Court allows disputed email evidence High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu today said he would admit disputed email evidence implicating opposition politician Roy Bennett in a plot against President Robert Mugabe's government. The court threw out confessions by key state witness Peter Hitschmann linking Bennett to the crime, on the grounds that the statements had been extracted under torture. Judge Bhunu ruled that the emails were created before Hitschmann's alleged assault. "The emails cannot be tainted by the alleged abuse suffered by Hitschmann. They are relevant and vital to the fair resolution of the case and are hereby admitted as evidence," Judge Bhunu said. - 3 February 2010
Benjani off to Sunderland Zimbabwean international soccer star Benjani Mwaruwari is to move to Sunderland after getting the go-ahead from the Premier League today. The deal was initially held up after emails and faxes from Sunderland to the Football Association did not go through. - 2 February 2010
Biti blasts ZANU-PF Movement for Democratic Change secretary and Finance Minister Tendai Biti today accused ZANU-PF of using the inclusive government to wage war against the MDC, its supporters and the people of Zimbabwe. "Despite the sincerity we have displayed (some would say naivety) and the legitimacy we bring to the government as a result of the overwhelming support we have from the people of this great country, ZANU-PF has refused to acknowledge that their failed policies of the past have been soundly rejected by the masses and that process of change is irreversible. Instead, they have continued to use the inclusive government to wage war against the MDC, our supporters and the people at large. ZANU- PF continues to use the public media, the constitutional process, the commercial farms, the diamond mines and the civil service as the battlefields for its destructive agenda aimed at perpetuating their selfish grip on power,"Biti said. - 2 February 2010
Grain deficit The Commercial Farmers Union, which represents Zimbabwe's embattled white farmers, today said the country may have to import more than half the maize it needs this year to cover a deficit after drought destroyed crops. "All indications are that this season will be a total disaster. We will be very lucky if we get more than 500 000 tonnes," Deon Theron, president of the CFU said. "We need about 1.8-million tonnes of maize, so over a million tonnes will have to be made up by imports." - 1 February 2010
Secret airstrip Zimbabwe was today reported to be building a secret airstrip at Chiadzwa to enable it to clandestinely buy weapons from China in exchange for diamonds. - 31 January 2010
$3 million for police protection Parliamentary Select Committee co-chairman Douglas Mwonzora today said police commissioner Augustine Chihuri had demanded $3 million to release police officers to accompany outreach teams during the constitution making process. "We wrote to Chihuri requesting police officers to provide security at our outreach meetings but he said the police will only be able to provide 1000 officers at a cost of U$3 million. On top of that the committee is also expected to provide food and transport for the officers, " Mwonzora said. - 30 Jasnuary 2010
Mutambara lambasts Milliband Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara today lambasted Britain's Foreign Minister David Milliband for what he called his "very patronising" remarks on sanctions. Milliband told the British parliament earlier this month that sanctions should continue against Zimbabwe until Morgan Tsvangirai, the country's prime minister, personally advocated for them to be lifted. "With friends like those, who needs enemies?" Mutambara asked. "What he has done is completely unstrategic, is very ignorant and very patronising. Why? Because he is completely undermining Mr. Tsvangirai's power in the negotiations right now." - 29 January 2010
Tsvangirai asks investors, donors to return Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai today told foreign investors and donors to return to the country saying the process that led to creation of a unity government last February is irreversible. "Certainly the country is moving forward, and this is a time to look at the country in a more positive light," he said in Davos, Switzerland. - 28 January 2010
ZANU-PF won't budge ZANU-PF today said it will not make concessions in talks with its partners in the unity government until sanctions imposed by Western nations are lifted. The party's politburo instructed its negotiators on the global political agreement to desist from making concessions in the negotiations until the sanctions are removed. - 27 January 2010
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