politics

Human rights organisations have rebuffed President Robert Mugabe’s claims there is no partisan distribution of relief food, insisting the trend is rampant in rural areas where in some cases would-be recipients are required to produce ZANU-PF.

Human rights organisations have rebuffed President Robert Mugabe’s claims there is no partisan distribution of relief food, insisting the trend is rampant in rural areas where in some cases would-be recipients are required to produce ZANU-PF.

On 9 March 2016, hundreds rallied in Zimbabwe's capital over the shadowy disappearance of an opposition activist a year ago, as the United State-led calls for a probe into ‘politically-motivated violence’.

Protesters including opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, demanded that President Robert Mugabe release information on how Itai Dzamara, a former journalist and harsh regime critic, was seized by unidentified men.

Rights group, Amnesty International, says Dzamara's disappearance highlights a culture of impunity for human-rights violations in Zimbabwe.

Most black South Africans think the government is doing a good job in this area, but coloureds, whites and Asians are not as enthusiastic.

The government is doing pensions and social grants right, according to more than 61 percent of people of all races who took part in a national survey.

Good Governance Africa commissioned the research, which polled 2 245 people in the nine provinces last year for their perceptions of how the government is performing in various areas.

Zimbabwe’s opposition parties and political analysts have urged ZANU-PF to be consistent and desist from attacking non-governmental organisations (NGOs), saying this creates unnecessary hostility in the face of need.

Opposition parties urged the government not to create unnecessary acrimony after a spirited campaign by the ruling party to lampoon NGOs.

MDC-T spokesperson, Obert Gutu, points out that: “Needless to state non-governmental organisations, as usual, will have to come onto the scene in order to provide food to the starving millions in the villages and towns.”

According to Trevor Saruwaka Mutasa, if Zimbabwe goes hungry it has no capacity to feed its own people and therefore depends on non-governmental organisations and donor countries contrary to the mantra by President Robert Mugabe that they must leave us alone.

Mutasa states that in an article titled ‘food for all is our goal’, the country’s Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Prisca Mupfumira, attempts to pronounce a policy position on who must get this aid by boldly declaring that food is for all.

Ses'khona People's Rights Movement says people must recognise that Jacob Zuma is not only the African National Congress (ANC) leader but also the country's President and must be given due respect.

Thousands of people from the Ses'khona People's Rights Movement gathered Keizersgracht Street in the Cape Town central business district CBD to stand in solidarity with the President Zuma.

This comes after Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has promised to disrupt Zuma's speech once more if he does not tell the nation why he fired Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister.

The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) has expressed concern over the Economic Freedom Fighters leader, Julius Malema’s alleged intimidation of journalists who work for Gupta-owned media outlets.

This follows Malema’s warning that journalists who work for broadcaster ANN7 and The New Age newspaper that they would not be welcome at the party's events.
"It is unacceptable for any political party to intimidate journalists and to publicly state that they cannot guarantee their safety," argues SANEF.