Tony Blair 'would have loved' to topple Mugabe

MISA condemns Gukurahundi production ban

MISA-Zimbabwe condemns the recent government ban on any films and Bulawayo-based artiste Owen Maseko’s exhibition depicting Gukurahundi disturbances that took place after independence.
 
This ban does not only mirror the lingering paranoia of free flowing information that reflects badly on some arms of government, but also demonstrates the need for extensive media law reforms that go beyond the much publicised repressive laws such as AIPPA, broadcasting and criminal defamation laws.
 
In a government gazette published Friday August 27 2010, Home Affairs Secretary Melusi Matshiya announced that it was an offence in terms of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act (Cinematography and Publications, Production of Pictures and Statutes) for anyone to show the Gukurahundi material. more

Zimbabwe's Marange gem output to rise

MOUNT HAMPDEN - Zimbabwe's diamond output from its Marange fields will reach 40 million carats in the next three years, with annual revenues expected at around $2 billion, a government adviser said on Tuesday.

The government says it has stockpiled 4.5 million carats from its two joint venture mines in Marange since January and that it sold its first stones last month after approval from global diamond industry regulator, the Kimberley Process (KP).

"With the new diamond find in Chiadzwa (Marange), we're estimated at 40 million carats per year and $2 billion per year in revenue," said Belgian diamond expert Filip van Loere in an interview. He is advising the government on ensuring compliance with the KP.

Basic freedoms remain under threat

HARARE – The licencing of private newspapers for the first time in seven years has raised hope of media plurality and opening up of democratic space in Zimbabwe but analysts warned that the freedom of press and expression remained under threat from hardliner elements in President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF.

The newly created Zimbabwe Media Commission in May licenced four private dailies, including the banned Daily News, in a sign that the fragile unity government was following through on promises to open up the media to non-state publications.

But analysts cautioned, saying there was still a long way before total freedoms had taken root in the troubled southern African nation.

“Having more newspapers does not equate to freedom of the press or expression,” John Makumbe, a University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer said.

GENERATION OF MUGGERS, MURDERERS?

THE next time you see a young man give up his seat on the commuter omnibus to a senior citizen or a mother with a baby strapped on her back, say a silent prayer of thanksgiving. God has not yet given up in Zimbabwe. He is still in His heaven.

He must be praised – if you are a Christian.

Even if you are not, that Great Someone to whom you pay homage deserves a gesture of thanks. Even a tip of your hat – most of these deities don’t demand lavish, extravagant gestures of adulation. They are the soul of humility.

The Great One continues to guide the young people of Zimbabwe to do good works – even if some of them seem to have sold their souls to the Devil – in exchange for something filthy.