Whazzup on Kubatana blogs?
- Mandebvu comments on humanitarian agencies donating food to survivors of Operation Murambatsvina. More
- Tuku to get a diplomatic passport as he promotes tourism. More
- All black people look alike. More

The Zimbabwe We Want: "Towards a National Vision for Zimbabwe"
The document is not an exhaustive prescription for all our ills as a nation, but is merely our humble contribution to the search for a solution to the challenges faced by our nation.
Read the document by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference, Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe & Zimbabwe Council of Churches
Read comments and opinion

NCA protest/arrests
Police in Harare on Wednesday used batons to break up a demonstration by scores of pro-democracy activists, arresting three protesters including National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairman Lovemore Madhuku. Read more

View legislation online here

Mabutweni and Iminyela residents demonstrate, five arrested
The residents were protesting against Joshua Mafu, so called Chairman of The Residents Association, who has teemed up with his "partner", Fabion Dube -Superintendent of Mpopoma Housing Office, in illegally evicting residents from their houses and allocating them to their cronies at a month’s notice. Thirty-six residents, some members of WOZA, are scheduled to be evicted at month end. Read more
Visit the WOZA fact sheet
Read other WOZA statements

Water disconnections are illegal
Water disconnections are illegal whatever the circumstances. Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) urges residents of Harare to be resolute in their rejection of a corrupt, illegal and unaccountable system of administration led by the commission running the affairs of the City of Harare. For the city to disconnect anyone’s water, they must obtain court orders. Read more
Visit the CHRA fact sheet
Read other CHRA statements

Girls traumatic experiences of proving rape beyond reasonable doubt
For a girl aged two to be raped by an old man, questioned by a policeman, examined by a male doctor, "assisted" through the justice system in court by a male prosecutor, listen to a male defence lawyer interrogating her and then finally listen to a male magistrate acquit the perpetrator after she has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the old man is the perpetrator is traumatic. Read more
Read other GCN articles
Visit the Girl Child Network fact sheet

Freedom of the press – Zimbabwe 2006
The situation for Zimbabwean media remained extremely poor in 2005, as Robert Mugabe's government made attempts to further restrict the already severely limited amount of unfiltered news and information that is able to circulate inside the country. Despite constitutional provisions for freedom of expression, an otherwise draconian legislative framework continues to inhibit the free operation of journalists and media outlets. Read the Freedom House report

Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006
New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones. Read more from RSF

"You Will Be Thoroughly Beaten" - The Brutal Suppression of Dissent in Zimbabwe
Violent repression of civil society activists by state authorities in Zimbabwe continues to escalate. Over the past year the government has reacted to a spate of nationwide protests against its policies on social, economic, and human rights conditions in the country by intensifying its efforts to intimidate, silence, and punish those who expose abuses and exercise their basic rights. Read more from Human Rights Watch

Food aid report
Zimbabwe’s food security situation is now precarious. It is estimated that about 1 400 000 people will be in need of food aid before the next harvest. This is as a result of a combination of factors including the fact that only 40% of the land acquired under fast track land reform is productive and poor harvests in the 2005/6 agricultural season. Read more from Zimbabwe Peace Project
Visit the Zimbabwe Peace Project fact sheet

Lack of inputs threatens next year's harvest – experts
"The situation is really bad here, especially considering that the farmers have little support from government. What they need most is seeds at relatively low prices, because most of them are poor and unemployed.” Read more from IRIN

No land for whites, Mutasa declares
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who is in charge of resettlement, has ruled out giving back any land to former commercial white farmers, in remarks that sharply contradicted the pronouncements of a fellow minister and plunged the government’s already chaotic land reform programme into even murkier waters. Read more

Brazilian economist urges Zimbabweans to pressure Mugabe
"With a government that is not worried about the problems facing the private sector, it is either you challenge the status quo and set the tone for economic recovery, or you keep the current situation and your country turns into a desert," Megale said. Read more

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

Debate on the Domestic Violence Bill
All print media showed keen interest in the current debate on the controversial Domestic Violence Bill. For once, both sections of the Press provided space for divergent views on the proposed law, which seeks to curb cases of domestic violence. These ranged from those who wholly welcomed the Bill to those who gave qualified endorsement. Read more from the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Visit the MMPZ fact sheet
Read other MMPZ statements

Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.
- Zora Neale Hurston

Domestic violence: a few lessons in the law
Asserting that some forms of dressing by women are a form of violence and these women should be arrested for violating people’s sensibilities. Tony has to explain to all of us how exactly dressing can even begin to compare with the battering to death of a girl or the murder of a woman or the loss of sight by a person whose partner threw acid over them? Read Catherine Makoni’s comment on Tony Namate’s recent article on the Domestic Violence Bill
Read Kubatana’s Inside/Out with Catherine

Also read..
Domestic Violence Bill must pass through unopposed by Janah Ncube

Child mortality on the increase in Zimbabwe
Child mortality is on the increase in crisis-ridden Zimbabwe, where at least one in 10 children will die before they reach the age of five, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday. Health Minister David Parirenyatwa has blamed the rising number of deaths of minors on the soaring cost of health services in the Southern African country. Read more

Launch of girls’ education strategic plan in Zimbabwe
The National Girls Education Strategic Plan, launched in Harare, Zimbabwe, aims to help achieve universal primary education and keep girls in school. At the launch ceremony, Fransisca Nyabvure spoke on behalf of the Girls Education Movement (GEM), an organization headed by girls like herself to help empower their peers. Read more

Disabled children embattled by education policy
A new report shows that Zimbabwe's education policy for children with disabilities is skewed, with 67 percent of disabled children having no access to any form of schooling. "Clearly, children with disabilities are the worst disadvantaged, and experience the most difficult barriers in accessing education," said a recently published report by the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH). Read more
Visit the NASCOH fact sheet
Read other NASCOH statements

Zimbabwe’s hairdressers join HIV fight
Zimbabwean hairdressers will offer counselling and condoms to their clients as part of an innovative programme to reduce HIV infection, backed by a £20m grant from the British government. The donation will help fund a five-year campaign to reduce new infections by increasing testing and encouraging safer sex. Read more
Visit the PSI fact sheet

Aids activists plan 'die in' over ARVs
Angry activists living with HIV and Aids, plan to stage a "die in" in Harare if the government fails to provide them with life-prolonging ARVs in a week’s time, The Standard understands. Led by the self-styled "General Gunpowder", the group said they planned to launch what they called a "chimurenga" to force the government to provide ARVs to thousands of mostly poor people living with HIV and Aids. Read more

Elephants shot in Chirundu
We have received reports from disgusted and heartbroken tourists about elephants being shot by National Parks staff in Chirundu. Some South African tourists have vowed never to come back here. On the one hand, Zimbabwe is trying to promote tourism and on the other, destroying any chances of reviving it. Read more from Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
Visit the ZCTF fact sheet
Read more statements from ZCTF