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Tag: Zimbabwe

  • Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dies in South Africa after battling with cancer

    Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai died on Wednesday in South Africa after a long battle with cancer, the vice president of his Movement for Democratic Change party said.

    “I can confirm that he died this evening. The family communicated this to me,” Elias Mudzuri told Reuters.

    Tsvangirai, 65, was the MDC candidate in the controversial the 2002 presidential, losing to Mugabe.

    He later contested the first round of the 2008 presidential election as the MDC-T candidate, taking 47.8 per cent of the vote according to official results, placing him ahead of Mugabe, who received 43.2 per cent.

    Tsvangirai claimed to have won a majority and said that the results could have been altered in the month between the election and the reporting of official results.

    Tsvangirai initially planned to run in the second round against Mugabe, but withdrew shortly before it was held, arguing that the election would not be free and fair due to widespread violence and intimidation by government supporters that led to the deaths of 200 people.

    He sustained non-life-threatening injuries in a car crash on March 6, 2009 when heading towards his rural home in Buhera.

    His first wife, Susan, was killed in the head-on collision.

    As the 2017 Zimbawean coup d’etat occurred , Tsvangirai asked Mugabe to step down.

    He also called for an all-stakeholders meeting to chart the country’s future and an internationally supervised process for the forthcoming elections.

    He said an all-inclusive process to take the country to legitimacy was the only way forward.

    On Feb.6, it was announced that Tsvangirai was critically ill in hospital in South Africa.
    An MDC spokesperson said that “we should brace for the worst”.

    He died eight days later.

  • Zimbabwe opposition leader Tsvangirai denies reports he is critically ill

    Zimbabwe opposition leader Tsvangirai denies reports he is critically ill

    Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, on Tuesday denied reports that he is critically ill in a South African hospital receiving cancer treatment.

    “I am shocked to read in the press that I am in a critical condition.

    “Of course I have cancer and not feeling too well but I am stable and the process is under control.

    “I have been frequently on twitter of late, I am recovering,’’ he said.

    Local media on Tuesday quoted unnamed sources from Tsvangirai’s family as saying that his health deteriorated rapidly on Monday and that he had lost appetite and had difficulty eating and swallowing fluids.

    He also reportedly had breathing problems.

    There were also reports that the Movement for Democratic Change leader and former prime minister is suffering from weight loss, exhaustion and muscle thinning.

    Tsvangirai has been in and out of hospital since he disclosed in 2016 that he has colon cancer.

    In January, Tsvangirai hinted that he may retire from active politics, sparking fresh speculation on his possible successor and future of the opposition in the country.

    His illness has also reportedly divided his MDC-T party as senior party members jostle to succeed him.

    He has appointed one of his three deputies, Nelson Chamisa, to represent him in the MDC Alliance, a loose coalition of seven opposition political parties that have united to contest against the ruling ZANU-PF party in elections scheduled for mid-2018.

    The MDC Alliance has since started campaign for election, with Tsvangirai as its presidential candidate.

    A former trade union leader, Tsvangirai once shared power with former president Robert Mugabe in a coalition government between 2009 and 2013.

    His party has arguably been the major and biggest opposition party to emerge in post-independence Zimbabwe, posing the stiffest challenge to the rule of Mugabe, who resigned in November 2017 after military and public pressure.

     

  • Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader hospitalized in South Africa

    Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader hospitalized in South Africa

    Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is critically ill in a South African hospital and his supporters should “brace for the worst”, a party source with knowledge of his condition said on Tuesday.

    Tsvangirai, 65, has been in and out of hospital since disclosing in June 2016 that he had colon cancer.

    He returned to Johannesburg in neighbouring South Africa for his latest round of treatment in early January.

    “From the medical report that I received yesterday the situation is not looking good. He is critically ill and we should brace for the worst,” the source said.

    Tsvangirai’s illness has divided his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, with officials publicly jockeying to succeed the former trade union leader.

    In January, Tsvangirai said it was time for the older generation to step back and make way for “new hands”, raising prospects of leadership change.

    Without its founder at the helm, the MDC is likely to face immediate instability and could even split, handing a gift to new President Emmerson Mnangagwa in an election expected within the next six months.

    Mnangagwa came to power in November after a de facto military coup against 93-year-old Robert Mugabe, the former guerrilla leader who had run Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.

    Tsvangirai spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said the MDC leader was “stable but the nation should keep on praying.”

     

  • President Mnangagwa orders ministers, top govt officials to declare assets

    President Mnangagwa orders ministers, top govt officials to declare assets

    President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe has given cabinet ministers and senior government officials until the end of February to declare their assets.

    Mnangagwa, 75, took power after Robert Mugabe was toppled by the military.

    He immediately promised to tackle corruption, especially in public institutions.

    Misheck Sibanda, chief secretary to the president and cabinet, said in a statement that it was now mandatory for cabinet ministers, their deputies, senior government officials and bosses of state-owned businesses to declare their assets.

    The officials will be required to disclose details on their real estate, other property valued above 100,000, dollars and shareholdings in businesses by Feb. 28.

    “The president expects the full and urgent cooperation of all the affected office bearers,” Sibanda said.

    Mnangagwa, who is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, the first time by a Zimbabwean president, is trying to break with past policies of Mugabe in a bid to lure foreign investment and end the country’s international pariah status.

    Under Mugabe’s near four-decade rule, few government officials were arrested for corruption.

    When the military announced it had put Mugabe under house arrest on Nov. 15, it said it was targeting criminals that surrounded the 93-year-old leader.

    Since then, three former government ministers and allies of Mugabe have been arrested and charged in court for criminal abuse of office.

    The trio denies the charges and say they are being persecuted for supporting Mugabe and his wife Grace.

     

  • Election will hold in Zimbabwe 4 to 5 months time – Mnangagwa

    Election will hold in Zimbabwe 4 to 5 months time – Mnangagwa

    Zimbabwe will hold elections in four to five months, a newspaper on Thursday quoted President Emmerson Mnangagwa as saying.

    The election would be the first time since independence the southern African state will conduct a vote that does not involve former ruler Robert Mugabe.

    Mnangagwa, who took over after Mugabe was forced to resign in November following a defacto military coup, was speaking during an official trip to Mozambique, the official Herald newspaper reported.

    The international community will be closely watching the vote, which is seen as a litmus test of Mnangagwa’s democratic credentials and is key to unlocking badly needed financial assistance and repairing relations with Western powers and international financial institutions.

    “Zimbabwe is going for elections in four to five months’ time and we have to preach peace, peace and peace because we know it is good for us and we have no doubt that we will have peaceful elections.

    “We will ensure that Zimbabwe delivers free, credible, fair and indisputable elections to ensure Zimbabwe engages the world as a qualified democratic state,” Mnangagwa was quoted as saying.

    Under the constitution, Zimbabwe should hold elections between July 22 and Aug. 22 but parliament can elect to dissolve itself, triggering an early vote.

    The ruling ZANU-PF holds a two-thirds majority in parliament.

    Since 2000, elections in Zimbabwe have been marred by political violence and disputes, which led to the country becoming an international pariah under Mugabe’s 37-year rule.

    The next vote will pit Mnangagwa against the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, whose leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is suffering cancer, a development that has weakened and divided his party.

     

  • Zimbabwean president says no capacity for diaspora vote

    Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday said that Zimbabwe does not have the capacity to facilitate its citizens based outside the country to vote while in their countries of residence.

    State-run news agency New Ziana reported that Mnangagwa had told the Zimbabwean community in Namibia that the country did not have funds to allow voting to take place outside its borders.

    “We do not have the logistics now or the capacity,” Mnangagwa told the audience during a question and answer session.

    He said Zimbabweans in the diaspora had not been denied their right to vote as those who were “serious” could come back home to register under the on-going voter registration and vote when the time came.

    Mnangagwa had made a one-day visit to Namibia to discuss with his counterpart Hage Geingob on the recent political changes in Zimbabwe.

    This followed similar visits to South Africa and Angola ahead of several others in the Southern African Development Community.

    Many Zimbabweans in the diaspora have been urging the government to allow them to vote while in their countries of domicile but the government has argued that it had funding constraints.

    The country will go for elections most likely in the second half of 2018 with many people hoping that some electoral reforms will be implemented to ensure that they are more credible than in the past.

    Mnangagwa said that the observers would be invited from the region, the continent as well as the international community to monitor the polls.

    “Above that, every country that has an embassy in Zimbabwe is allowed five people to observe the elections,” he said.

     

  • Photos: Man caught having sex with prostitute during wife’s burial

    A man identified as Lucious Chiturumani was caught having sex with a prostitute whom he earlier claimed was his sister at his wife’s burial in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe.

    According to the reports by Hmetro, the man lost his wife after a brief illness but his wife’s family members decided to bury her in their hometown since her husband didn’t fully pay her bride price before her death.

    Mr Chiturumani arrived at his deceased wife’s burial at her hometown in the company of a woman whom he introduced as his sister.

    They were given room to rest for the night and was told that some other guests will share the room with them.

    When no one else joined them, Mr. Chiturumani and his supposed sister decided to have sex in the early hours of the morning.

    Claims are that just before 6am someone smoking outside leaning on the window heard some funny sounds emanating from the room which the two were resting in. The unidentified man then decided to call others to see what was happening inside.

    Unfortunately, the doors had no locks and the two were found busy having sex.

    A close relative of the deceased identified as Grace Mtethwa confirmed the incident saying that Chiturumani had brought disgrace to their family as the case will remain the talk of town.

    “He has proven to be a dog and lacking any sense of morality. How can someone come all the way from Gweru to have sex here aaah? I had never seen anything like such in my entire life.”

    The two were force-marched out of the room and Chiturumani was being slapped and kicked as he made the short walk to a car that was waiting for him in the yard.

    Photos: Man caught having sex with a prostitute during his wife

  • Zimbabwe gets coup leader Constantino Chiwenga as VP

    Zimbabwean coup leader, Constantino Chiwenga, has been today sworn-in as Vice President (VP) to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

    The retired army chief, who led a de facto coup in November that ended Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule, was installed as Zimbabwe’s vice president in Harare on Thursday.

    Chiwenga, whose appearance on state television on November 15 preceded armed soldiers taking to the streets, paving the way for Mnangagwa to become president, is the latest in a string of military leaders to be elevated to government positions.

    Mnangagwa has appointed several senior military officers to his cabinet and the ruling party’s top decision-making body, the Politburo.

    However, he is under pressure from opposition parties and the public to implement political reforms.

     

     

  • Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa promises ‘credible, free’ elections

    Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed in his first state of the nation address to ensure free and fair elections, as well as make the country’s troubled economy attractive to investors.

    The leader known as “the Crocodile’’ replaced long-time president Robert Mugabe in the wake of a November military coup.

    “My government is committed to entrenching a democratic society driven by the respect for the constitution, the rule of law, mutual tolerance, peace and unity,’’ Mnangagwa told parliament on Wednesday.

    Zimbabweans were euphoric after Mugabe was ousted, but many quickly became doubtful he would provide any meaningful change after he appointed a cabinet full of Mugabe-era politicians.

    Recently, Mnangagwa’s Special Adviser and war veteran leader Christopher Mutsvangwa told newsmen that the ruling Zanu PF Party would work with the military to ensure victory in the 2018 elections.

    Mnangagwa reassured voters, saying “government will do all in its power to ensure that the 2018 general elections are credible, free and fair.’’

    He is expected to appoint former head of the army Constantino Chiwenga as his vice president after he retired him this week “pending redeployment.”

    Chiwenga took on near hero-status after he was instrumental in organising the coup.

    Mnangagwa also said he would fix Zimbabwe’s suffering economy, which deteriorated severely under Mugabe’s rule.

    Inflation at one point in 2008 hit 231 million per cent.

    “My government is committed to opening Zimbabwe up to investment,” the 75-year-old leader said in his 30-minute address.

    With high levels of unemployment and poverty, many Zimbabweans have crossed the border to seek work in neighbouring South Africa.

     

  • Mugabe out of Zimbabwe to Singapore

    Former president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe has left the country for medical checks in Singapore, his first foreign travel since the army forced him from office in November, a state security official said on Tuesday.

    The 93-year-old, who ruled the southern African nation for 37 years, resigned after the army and his ruling ZANU-PF party turned against him when it became clear that his 52-year-old wife, Grace, was being groomed as his successor.

    Until recently, Mugabe had a reputation for extensive and expensive international travel, including regular medical trips to Singapore, a source of public anger among his impoverished citizens.

    The official said he left Harare with Grace and aides on Monday evening, the official said.

    He is expected to make a stop-over in Malaysia, where his daughter, Bona, is expecting a second child.

    “He has gone for a routine medical trip to Singapore,” said the official, who has organized Mugabe’s security protection but who is not authorized to speak to the media.

    “He was due for a check-up but events of the last few weeks made it impossible for him to travel.”

    The trip means Mugabe will not be in Zimbabwe when ZANU-PF endorses President Emmerson Mnangagwa as its leader and presidential candidate for 2018 elections during a one-day special congress on Friday.

    The security official would not say how Mugabe was traveling although the privately owned NewsDay newspaper said he was on a state-owned Air Zimbabwe plane.

    Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution and assured of his safety under his resignation deal, a source of frustration to many Zimbabweans who accused him of looting state coffers and destroying the economy during his time in power.

    Another government official told Reuters in November that Mugabe had been due to travel to Singapore on Nov. 16 but was unable to leave because the military had confined him to his private home the previous day.

    George Charamba, a senior information ministry official, declined to comment.

    Under Zimbabwe’s Presidential Pension and Retirement Benefits Act, a former head of state is entitled to perks including limited foreign travel and medical insurance.

    “These are very standard features of a retired president,” another government official said, trying to head off any controversy.

    “You are making a storm out of nothing.”