MDC rallies are cancelled as poll violence spreads
The Daily Telegraph 28th January 2002 By Peta Thornycroft in Harare INTENSIFYING violence yesterday forced Zimbabwe’s opposition to abandon all its public rallies in the presidential election campaign. The decision by the Movement for Democratic Change came after one of its supporters died and several others were critically injured at the weekend. The shadow justice
Party rebel puts Mugabe media curb on hold
The Daily Telegraph 17th January 2002 By Peta Thornycroft in Harare A MEDIA Bill intended by President Robert Mugabe to silence his critics was put on hold yesterday after a revolt in parliament from within the ranks of his own Zanu-PF party. Dr Edison Zvobgo, a Zanu-PF founder who heads the parliamentary legal committee, delayed
It’s Time to Complete the Change: A New Year’s Message – 2002
In June 2001 I wrote that the political tide in Zimbabwe had turned and that the process of change was inevitable. Nothing has happened since then to alter my view except that we are now only two months away from a watershed election that will enable Zimbabweans to vote into power a man who has
David Coltart and Human Rights in Zimbabwe
Background Statement David Coltart was elected to Zimbabwe’s parliament in June 2000, representing the Bulawayo South constituency for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and became MDC spokesperson for legal affairs. For eighteen years prior to entering parliament he was an outspoken advocate for human rights and had emerged as one of the leading human
Ground Zero – 120 Broadway
A bitter wind drives The sweet acrid stench Of hateful men Deep into my soul. Sharp shards of steel Greet the eye Burnt, twisted, fragile Grotesquely straining upwards Towards what might have been – And what was. Fires burning deep within Yield papers swept away Heavenwards…. The forlorn remains Of ideas crushed. Somebody’s “vitally important”
A critique of the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Services and Political Parties (Finances) Acts
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association On the 3rd April 2001 the Zimbabwean Parliament “fast tracked” two controversial bills, namely the Broadcasting Services and Political Parties (Finance) Bills despite strenuous opposition from the Movement for Democratic Change. The Leader of the House, ZANU(PF) Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa went to extraordinary lengths to get both bills passed. The
Power, not land, lies at the heart of Zimbabwe’s crisis
The Daily Telegraph 10th September 2001 By Graham Boynton ROBERT MUGABE will not hand over power in Zimbabwe. Whatever promises have been made following the Abuja accord, whatever undertakings have been made about a return to the rule of law and the withdrawal of squatters and self-styled war veterans from farms “illegally occupied”, the retention
A Good Man in Africa: Vanguard of A New Zimbabwe
Robin Neilson Day One of the mayoral election in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. David Coltart, Shadow Justice Minister and Member of Parliament for Bulawayo South, didn’t expect any particular trouble, but he rose early nonetheless, planning to vote before touring various polling locations in the area. By 7:00 a.m., the day promised to be
The whites are not the main target of the thugs
The Sunday Telegraph (UK) David Coltart, a Zimbabwe opposition leader, reveals Mugabe’s plan Zimbabwe is dangerous for everyone, but particularly for anyone who dares to criticise Robert Mugabe’s reign of terror. Like thousands of Zimbabweans, I know from personal experience what those dangers are. Just before the election here in June last year, I published
A democratically elected dictator
By Artur K. Vogel July 2001 Zimbabwe could be a rich country. Out of sheer greed President Mugabe is heading straight for disaster. “I am going to cut your balls off and I’ll chew them with pleasure, I like it when balls pop between my teeth†shouts the leader of a gang of about 40