Zimbabwe ‘has the strongest currency in Africa’: state media

News 24 7 December 2016 Harare – “This is a fact: Zimbabwe has the strongest currency in Africa”. Sounds unbelievable – but that’s what the official Herald newspaper claimed on Wednesday, hours after President Robert Mugabe resolutely avoided the vexed topic of bond notes in his State of the Nation Address (SONA). In its lead

Parallels with Mugabe’s Zimbabwe illustrate the dangers of a Trump presidency

Mail and Guardian Africa By Brooks Marmon 23 November 2016 If Zimbabwe serves as an example of the way the US will go, Americans should be very afraid. COMMENT Much has been made of the warm reception that United States president-elect Donald Trump has received from many African leaders. An enthusiastic pro-Trump editorial in Zimbabwe’s

Zimbabwean activists urge population to remain non-violent after attack on pro-democracy leaders

TheZimbabwedaily.com By Elsa Buchanan 19 November 2016 LONDON – Zimbabwean pro-democracy activists have urged citizens to commit to nonviolent action after supporters were assaulted and abducted this morning ahead of a planned demonstration dubbed #MunhuWeseMuRoad. Sources on the ground, who could not be identified for fear for their safety, told IBTimes UK that men abducted

Zimbabwe’s former minister David Coltart warns nation faces perfect storm

IB Times 10 November 2016 As the much-anticipated 2018 elections loom, Zimbabwe’s tortured politics face difficult times. IBTimes UK met with David Coltart, Zimbabwe’s former Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, who spoke of his fears of a perfect storm. After almost four decades of quelled frustrations under Mugabes iron-fisted reign, a flurry of

Mugabe decrees introduction of ‘new currency’

Africareview.com By Kitsepile Nyathi 1 November 2016 Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has declared bond notes legal tender amid charges by experts that the intervention was unconstitutional. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced in May that it would introduce the currency linked to the US dollar. The announcement at the height of serious shortages of

Zimbabwe faces ‘a national health crisis’ as lack of drugs worsens spread of cholera and typhoid

IB Times 26 October 2016 An acute and growing shortage of medicines in Zimbabwe is aggravating the spread of deadly infections typhoid and cholera across the country, as the ailing economy worsens the nation’s failing public health system. Zimbabweans are still reeling from the economic and humanitarian crisis of 2008/2009 when more than 4,280 died

‘Key lessons have been learnt’: Shock as ZANU PF candidate loses by-election

News24 Correspondent 24th October 2016 Harare – Just what are the “key lessons” that President Robert Mugabe’s party has learnt from its shock loss of a by-election this weekend? Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere confirmed in a tweet that Zanu-PF had lost the Norton constituency – despite the 5 000 free housing stands handed out

‘THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES’ 50 Years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe’ by David Coltart. A contrarian view.

Africa Unauthorised http://africaunauthorised.com/?p=2638 By Hannes Wessels 22nd October 2016 David Coltart is a man who I have long held in high regard. Courageous and principled, he has been at the fore in the dangerous struggle for meaningful change in Zimbabwe and all of us who want better for Zimbabwe are indebted to him. However, reading

Cephas Msipa: One of Zimbabwe’s greatest patriots

Financial Gazette By Senator David Coltart 20th October 2016 CEPHAS Msipa’s death this week has robbed Zimbabwe of one of her greatest statesmen and patriots. Although I first only got to meet him in 1994, he became a valued friend, a wise counsellor and an inspirational figure in my life. Although Msipa has captured the

Why the allegations of sexual assault levelled against Donald Trump should concern us all

Senator David Coltart Blog 15th October 2016 In December 1983 the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace instructed me to record statements from hundreds of women victims of Gukurahundi at St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in Bulawayo. I record the event at page 151 of my book “The Struggle Continues : 50 years of tyranny in