Author Archives: David Coltart
A Review by Joshua Hammer of Peter Godwin’s “When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa”
The New York Review of Books Monday 7th January 2008 In the Pit of Africa A Review by Joshua Hammer At the beginning of Peter Godwin’s enthralling memoir, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, the author, a foreign correspondent living in New York City, returns home to the bush of Zimbabwe, back to the town […]
Zimbabwe Crisis Talks On Hold; Debate Over Amendments Continues
VOA By Blessing Zulu and Carole Gombakomba Washington 21 December 2007 Interview With Glen Mpani Listen to Interview With Glen Mpani Discussion With Abel Chikomo and David Coltart Listen to Discussion With Abel Chikomo and David Coltart Zimbabwean ruling party and opposition negotiators engaged in crisis resolution talks who were expected to resume their discussions […]
Zimbabwe announces reform plan – The opposition calls changes to security and media laws that will be enacted before elections ‘an elaborate facade.’
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times December 18, 2007 POLOKWANE, SOUTH AFRICA — With a presidential election scheduled for March, the Zimbabwean government Monday announced changes to security and media laws that it has used in the past to suppress demonstrations and close independent newspapers. Analysts quickly countered that the measures would not ensure a […]
MDC denies deal as laws are softened
The Star December 17, 2007 By Peta Thornycroft Lusaka – Although Zimbabwe’s repressive media and public assembly laws were set to be profoundly reformed in parliament, a political agreement between Zanu-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has not been agreed. It may never be agreed unless President Robert Mugabe delays elections way beyond […]
Opponents fear summit coup by world’s ‘wiliest leader’
The Times December 3, 2007 By Martin Fletcher Robert Mugabe is “probably the cleverest politician in the world”, a European diplomat conceded. A prominent opponent of the President of Zimbabwe said: “If he was a chess player he would be a grand-master, if not a world champion.” The great fear among many of Mr Mugabe’s […]
The horror of a stricken nation waiting to die
From The Times December 1, 2007 By Martin Fletcher As the people of Zimbabwe are ground down by poverty and brutality, Robert Mugabe is offered a welcome at the international table We knew Sarudzai Gumbo was still sick, but nothing prepared us for what we found. The seven-year-old was lying alone and neglected in a […]
Former Rhodesian PM Ian Smith’s Death Ends Era in Zimbabwe
VOA By Peta Thornycroft 21 November 2007 Former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith who died in Cape Town late Tuesday brings to an end an era, which haunted citizens of independent Zimbabwe. Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA that Ian Smith, who took his country into war rather than give up white minority rule, died unrepentant. […]
Statement on the death of Ian Douglas Smith
Notwithstanding the ruinous policies of the Rhodesia Front party he led, Ian Douglas Smith himself obviously had a deep love for Zimbabwe, evidenced by the fact that unlike so many of his colleagues he continued to live in Zimbabwe after independence (he only went to South Africa at the end of his life for medical […]
The Gorbachev Factor
By David Coltart Bulawayo 8th November 2007 The recent passage of Constitutional Amendment 18 through the Zimbabwean Parliament with the consent of both Zanu PF and the opposition MDC has caused much alarm and confusion within Zimbabwean civil society and even amongst MDC supporters within Zimbabwe and abroad. Some have gone so far as saying […]
Zimbabwe: Crisis Talks Resume in South Africa
SW Radio Africa (London) 31 October 2007 By Tichaona Sibanda The SADC led mediation talks on Zimbabwe resumed in Pretoria on Wednesday after a month long break. The talks, which are already behind schedule on several fronts, missed Tuesday’s key deadline for agreement on a broad framework for free and fair elections. A source told […]