Author Archives: David Coltart
Mugabe bans rallies as unrest spirals
The Daily Telegraph 19th February 2007 By Peta Thornycroft, Zimbabwe Correspondent Police stop opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from rallying President Robert Mugabe’s regime tried to suppress rising discontent across Zimbabwe yesterday by banning all opposition political gatherings. Heavily armed riot police enforced this edict by preventing one rally from taking place in the capital, Harare, […]
Statement regarding breaches of the rule of law during the weekend 17/18 February 2007
During the past weekend the 17th and 18th February 2007 both factions of the MDC attempted to hold meetings, as is their right in terms of section 21 of the Zimbabwean Constitution, which were frustrated through the actions of the police, the courts and the Minister of Home Affairs. In Bulawayo the MDC (Mutambara faction) […]
Breaking the impasse in Zimbabwe
A plea for action on Zimbabwe by South Africa and Germany by David Coltart The current situation In his book Development as Freedom, the Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen stresses the causal connection between democracy and the absence of famine. He makes the point that there has never been a famine in the recorded history […]
Mugabe blamed for justice collapse
The Daily Telegraph 19th January 2007 By Peta Thornycroft in Harare President Robert Mugabe: Increasingly repressive Zimbabwe’s justice system, once considered a model for the rest of Africa, has collapsed after being starved of funds by President Robert Mugabe’s government, one of the country’s most senior judges has claimed. In an unprecedented attack on the […]
Statement regarding the Judge President’s remarks made at the opening of the High Court 15th January 2007
The Judge President, Justice Makarau, in her address to the opening of the High Court on the 15th January 2007, has correctly stated that normally Judges should not complain publicly regarding their conditions of service, but that she has to because their conditions, and the conditions of all those involved in the justice system, are […]
Statement regarding Supreme Court challenge against Constitutional Amendment 17
Heads of argument (attached below) were filed in the High Court of Zimbabwe this morning by lawyers representing Mike Campbell (Pvt) Ltd (a Zimbabwean farming company) in a Supreme Court application in which the constitutionality of Amendment 17 to the Zimbabwean Constitution is challenged. Whilst this is a private initiative, and I should stress the […]
Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy in the world
Dear Friends, As some of you know I have been speaking recently about the appalling fact that Zimbabwe now has the lowest life expectancy in the world (women 34 and men 37). Some of you may have wondered whether I had my facts right. It is often hard to graphically illustrate the scale of death […]
Transcript of the BBC HardTalk Interview
Stephen Sackur (SS) – President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is in his 80’s, his country is in economic collapse and his ruling party is divided over his succession and yet Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, seems preoccupied with internal battles. My guest today, in Johannesburg, is a senior member of the […]
Hardtalk interview available for viewing online
I’ve had many emails saying that some people have been unable to find the Hardtalk interview on the BBC website or that you were unable to watch it online. I can confirm that it is now available for viewing online via the BBC at a page titled ‘Zimbabwe after Mugabe’. This is the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6063888.stm. […]
Interview on BBC Hardtalk to be aired Thursday, 12 October
The BBC have apologized for the non-screening of the scheduled interview on 9 October 2006. Please be advised that the Hardtalk interview will now be screened on Thursday, 12 October 2006 at 5.30, 10.30, 16.30 and 20.30 Central African time. Please can viewers outside Zimbabwe doublecheck the times for their region by visiting the BBC […]