Wayne Munroe, a farmer in Nymandlovhu (just outside Bulawayo in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe), has been under siege since early this morning. His property has been encircled by in excess of 100 “war veterans”.

He phoned the police in Nymandlovhu to inform them of the problem and was on the phone to them when 4 “war veterans” entered his office. He immediately told the member in charge that they were there and that a 303 (gun) was being pointed at his chest. He was forced to hang up. (more…)

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We asked a colleague to write us a post about payday. This is his story.

Today is pay day.

I received a gross wage of just under $860 million. I also received benefits being $400 million dollars as a transport allowance and $67 million as a housing allowance. These benefits were awarded by the government as some sort of assistance towards the rising inflation. Gross earnings approx. $1,3 billion.

I then pay tax on these earnings (including the benefits calculated at a rate of 47.5%). I then have further ‘government’ deductions being aids levy, national employment council and national social security authority. (more…)

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Some of you were cited on the BBC yesterday… I thought you’d like to know.

That was a quick aside … today I’m thinking about Malawi and ask that everyone else does too.

Thank you, all of you, for everything you are doing.

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This was sent to us today. The picture was taken this morning, in Cape Town, South Africa. Now also here.

Thank you! Please keep sending us pictures like these to share with Zimbabweans everywhere.

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The Nyasa Times has this report today and it seems a lot more plausible to me than yesterday’s Hollywood-style information regarding Venezula:

Malawi government has sent a top three man national intelligence experts to Angola to look at ways of helping Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe clear the weapons aboard the beleaguered Chinese ship that has docked in Luanda, Angola, Nyasa Times has learnt.

The Malawi team is comprised of Mr Clement Kapalamula - Head of Secret Intelligence Services (SIS), Mr George Masinga - Acting Director of Foreign Relations (Intelligence) and a Mr Matanga - Technical Engineer (Intelligence).

(more…)

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This is via a comment on our blog — an update on Simon “Dreadman” Mudekwa, the President of the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth Movement who is still in jail in South Africa and will be in court tomorrow.

So much is happening in Zimbabwe that we need to keep our eye on this story before it slips under the radar.

SWRadio Africa have a report where the people arrested allege that they were “assaulted by police when they were arrested”. (more…)

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We needed this news so badly!

The two factions of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have decided to unite to form one party. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai made the announcement at a media briefing at Lanseria airport, outside Johannesburg, this afternoon.

He says the move will give the MDC a 57% majority in parliament. He says President Robert Mugabe must accept that he cannot rule without parliamentary control.

(more…)

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We have just received this with a request to do all we can to circulate information because it is such short notice. But at such short notice (!) there isn’t much we can do beyond blog it.

Can you help alert journalists based in South Africa to this information?:

President Morgan Tsvangirai will hold a press conference today 28 April 2008 at 4 p.m. to make a historic announcement.

The press conference will be held at Johannesburg’s Lanseria Airport, Allegiance Airways Lounge, when he returns today from a brief trip to East Africa. This lounge is located at Main Terminal Building upstairs.

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Last we heard it was in Angola, and we were told that the weapons would not be unloaded there. However this news was accompanied by information that Mnangagwa was visiting so I’m afraid I took all the good news with a massive dose of sceptisim.

Today, via WorldNetDaily comes an article which propels the story into the arena of Hollywood film:

A floating arsenal of weapons and bombs dispatched by China in a rust-stained tramp freighter to the pariah state of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe now is being shadowed by Britain’s most powerful submarine, a nuclear Trident, says a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

(more…)

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We encourage all Zimbabweans to start speaking out and lobbying people around the world in your individual capacities. Sokwanele has set up an ‘Action Contact Database‘ where we are collecting a range of contact names, useful for Zimbabwe email action initiatives, that Zimbabweans can easily find and use towards promoting non violent change in Zimbabwe. Please use it to find contact details so that you can speak out and tell people around the world what is happening in our country.

It is more than a month since the elections were held on March 29th 2008, and we are still waiting for the Presidential results.

Meanwhile, Zanu PF has embarked on a campaign of terror and intimidation in the rural areas against opposition supporters. There have been at least ten murders so far. (more…)

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This email just received, published here verbatim:

This may encourage you. A group of 20 youths in their MDC T-Shirts decided to enter Mutoko area and seek out some militia camps. They found three, and with no violence, they chased the militia out and flattened their camps, then disappeared back to their home area.

(more…)

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The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair came to a close yesterday. I laughed because rather than celebrating huge deals, the State Press has given more column inches to moaning about the price hikes at hotels in Bulawayo, saying:

During ZITF, hotels have a tendency of hiking their charges and this is like killing the goose which lays the golden egg. This time around they increased their rates from about $2,2 billion to $18 billion for a three star hotel.

The reaction to the prices by the state?

..three general managers of leading hotels and 15 lodge operators in Bulawayo were nabbed [sic] during the fair for increasing their rates without approval of NIPC [National Incomes and Pricing Commission].

(more…)

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The U.N. Security Council will get a briefing on the situation in Zimbabwe next week from the U.N. Secretariat, the council president said Friday.

May I ask people to submit comments and lobby ideas towards this? And can you research and submit contacts for our Action Contact Database.

I will attempt to consolidate all tonight and then on Monday we can all lobby hard.

What do you say?

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This press release just received.

Press Release: Truth and Justice Coalition formed by the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe (IDAZIM)

“The destruction of democracy begins when good people just people or merely those who are well intentioned do nothing”, Gabriel Shumba, a torture victim, human rights lawyer, exile and spokesperson for the Truth and Justice Coalition announced. The Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe (IDAZIM) has initiated, with full support from civil society, labour and legal organizations, the Truth and Justice Coalition on Zimbabwe. Its objectives are to identify perpetrators and seek legal redress for the victims of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in Zimbabwe.

(more…)

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A desperate cry from the hearts of Zimbabwe screams across the world.

It calls upon all Christians of every denomination in every nation to focus their prayers, in churches, halls, homes or elsewhere, on Sunday 27th April 2008 on the critical situation in Zimbabwe, a nation in dire distress and teetering on the brink of human disaster.

Let the cry for help touch your heart and mind. Let it move you to do what You can immediately to ensure this DAY OF PRAYER takes place in your country and neighbourhood.
(more…)

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