Author Archives: David Coltart
Mugabe’s Last Stand
Newsweek A former close ally may offer the best chance yet of toppling Zimbabwe’s dictator at the ballot box. ‘A Gorbachev Type’: Makoni’s candidacy is evidence that the system is fracturing from within By Scott Johnson | NEWSWEEK Mar 31, 2008 Issue | Updated: 1:33 p.m. ET Mar 22, 2008 Politics is dangerous business in […]
Doubts over presidential run-offs
Zim Standard Sunday, 16 March 2008 THE determination of a winner in next week’s Presidential election has been thrown into uncertainty amid revelations that Section 110 of the Electoral Act contradicts the Second Schedule of the same legislation which outlines how the winner will be determined. This, lawyers said, had the potential to cause confusion […]
Mugabe cannot afford to give up power : Wall Street Journal op-ed
Wall Street Journal By MARIAN L. TUPY and DAVID COLTART March 14, 2008 Zimbabwe’s presidential and parliamentary elections on March 29 are rigged in favor of the incumbent leader Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. Much ink has been spilled on the electoral prospects of his two opponents — Morgan Tsvangirai, the […]
Will Morgan Tsvangirai survive a leadership Coup by Simba Makoni?
Zimbabwe Guardian Nancy Nyamhunga – Opinion Wed, 05 Mar 2008 SIMBA Makoni enters opposition politics in Zimbabwe and tells us that he is not standing AGAINST President Mugabe but FOR the presidency. He goes on to insist that despite compromising Zanu PF’s chosen presidential candidate’s position at the polls, he is still Zanu PF. The […]
Cut off the dead hand of a tyrant
The Australian By David Coltart | March 04, 2008 THINK of Zimbabwe and you may have a vision of the majestic Victoria Falls, the breathtaking eastern highlands or the animals of the Hwange. But the more realistic image of Zimbabwe today is of dictator Robert Mugabe and the swollen, beaten faces of opposition leaders and […]
Letter to the Cape Argus published on the 1st March 2008
The Editor Cape Argus, Attention: Mr Chris Whitfield Dear Sir, I have read the letter published in the Cape Argus on the 17th February 2008 written by my friend and colleague Roy Bennett in which he accused Zimbabwean Presidential candidate Simba Makoni of complicity in various crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Mugabe regime because […]
February 2008 Newsletter to Bulawayo South Constituents
February 2008 Newsletter to Bulawayo South Constituents Dear Friends, Harold Wilson once said that “a week is a long time in politics†and it certainly is. Since I last wrote to you in January there have been dramatic and unforeseen political events that have taken place in Zimbabwe. The gerrymandering of Bulawayo South In the […]
Zimbabwe voters face a puzzle of election candidates
Africa News February 24, 2008 By Jan Raath Johannesburg/Harare – Voters in Zimbabwe’s elections due in five weeks will have to puzzle through a blur of alliances, divisions and sub-divisions among the political parties before they can decide who is really the parliamentary candidate they want to vote for. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the official […]
‘Elections could be postponed’
Zim Standard 24 February 2008 By Vusumuzi Sifile ON Friday last week, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was still “working flat out” to finalise the list of candidates to contest the 1 958 wards in next month’s harmonised elections, a week after nomination courts sat across the country. This, and the way a few nomination […]
Dying Silently In Zimbabwe
Washington Post By Michael Gerson Wednesday, February 20, 2008; One of the most reckless and cruel acts of government is the destruction of a currency. During the hyperinflation of Germany’s Weimar Republic, the number of marks in circulation went from 29 billion in 1918 to 497 quintillion in 1923. Workers were paid twice a day […]