Robert Mugabe

Raw video of brutal Harare police training

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:57:02 +0200

Mugabe's police officers are infamous for brutality. Watch how they're trained, and you won't be surprised.

The officers are shouting "wuraya!" (kill him). The event is apparently referred to as "pay-day".

The amateur footage was sent to exiled opposition station SW Radio Africa two weeks ago, and has since been posted on various blogs and Web sites on the Zimbabwe Web. According to the journalist there, the scene was filmed in the last two months at Tomlinson Depot, Harare Central Constituency.

A million dollars for a stale bread roll

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:24:45 +0100

Prices double from one hour to the next in Zimbabwe. One of our Observers told us that if you haven't paid cash in hand within half an hour of negotiating a price for something, then you better forget about buying it.

According to the blog Zimbabwe Absurdity, "The picture below has been doing the rounds of the email. The toilet photo was apparently taken in the South African customs at Beit Bridge".

"Happy but subdued" about Mugabe-Tsvangirai deal

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:46:35 +0200

After six months of political and economic turmoil, and mass violence, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai agreed Thursday to share power.

Twenty-eight years under Mugabe's rule have left Zimbabwe, once known as the "bread basket" of Africa, devastated by food shortages, poverty and astronomical inflation.

When, after the March presidential elections, results suggested that Tsvangirai's MDC party won more votes than 84-year-old Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party, the government went on the offensive. The resulting campaign of intimidation and power politics only ended Thursday night, when South African President Thabo Mbeki announced that the pair had agreed to sign a power-sharing deal.

Details have not been announced, but it is thought that Mugabe will remain president while Tsvangirai will become prime minister and that their two parties will be allocated an equal number of seats in Parliament. The deal is to be signed Monday. Here are our Zimbabwean Observers' reactions to the news.

The rantings of an angry white farmer

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:39:39 +0200

Ben Freeth after the attack. Image from Justice for Agriculture (JAG).

While Mugabe's thugs continue to terrorise Zimbabwe, the abduction and brutal beating of a white farmer has reignited another of the country's long-standing polemics - what to do with the country's wealthy white settlers.

After talking to the press about conditions in the run-up to the election, Ben Freeth, along with his elderly parents-in-law, was kidnapped from his farm in south-east Harare by around 20 militias on Sunday evening (29 June). The three were then taken to a "political camp" where they were beaten and intimidated by around 50 of Mugabe's clan, Freeth said. He is currently undergoing surgery for head injuries.

Attacks on white farmers in Zimbabwe have been commonplace since Mugabe's instruction to redistribute land in 2000. But during the recent wave of violence that swept the country in the run up to the run-off last Friday, a growing number of settlers have been targeted.

Mugabe: "We are not a British colony!"

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:02:00 +0200

Journalists from British Channel 4 directly challenged Mugabe on Monday, publicly accusing him of "stealing an election". His reaction says a lot about his personality.

The press confronted Mugabe at the African Union Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Vote for Mugabe, or don’t vote at all

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:17:45 +0200

An empty polling station in Bulawayo on Friday morning. Posted by Sokwanele 27 June 08.

Zimbabweans are voting today in what's being labelled a "one-man election". Despite opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulling out of the competition on Sunday, President Robert Mugabe pushed ahead with the run-off between the two men. The opposition has accused Mugabe's ZANU-PF party of using violence to scare people into voting for Mugabe. One of our Observers went to the polls; another dared to stay at home. Here are their accounts of the day's events, told anonymously.

Stop dreaming, Mugabe's here to stay

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:54:24 +0200

A campaign poster for Mugabe's party

Hopes for a fair election are over in Zimbabwe after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of Friday's planned run-off on Sunday. But while expectations have been quashed, repressive government violence and spiralling food prices seem to be unstoppable.

After months of waiting, the Zimbabwean people will not get a run-off election between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and dictatorial leader Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai pulled out of the race on Sunday and is in hiding in the capital's Dutch embassy. Yesterday, the UN Security Council said that a free and fair election would be "impossible". Over 70 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters are presumed dead and more than 3,000 people have been hospitalised, along with sky-rocketing food prices and inflation heading towards 120% percent week on week (according to the country's daily The Herald).

Chinese ship endeavours to get weapons to Zimbabwe

Julien — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:46:16 +0200

The An Yue Jiang in a Japanese port. Photo: niraikanai.sakura.ne (We couldn't find a recent amateur photo of the boat).

Refused in South Africa and turned away from Mozambique, 77 tons of weaponry bound for Zimbabwe are now heading towards Angola in hope of access to land. Will the Chinese vessel succeed in reaching its final destination? Unions, lawyers and anti-arms activists hope not.

Shortly after Zimbabwe's doomed elections more than three weeks ago, desperate and unpopular president Robert Mugabe ordered three million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled and over 3,000 mortar rounds and mortar tubes from China. Last week, the An Yue Jiang arrived on the continent in Durban. But in the face of a 300,000-strong African union and refusal to transfer the goods from the country's high court, the ship fled on Friday. Its plan to offload in Mozambique was also rebutted and the vessel is now gambling on Angola, where it is thought to be headed. While Zambia's president urged everybody in the region to prevent the Cosco ship from docking on Monday, reports that it will offload to another vessel in the area have started circulating. Surrounding countries worry that the weapons will fuel escalating police brutality reported in Zimbabwe.

Would Zimbabwe really be better off without Mugabe?

Julien — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:00:02 +0200

The monster is cornered posted on Flickr by Sokwanele

In their fourth day of waiting for election results, frustrated voters are imagining what their lives might be like after 28 years of dictatorial rule.

Although the word on the street is that Mugabe is about to hand over his Mercedes to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, this is far from certain. Some say that the most likely outcome of the elections is a run-off in a few days' time, buying Mugabe's ZANU party some much-needed time. There are also worries about a deal being done behind closed doors- which would mean both parties are manipulating the electoral process. Nevertheless, our Observers are already imagining a life without the iron-fisted dictator.

"The government's waiting to declare Mugabe as president"

Julien — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:22:28 +0200

The Zimbabwean capital of Harare is teeming with rumours following Saturday's elections. If you believe everything you hear then Mugabe has fled the country and militants are about to ambush the government. For Bev Clark, our Observer in the city, the government is delaying the results, which have been rigged to favour Mugabe, to avoid riots.

The Independent Results Centre, whose first estimations we published yesterday, has today released figures that show Mugabe in a far more favourable light. The current president's share of the votes has increased from 37% to 42% overnight, while opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's count has dropped from 58% to 51%.