Vol 50 No 5 | ZIMBABWE Caviar and cholera 6th March 2009 Mugabe celebrated his 85th birthday as his allies obstructed Morgan Tsvangirai's team in the new government It was a grotesque birthday banquet. President Robert Mugabe's nephew Patrick Zhuwawo organised the celebrations. They were in poor taste from both a political and a culinary point...
Vol 50 No 5 | ZIMBABWE Next, the mines 6th March 2009 Mining companies, claims and assets offer hope of wealth to the Zimbabwe government's cronies The barons of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front are jostling for mineral riches as the power-sharing government struggles to make its mark. They are joined by Chinese...
Vol 50 No 5 | ZIMBABWE Worthless cash 6th March 2009 South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is proud of the Southern African Development Community for its brokering in Zimbabwe. At a meeting of SADC finance ministers in Cape...
Vol 50 No 5 | ZIMBABWE Now blood gold 6th March 2009 Under Zimbabwe's power-sharing government, the mining portfolio (like the army) remains under the control of President Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front cronies, all of...
Vol 50 No 5 | MALAWIZAMBIAZIMBABWE A new federation 6th March 2009 In Malawi, the President seems to be blundering towards a new version of the Central African Federation Back in the 1950s, as independence for its Empire became inevitable, Britain tried to unite some smaller units into federations it deemed large enough to stand alone. This...
Vol 50 No 5 | SOUTH AFRICA A morality contest 6th March 2009 Jacob Zuma's legal problems are the new opposition's strongest card The presidential election will make or break the careers of many South African political leaders. A new one has unexpectedly appeared. The new Congress of the People (COPE),...
Vol 50 No 5 | SOUTH AFRICA Claims and counter-claims 6th March 2009 The fiercest contests will be in Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape, and to a lesser extent, Gauteng. All opposition parties claim the moral high ground; they...
Vol 50 No 4 | ZIMBABWE A mixture, not a coalition 20th February 2009 The new government, with no money and little power, is stronger on hopes than on expectations Welshman Ncube, the long-time oppositionist who chairs the monitoring body for the new power-sharing government, is distributing leaflets which read: 'Zimbabwe is our Zimbabwe. It is not Mugabe's...
Vol 50 No 4 | ZIMBABWE The MDC line-up 20th February 2009 With control of the Prime Minister's office (Morgan Tsvangirai) and Finance Ministry (Tendai Biti), the Movement for Democratic Change has been handed the tough issues of food, jobs...
Vol 50 No 4 | ZIMBABWE The ZANU team 20th February 2009 Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man credited with keeping Robert Mugabe in power when he lost the first round of last year's presidential election, is the clear winner in the...