauded for leading the country to great economic prosperity. However, he was overtly racist, declaring that he would not countenance rule by the black majority - "not in a thousand years". He remained in Zimbabwe after losing power in 1979, only leaving for medical treatment in South Africa in 2005.

LINK - News in pictures: Ian Smith, African rebel

Inflation - the almost unbelievable truth

Is Zimbabwe's inflation as bad as the government unofficially admits? No. It is worse. Far worse.

It came as no surprise this week when no inflation figures were announced for October. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) was ordered to keep them secret by finance minister Samuel Mumbengegwi. But a figure was released unofficially. It put the month-on-month inflation rate at 14840 per cent, a figure now so high that it is a national disgrace.

And yet it is a lie. This week I spoke to an impeccable source within the CSO. He told me that the 14840 figure is one compiled by the finance minister, and based on government-controlled prices. But in reality there are no products or services available at those prices. So the figure is meaningless. "Mumbengegwi is behaving like an ostrich," said my source.

So what is the true figure? Thanks to my source, I can give you the CSO figure today. But take a deep breath before you read on.

Sweet Home Zimbabwe

To return home after a few days out of the country is to learn a lesson in how far we have fallen

I've been on a trip to Europe for a few days - hence my absence recently from the blog - but the experience of coming back into the country has meant I can look on the place with fresh eyes. And I am shocked, saddened and sickened by what I have found.

Re-entry to Planet Mugabe began with a dodgy landing on our pot-holed runway, which we survived thanks to the skill of the South African Airways pilot, and which explains why British Airways has given up its Harare route after 60 years. And that was just the start of a very bumpy homecoming.

One unhappy tyrant

'Put nothing in writing', orders Mugabe

The First Post's exclusive reports of Robert Mugabe's plots - first to assassinate his critics, including ex-Archbishop Pius Ncube, then to destroy Ncube with charges of sexual misconduct - have enraged Zimbabwe's President. But publication has caused him temporarily to call off the conspiracies.

Scenes reminiscent of the last days of Hitler were witnessed at a late-night meeting at State House, called by Mugabe on Monday. The President raved and screamed at his top security men, threatening to sack some of them, including Central Intelligence Organisation boss Happyton Bonyongwe, unless they put a stop to the damaging leaks.

LINK: read this article in full on The First Post

Death of a very brave lady

Mugabe's official thugs claim the life of a true Zimbabwean heroine

Yesterday - Sunday, November 11 - we buried Maria Moyo (right). A thousand people came to her graveside at Bulawayo's Hyde Park Cemetery, to mourn the death of a gallant woman who stood up against the appalling injustice of our country's government, and paid the ultimate price for her courage.

Mrs. Moyo was one of the founders of Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), in 2003. Together with her fellow leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, she lead peaceful marches and demonstrations against human rights abuses. She demanded respect for women. She asked for justice. In Zimbabwe she asked for too much.

In the short four years of WOZA, she was arrested ten times. Each time she was physically and mentally abused by the police. The last arrest came on August 24. It resulted in her death. No doubt the police consider this a positive outcome. This is what happened.

Girls! Let's get naked for Bob!

Minister's remarkable new campaign to save the President she loves

Anyone in Zanu-PF - or anyone else for that matter - who is planning to oust President Robert Mugabe had better think again. Because Madam Oppah Muchinguri (right), our country's formidable Minister for Women, is planning a demonstration that will bring the country to a halt, quite possible to its knees, and even leave it flat on its face, having passed out cold.

This is what she promised, when speaking to a meeting of female party activitists this week: "Let me assure you ladies, if anyone in Zanu-PF or elsewhere tries to remove Mugabe from power I and the Women's League will march in the streets of Harare naked."

And just in case some of us didn't quite believe our ears, she made herself perfectly clear: "We are prepared to remove our clothes in support of his candidature."

On the hunt for a juicy steak!

Why I couldn't buy a beast for love or money - especially money

I was in Tsholotsho, in rural Matabeleland, at the weekend, with four friends and a pocketfull of money. We were there to buy a beast - a goat, an ox, anything on four legs with a pulse, probably. We intended to slaughter it, skin it, divide it up, and take the meat back to our families, to give them their first decent meal for weeks. And we failed.

The trip was a total disappointment. But it was our only choice. You can't buy meat in Harare's shops any more, not since President Mugabe, Minister Obert Mpofu and the thugs from the army and navy got together to impose price controls across the nation. We thought, if we offer a fair price to the Tsholotsho farmers, out there in cattle country, we would be able to buy a decent meal or two "on the hoof". No joy.

What went wrong? Well, it was the same thing that is causing so much else to go wrong in this poor country of ours today.

No news is good news!

Why government propagandists can't see the wood for the trees

The newspaper mouthpieces of the Zimbabwe government - the Herald, Chronicle, Sunday Mail, Sunday News - have all been short on pages and erratic in production lately, for one very good reason: there's not enough paper to print them on. A massive shortage of newsprint has hit the industry, and the government propaganda machine is suffering as a result. Shame.

The main reason behind the shortage - apart from the one you might expect under this government, and that is general mismanagement - is the destruction in recent years of large timber plantations in the eastern highlands. And one of the reasons that lie behind that destruction is...wait for it... edible mice.

Justice on strike!

Yes, it's good news for offenders, as Zimbabwe's magistrates down gavels, close their courts, and walk off the job.

Many think that the law courts of our troubled country have remained the one stabilising influence in an otherwise chaotic state. But this belief was shaken this week when the country's magistrates, state prosecutors and other court officials came out on indefinite strike in protest against poor remuneration and deteriorating working conditions.

At Rotten Row Building in Harar4e, where the courts are housed, I found the doors locked and the place deserted. A disappointed lawyer told me: "There are no magistrates to hear our cases. We were told we'd have to wait until the strike ended. And when that will be...who knows?"

The main cause for this unprecedented industrial action is one which echoes throughout every aspect of society in Zimbabwe today - that once-reasonable salaries have become virtually worthless in the face of galloping inflation.

Who guards the guards?

How CIO agents are tied up in the theft and racketeering they're supposed to fight

I thought you could rely on the members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). We all know that they are brutal, vicious and overpaid thugs who will stop at nothing, including murder, in the pursuit of their so-called duties. But I had assumed that at least they were united in supporting Mugabe's perverted vision of Zimbabwe. It seems I was wrong.

On file in the High Court today are papers indicting three CIO agents for theft. They are said to have been involved in a scam to steal copper shipments, which pass through Zimbabwe from Zambia on their way to South Africa. But the accused - Frank Utahwarova, Tawanda Muzinda and Moses Chademana - who are or were CIO agents, are said to be only small fry in a big racket. And my court source tells me that bigger fish will soon be in the dock with them.

For the sort of mischief they've been up to, read on.