Kubatana launches its blog
Visit the new Kubatana blog to read daily commentary on life and politics in Zimbabwe

Domestic Violence Bill
View an index of articles surrounding the debate of the Bill.

Politics, not need determines Govt aid
Distribution of government aid is being politicised by the ruling party in Zimbabwe's eastern province of Manicaland, according to a faith-based rights organisation. The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), in a new research report, said most of the victims were members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), but did record instances of ruling ZANU-PF supporters being sidelined. Read more
Visit the ZPP fact sheet

Statement relating to the recent meeting in Kariba between officials of the Government of Zimbabwe and CBOs
In an effort to help open up spaces in which civil society can tackle government about the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe, the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) supported the recent UNDP meeting in Kariba between government representatives and CBOs, on one condition that it not be used as a vehicle for the setting up of a National Human Rights Commission. Read more
Visit the GALZ fact sheet

UN denies NGO accusations of "being in bed" with Mugabe
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Zimbabwe has denied accusations that it was "in bed" with President Robert Mugabe's government. A nongovernmental organisation, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, made the claim ahead of a consultative meeting between civil society and the government, hosted by the UN last week, on setting up a National Human Rights Commission. Nixon Nyikadzino, a media officer with the coalition, said the Mugabe regime was "pulling wool over the eyes of the UNDP". Read more
Visit the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition fact sheet

Harrowing tales recounted at the Domestic Violence Bill hearing
Women and girls - professionals, students, housewives, some barely able to walk with age, some clutching babies at their hips - sang, danced and ululated as they made their grand entrance into the public meeting room. But soon after came the disbelieving silence as victims of domestic violence shared their horrific ordeals. Read more from SafAIDS
Visit the SafAIDS fact sheet

GALZ statement on the homophobic utterances of South African Deputy President, Jacob Zuma
The comments of Mr Zuma are unbecoming of a national statesman and GALZ requires, at the very least, that the ANC demand an apology from Mr Zuma and an assurance from him that, in future, he will desist from such politically populist and outrageous statements. Read more

The Kanga
Part 1

He pulls it back into checkered underpants, hands apart this time tucks the shirt tails in. Funny thing, that. How they can always fuck with their shoes and socks on.

That smell. And then there it was. The sound of metal turning hinges. Unrolling wood against a green carpet into puffs of dust dragged to life by turned up trouser ends.

And funnier still how Judges can get away with telling you
that you are the sick one, need help.

Read the entire poem on the Jacob Zuma rape case by Bella Matambanadzo

Lack of planning could blight farming season
Zimbabwe faces another poor harvest even if it receives good rains in the coming season because of a critical shortage of fertiliser. An official from the Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company said this week that domestic fertiliser production had been hampered by critical foreign currency shortages, power cuts, inefficient rail transport, shortage of fuel and a major breakdown at the only manufacturer of ammonium nitrate in the country. Read more

Water under pressure
Shouts of "water, water, water," stir frenetic activity in the affluent suburb of Marlborough in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. Ntando Ndlovu, 10, runs down the street spreading the news that the water, unavailable for three weeks, has been reconnected and within minutes men, women and children spill out of their houses and start filling buckets, pots and even cups with water from the standpipes in the street, while baths fill up inside the houses to store the increasingly rare liquid. Read more from IRIN

View legislation online here

Rule of law vital to economic turnaround - IMF official
The rule of law is vital to getting Zimbabwe's economy back on track, according to a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official. Changes in economic policy and exchange market reforms might help lower the inflation rate, commented Siddarth Tiwari, deputy director of the IMF's African department, but "the rule of law is an important part" of restoring business confidence in the country. Read more

International action is required to end impunity
The Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association (IBA) has urged the United Nations and African Union to take decisive and immediate action to end impunity for serious violations of international law in Zimbabwe. Read more

Women and ICTs
APC-Africa-Women is a network of organisations and individuals that work
to empower African women's organisations to access and use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for equality and development. For more information check out www.apcafricawomen.org

I find that some of the poetry I wrote before independence still suits the situation here today. We had just a few days of independence.
- Zimbabwean poet, Julius Chingono

Not yet Uhuru
Chingono writes simply, unfettered by self-consciousness. His work is imbued with a humanistic sensitivity gleaned from his personal encounters and observations as it deals with themes ranging from the abuse of women disguised as culture (My Wife) to the hunger pangs of the everyman (Grapes) and the shattered dreams of freedom (Propaganda). Read more about Julius here including his poem, Wife
Visit Weaver Press

ZESN Election Reports
Read reports on the recent Chikomba & Rushinga elections.
Visit the ZESN fact sheet

Protest marches against Mugabe a waste of time
It is extremely difficult to criticise opposition forces in Zimbabwe because of the heinous brutalities unleashed on them by the Mugabe regime. Criticism may sound like condoning the brutalities or rubbing salt into their wounds. But the opposition in Zimbabwe needs a good talking to. The aborted Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) protest march was, to put it mildly, dumb. Read more
Visit the ZCTU fact sheet

Leadership is action, not position.
- Donald H. McGannon

Silence is complicity
Police arrested and tortured Solomon. They taped exposed wires to his genitals and turned on the electricity. The police ordered him to stand in a pool of water to intensify his electrocution. His crime? Expressing dissatisfaction with the government of Zimbabwe. So I am angry that Americans take for granted the same freedoms of speech, movement and assembly so much of the rest of the world desperately lacks. Read more from Amanda Atwood

Whatever Happened to Didymus Mutasa?
Fifty years ago he was a deeply Christian young man and black nationalist working round-the-clock on a multi-racial farm that was famous in liberation circles, and beyond, and hated by Rhodesia's white minority government. He became a living legend among liberal Christians by helping to make Cold Comfort Farm into a first class agricultural training ground and a psychological liberation centre that was an early staging post on the long march from colonial oppression in Rhodesia to majority rule in Zimbabwe. Read more from Trevor Grundy

I’d rather be OUT than in
There's this small chalkboard outside my office door. I’ve put it there to inspire my staff to write their own slogans when they feel like it. But even such small actions are considered radical in a country where freedom of expression is quickly and efficiently suppressed. For the last few days the board has had a heart drawn on it with the number 25 placed in its centre. Read more about the National Endowment for Democracy from Bev Clark

HIV-positive farm workers are forgotten
Little is being done to provide treatment and care for Zimbabwean farm workers living with HIV/AIDS since the government launched its controversial fast-track land redistribution programme in 2000. Historically neglected, the chaotic reform programme and a series of bad droughts have deepened the vulnerability of the remaining farm labourers working the land. Read more from IRIN

AIDS crisis strains family life in Zimbabwe
In a rundown pole and dagga hut, where the only piece of furniture is an old paraffin lamp, Mwaimbodei Chamutsa lives with her five grandchildren. They sleep side by side, partly through necessity (it is a one-room shack) and partly to ward off the cold. Read more from UNICEF

Photo journal: Zimbabwe's Aids orphans
James Elder, working for the children’s charity Unicef in Zimbabwe, describes how Aids is affecting family life in the southern African country. Zimbabwe’s is the world's fastest-shrinking economy outside a war zone. View the photo journal

‘The Raincoat’
Aunty Linda, a counsellor, held the replica of manhood about 17cm long firmly in her hand. She was delicately and smoothly dressing it with a condom. We ululated, shouted and whistled. Well, she wore a serious face. I don’t know what else she could have done. I was among the first ones to naughtily scream, Viva Mudhara, loosely translated to mean hail the old man who gets the job done. Read more