Emmerson Mnangagwa
Zimbabwe president gets coronavirus vaccine dose, urges citizens not to hesitate
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and some opposition politicians received China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine in the tourist resort of Victoria Falls on Wednesday as part of efforts to encourage citizens to get inoculated. Zimbabwe has registered vaccines from China, India and Russia for emergency use but none so far from Western manufacturers. In a country where suspicion and scepticism often trump facts, Mnangagwa’s vaccination at a public event, together with opposition leaders, was meant to assure citizens that the vaccines were safe. The southern African nation had planned to administer the Sinopharm vaccine to 53 000 health workers and selected security forces when it rolled out the first phase of its programme on 18 February, but only 44 135 people had been vaccinated by Tuesday...
Zimbabwean vice president accused of soliciting sex at his office
Zimbabwe’s 71-year-old Vice President Kembo Mohadi on Wednesday refuted accusations of sexual misconduct by an online news outlet, saying he is the victim of “political machinations”. An online publication ZimLive has in recent days published audio recordings of phone conversations it claims are of Mohadi apparently soliciting sex from several women including, a married junior intelligence officer in his office. In one of the racy audios, a man can be heard scheduling to have sex at his office. Reading out a statement, at a news conference, Mohadi “categorically” distanced himself from the “imagined immoral behaviour”, and accused unnamed political opponents of waging a voice morphing campaign to discredit him. Victim “I am innocent and a victim of political machinations being peddled thro...
Zimbabwe loses two more ministers to coronavirus
Two ministers serving in the Zimbabwean government died of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) within a matter of days, prompting the country to announce on Saturday plans to further tighten lockdown measures. Late on Friday, the government announced that Transport Minister Joel Matiza had died after falling ill with COVID-19, less than two days after the country lost Foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo to the same disease. Four government ministers have succumbed to the coronavirus in Zimbabwe so far. According to unconfirmed media reports, several other cabinet ministers are fighting for their lives in a private hospital. “We are in a dark cloud that we have to clear very soon,” deputy health minister John Mangwiro told dpa. Mangwiro revealed plans to intensify the current lockdown, which has been in ...
Nigerian doctor named one of TIME’s Most Influential People in the world
TIME named Nigerian physician Tunji Funsho to the 2020 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes are available now at time.com/time100, and Mr Funsho’s TIME100 profile is available here. The list, now in its seventeenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Mr Funsho, a cardiologist based in Lagos, Nigeria, is the first Rotary member to receive this honour for the organisation’s work to eradicate polio, having played an essential role in ensuring Africa’s certification as wild polio-free in August of 2020. “I’m honored to be recognized by TIME for my part in ensuring that no child in Africa will ever again be paralyzed by wild polio, a disease that once disabl...
Arrested Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga freed
Zimbabwean top writer and Booker Prize nominee, Tsitsi Dangarembga, was freed on bail on Saturday following her arrest during anti-government protests a day earlier, an AFP journalist in court said. Dangarembga, 61, was charged with incitement to commit violence and breaching anti-coronavirus health regulations after staging a two-women demonstration in Harare which coincided with the second anniversary of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s disputed election. She was taken away from a street corner in the upmarket Harare suburb of Borrowdale alongside another protester and hauled into a truck full of police armed with AK-47 rifles and riot gear. Police had banned the protests called by opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume, head of a small party called Transform Zimbabwe, against alleged stat...
Security forces head off anti-government protests in Zimbabwe
Streets were deserted and businesses shut in Zimbabwe’s two main cities on Friday after security forces were deployed to prevent anti-government marches called by activists over corruption and economic hardship. Protesters stayed away. Job Sikhala, an opposition lawmaker and one of the protest organisers, said the heavy security presence showed a state afraid of its citizens. He added: “Protracted demonstrations will be the way forward.” He is among more than a dozen activists who are in hiding and who police say they are seeking for promoting Friday’s protests. In Bulawayo and central Harare, the capital, businesses were shut as police and soldiers patrolled the streets. Shops also stayed shut in some Harare townships, including Mbare – a hotbed of past protests. President Emmerson Mnanga...
Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga arrested during banned protests
Police in Zimbabwe on Friday arrested internationally-acclaimed novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga as they enforced a ban on protests coinciding with the anniversary of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s election. Dangarembga, 61, was taken away in a police truck as she demonstrated in the upmarket Harare suburb of Borrowdale alongside another protester, an AFP photographer saw. Streets in the centre of the city were largely deserted as police and soldiers set up checkpoints to prevent entry. Opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume, head of a small party called Transform Zimbabwe, had called for demonstrations against alleged state corruption and the country’s slumping economy The protests were timed to coincide with the second anniversary of Mnangagwa’s election, which the opposition says was a fraud...
Zimbabwean government agrees to pay $3.5 billion compensation to white farmers
The Zimbabwean government and former white commercial farmers on Wednesday signed a 3.5 billion United States dollars compensation agreement for the farmers. The money, which will be borrowed by the Zimbabwean government, is meant for improvements made by the white farmers on their farms that were acquired by government under the land reform program. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, speaking at the signing ceremony in Harare, said the agreement was a significant step towards bringing closure to the land reform program. Under the program which started in the early 2000s, government compulsorily acquired excess farm land from white farmers to resettle landless blacks. Government said this was meant to redress colonial land ownership imbalances that were skewed in favor of whites, and also to ec...
Zimbabwe journalist arrested amid storm over $60m Covid-19 supplies scandal
Zimbabwean police on Monday arrested an investigative journalist who exposed alleged corruption in the procurement of Covid-19 medical supplies, a matter that involves the first family. Hopewell Chin’ono’s lawyers said he was “abducted” by eight state security agents who did not produce a search warrant. One of the lawyers, Beatrice Mtetwa, said she went to Mr Chin’ono’s residence after getting an “SOS that his home was surrounded by state security agents”. Ms Mtetwa described the arrest as an abduction, saying the state agents broke into the house. Via Twitter, the Committee to Protect Journalists called Mr Chin’ono’s immediate release, saying he was “abducted from his home by police”. It added, “Authorities must stop harassing Hopewell Chin’ono and focus on the real criminals. Do the the...
Zimbabwe street vendors sell cloth masks to make ends meet
Zimbabwe market stall owner Aaron Makaya saw a new business opportunity when President Emmerson Mnangagwa made face masks mandatory in public places to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The 21-year old had been stuck at home in the capital Harare and living off meagre savings since the start of a nationwide lockdown at the end of March. Confinement measures were extended by two weeks on May 1 – another month without income for informal workers like Makaya. Meanwhile, factory-made face masks turned out to be unaffordable for most in a country crippled by poverty and hyperinflation. Makaya and other informal workers jumped on the opportunity to make money by sewing and selling cheaper cloth masks at intersections. “We started selling these masks on Monday when we noticed that people intendi...
