AFTER the Southern African Development Community (SADC) approved the deployment of a military force to restore peace and security in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), civil society organizations in the region have urged leaders to show similar commitment to other crises in the region. The Southern African People’s Solidarity Network (SAPSN) and Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) made the appeal after the leaders met in Namibia in an effort to end the incessant conflict in the eastern partsof DRC.…

WITH the sentencing of an opposition party leader – to four years in prison- and the possible jailing of another, the crackdown on government critics in Zimbabwe is escalating. It raises the spectre of repression as the Southern African country prepares to hold general elections later this year. In an unprecedented development, a court in Harare has sentenced Jacob Ngarivhume to 48 months in prison, 12 months suspended after he was found guilty of “inciting public violence” by using his…

ZIMBABWE has commemorated 43 years of independence with a veiled message to Western powers to stop meddling in its domestic affairs. President Emmerson Mnangagwa presided over the official commemorations in the northeastern town of Mount Darwin in Mashonaland West province. The independence celebrations came at a time of strained relations between the Southern African country and its former coloniser, Britain, and most of the West after they slapped Zimbabwe with illegal economicsanctions in the early 2000s. “We are a fearless,…

THE United Nations (UN) is bracing up for a surge of millions of Zimbabweans that are likely to be expelled from neighbouring South Africa later this year. Edward Kallon, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Zimbabwe, forecast the return of about 180 000 Zimbabwean migrants from South Africa, where they are currently on exemption permits, as well as the potential expulsion of four million other migrants without legal status. Speaking in the capital Harare during the Joint Steering Committee…

FASTJET Zimbabwe, has launched additional domestic flights to Kariba and Hwange National Park. The new service routes bring to five the domestic destinations that the value-based airline now operates in the country. Flights to Kariba and Hwange National Park are part of the airline’s domestic route development strategy aimed at improving air connectivity in Zimbabwe. Flights to these resorts will be operated by a 30-seater Embraer EMB120 aircraft. “We are incredibly excited to expand our footprint along the Zambezi Basin”, said Nunurai Ndawana Fastjet Zimbabwe spokesman.…

HARARE (Zimbabwe) More than 9,6 million people are food insecure in theSouthern African region following droughts mostly in Malawi and Zimbabwe. The situation is dire amid at least an 80 percent chance of an El Niñophenomenon until December 2018, which coincides with the lean season inthe region. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Malawi now has an estimated 3,3 millionpeople in crisis or emergency. Zimbabwe has nearly 2,4 million people facing similar shortages. There…

MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe ZIMBABWE’S government has handed cars to leaders of the liberation struggle, in a move seen as a reward for their role in ensuring the election of Emmerson Mnangagwa as president in the July 30elections. The war veterans campaigned vigorously for Mnangagwa and the governing Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF). Obert Mpofu, ZANU-PF secretary for administration, who is also the Minister of Home Affairs, handed over the new cars to ten provincial chairpersons…