Copyright: WOZA

Strikes and protests
2007 has seen numerous strikes from a variety of different sectors. Kubatana has developed a special index page aggregating this information. Please click here to bring yourself up to date.

ZIMCET statement on police brutality
The Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET) would like to register great concern over the blatant disregard of
the law by the police when they
clashed with MDC Anti-senate faction supporters in Highfields on Sunday 18 February. The supporters were converging for a rally at the Zimbabwe Grounds near Machipisa Shopping Centre when the police pounced.
Read more
Visit the ZIMCET fact sheet

View legislation online here

President's lavish birthday plans slammed
Someone who’s managed to reach the advanced age of 83 might argue that they’re entitled to a sizeable celebration. But this argument doesn’t hold water if the person is Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, says activist Tapera Kapuya. Read more

Gross abuse of public media
THE authorities’ gross abuse of ZBC and its programming was illustrated by the amount of time the broadcasting corporation devoted to publicising President Mugabe’s forthcoming 83rd birthday celebrations. Read more from Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Visit the MMPZ fact sheet

Zimbabwe on the brink of total collapse
The collapse of Zimbabwe's economy has finally taken its toll on President Robert Mugabe's regime. It is facing a disintegrating army and police, a wave of strikes, power blackouts and the breakdown of every essential service. Read more from Peta Thornycroft in The Telegraph (UK)

The economy has become the government's main opposition
While inflation soars, wages remain static. According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe's most recent report on the monthly budget of the average low-income urban earner, the cost of living has increased two-fold in a month. In January the council put the required budget for a family of six at US$92, up from the previous month's requirement of US$49. Read more from IRIN

Surviving Zimbabwe's runaway inflation
Life is just terrible in Zimbabwe. We are unable to buy the basics any more. Soap, lotions and even cooking oil cost around $20,000 (US$80 officially, US$4 on the black market) now. Sanitary pads are simply not an option for women as they are just too expensive. Women have no choice but to use cloth instead. Read more from a student surviving inflation

Surviving in a Risky Operating Environment - The Radio VOP Story
It is six years since Zimbabwe's Radio Voice of the People (VOP) was formed. Several things that have happened in this very short space of time, illustrate what an extremely difficult operating environment VOP has endured. Read more from John Masuku
Visit the VOP fact sheet

ZESN condemns politicisation of food aid
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) strongly condemns the threats allegedly made by president of the Council of Chiefs, Chief Fortune Charumbira, to expel villagers who support the opposition and to withhold food aid from them. These threats are blatantly illegal. Read more

University of Zimbabwe ordered to provide male student’s their right to accommodation
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is concerned about the "policy changes" by the University of Zimbabwe, which changes effectively discriminated against male students who constitute 67% percent of the student population by denying them any accommodation. Read more
Visit the ZLHR fact sheet

Land rights
Please visit our archive on land rights to access a variety of articles and reports.

UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report 2007: Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is simultaneously facing acute humanitarian needs due to serious food insecurity, cholera outbreaks and forced displacement, as well as protracted, chronic vulnerabilities stemming from inadequate access to basic social services, lack of agricultural inputs and disrupted livelihoods. Read more

Massive injection for Zimbabwe's orphans and vulnerable children
Almost one in four children in Zimbabwe, 1.6 million, are now orphaned and this number is growing. HIV and AIDS have dramatically increased children's vulnerability in recent years. Amid this, economic hardships have added stress on Zimbabwean families who continue to absorb 90% of the country's orphans. Read more

The French Revolution
The answer to the problem of the French Revolution is very simple and can be boiled down to a single word: inflation. Inflation is the hidden ingredient in the French revolution, yet it is one that is tossed aside or ignored by virtually all historians of the period. Yet the French revolution is one of the classic cases where a monetary analysis is the vital hidden ingredient and makes sense of the whole phenomenon. Check out this article and see the similarities to Zimbabwe.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst
It doesn't matter if the next election is in 2008 or 2010. An election in the current environment and given the present electoral conditions cannot yield any positive result for the Zimbabwean people. Given that it is highly unlikely that these conditions will change, the pro-democracy movement needs to take a stand against vote rigging, and boycott future undemocratic elections. Read more from Amanda Atwood

Lessons from The Madhesi Movement in Nepal
The point being, if Nepal can do it, so can any other country, and every other country without democracy should. I think every Arab country should. Countries all over Africa should. Zimbabwe should. Kick Mugabe out.
Read more

Electoral reform proposals
Following the re-enactment of the Electoral Act, 2004 and the enactment of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Act, 2004 and the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Act, 2005, which together in varying degrees, implemented some of the proposals put forward by ZESN in 2003/2004, the following represents the outstanding aspects of the ZESN proposals which it continues to recommend. Read more on electoral reform from ZESN

Against the regime: Majongwe sings what he likes
Little did he know what the government had in store for him on arrival at Harare International Airport? When he landed the Zimbabwean authorities seized Majongwe's passport accusing him of being a sellout and peddling lies about the country. Read Kubatana’s interview with trade unionist and musician Raymond Majongwe. This story also has audio files.

Fast tracking to women's equality in Africa
Until there is not one girl child afraid of her father molesting her, until there is not one woman afraid of her husband’s kicks we can not say we have won the fight. Until our decision makers in all sectors, spheres, levels are gender sensitive and have equal representation of women and men then we cannot rest. Janah Ncube writes about the AU Protocol on Women's Rights

World Social Forum: just another NGO fair?
The problem was that not everyone was equally represented. Not everyone had equal voices. This event had all the features of a trade fair – those with greater wealth had more events in the calendar, larger (and more comfortable) spaces, more propaganda – and therefore a larger voice. Read more from Firoze Manji

Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe at the World Social Forum
Towards the end of 2006 four men who live in their neighbourhood savagely attacked seven Harare women who are members of the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ). One of the women had a knife pushed into her vagina. Read more and listen to Fadzai Muparutsa, Programme Manager for Gender with GALZ.
Visit the GALZ fact sheet

Female condoms: The missing prevention method
Female condoms provide an alternative to the male condom and allow women to bring a protection option to the table (or bed, if you will). Additionally, research has shown that couples' ability to switch between male and female condoms leads to an increase in the total number of protected sexual acts. Read more