olice banned a planned mass march by the opposition, questioning organizers’ motives and saying the demonstration might not be peaceful, state radio reported Tuesday.The ban on the march, which had been scheduled Wednesday in the capital, was the first test of eased security laws the government said permitted political rallies and meetings previously routinely disallowed. The changes had been negotiated in preparation for elections expected in March.

The opposition was scheduled to appeal the ban Tuesday. Under the new legislation, only courts can ultimately ban political activities on security grounds.

Share This

Desperately needed electricity imports to Zimbabwe from Mozambique have been cut short after thieves stole wires to two pylons near Harare, say reports.The thieves targeted the pylons, near Harare’s outlying suburb of Zimre Park, last week causing a break in power transmission from Mozambique, said the official Herald daily.

The thieves stole connecting wires and then the pylons collapsed, according to the report.

A spokesperson for the state-run ZESA power company warned this would lead to more power cuts for struggling Zimbabweans.

Much of the country was plunged into darkness this weekend after a major systems disturbance in neighbouring Zambia caused regional outages.

Share This

Cases of sexual assault against women have risen dramatically in Nairobi since the disputed December 27 presidential election broke into violence, says hospital officials. The officials said a majority of the cases reported over the past three weeks were gang-rape.

“Since the election, we have seen increased numbers of sexual violence,” said Rahab Ngugi, patient services manager at the private Nairobi Women’s Hospital. “And we are finding that the numbers are going up.”

Ngugi said the hospital had received an average of 10 to 12 sexual violence victims a day since December 30, when clashes erupted across the country after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of a race opposition leader Raila Odinga alleged was rigged.

Share This

Authorities told residents in the capital, Harare, and Chitungwiza, a dormitory town 35km to the southeast, that water supplies would be cut for seven days because persistent power cuts had affected bulk water treatment and distribution.

A spokesman for the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), the parastatal responsible for national water treatment and distribution, told local media at the weekend that the frequent power failures at Harare’s Morton Jaffray Waterworks would mean that “Harare and Chitungwiza will, this whole week, experience a loss of water supplies due to problems beyond our control.” An outbreak of more than 400 diarrhoea cases - markedly more than expected for this time of year - in two low-income suburbs, Mabvuku and Tafara, during the recent holiday period were attributed to Harare’s already erratic water supplies.

Share This

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, issued an unprecedented condemnation of a former Anglican bishop today after police in Zimbabwe used force to intervene and stop official Anglican church services from going ahead.

Dr Williams said he was “appalled” by reports of Zimbabwe police forcibly stopping Anglican church services where clergy had publicly refused to acknowledge the authority of the deposed Nolbert Kunonga.

At least three priests and several parishioners opposed to Kunonga were dragged out of church and arrested after truncheon-wielding police in roit gear disrupted Anglican services in Harare on Sunday. Their “crime” was to hold services without the authorisation of Zimbabwe’s police or government.

Share This

Water shortages have worsened in Zimbabwe - despite torrential rains and flooding - with guests at the capital’s top hotels forced to wash in swimming pool water. The lack of uniforms and supplies also overshadowed the start of the new school year.

Parents at one store in downtown Harare were told on Monday that school shoes were out of stock. But black market dealers were offering them for Z$80m (about $40 at the dominant illegal exchange rate) at a street market in the western township of Mbare.

Share This

Intra-party elections to choose 2008 presidential nominees and the new US president.

January 3 - Iowa caucus

January 8 - New Hampshire primary

January 15 - Michigan primary

January 19 - Nevada caucuses, South Carolina Republican primary

January 26 - South Carolina Democratic primary

January 29 - Florida primary

February 5 - Mega Tuesday: More than 20 state primaries, including California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois

March 4 - Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont primaries

April 22 - Pennsylvania primary

June 3 - Last primaries: Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota

Share This

Zimbabwe’s Econet Wireless has completed the installation of 3G base stations on its network, but cannot switch on the service as the regulator has failed to release the required radio spectrum.

Econet is still to get the licence from the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz), almost half a year after it had made an application.

“Although everything in terms of necessary infrastructure is now in order, we are yet to get a licence from Potraz,” Mr Mboweni told the local Herald newspaper. “What we need now is a licence and we will soon re-engage the regulator to review the progress on that,” he added.

Share This

Post-election violence in Kenya is creating pre-election nervousness among Zimbabwe’s voters ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections in March, and people are beginning to stockpile food in the event of any possible violence.

Donald Dombo, a government employee, said he saw most of his “colleagues in the civil service starting to hoard food and firewood in their homes in case the Kenyan syndrome of violence spreads to Zimbabwe after the elections”. He told IRIN that, “I am planning to take my family to the countryside because I fear that if there are to be any violent demonstrations, then they would be held in urban areas.” The scheduled elections will take place at a time when international donor agencies have predicted more than a third of Zimbabwe’s population, or 4.1 million people, would require emergency food assistance, so food hoarding would likely add pressure to the country’s already acute food shortages.

Share This

A close relative of President Robert Mugabe was on Tuesday appointed police operations chief in a reshuffle of the top brass of the law enforcement agency.

Innocent Matibiri, said to be a close cousin to the Zimbabwean leader, was deputy commissioner in charge of crime before his latest appointment to deputy commissioner in charge of operations.

The operations post that was held by veteran officer Godwin Matanga is considered more senior to the other deputy commissioner posts.

Matanga was re-assigned to head the administration department, a virtual demotion according to insiders at police general headquarters in Harare.

Share This