Zimbabwe's parliament passed a controversial land law on Wednesday that will allow the government to take land more easily from white farmers, the state news agency ZIANA reported. The new law allows the government to compulsorily acquire white-owned farms only after publishing a notice of intention to take over in the Government Gazette, scrapping the old requirement that a preliminary notice of acquisition by the government should be served personally on the farm owner.

Zimbabwe's chief justice, Godfrey Chidyausiku, has "fast-tracked" an application by the state's media watchdog for the independent Daily News to be shut down until the courts hear a comprehensive appeal over the legality of official press controls, lawyers said. Gugulethu Moyo, legal adviser to Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe which owns the Daily News, said Chidyausiku, widely seen as a government supporter, had decided to hear an "urgent application" from the government-appointed Media and Information Commission in his chambers. The commission is asking Chidyausiku to bar the Daily News from publishing until the court hears the commission's appeal against a high court ruling in October that dissolved the commission on the grounds that it was "biased" and "improperly constituted."

When Jasper Simalie suffered from severe respiratory complications two years ago, his family had no reason to fear for the worst. They had their hopes pinned on Zimbabwe's affordable health care service, which enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best in Southern Africa. And it delivered. The condition returned to haunt him last year, and this time the family made frantic but futile efforts to find affordable treatment. Simalie's illness forced him to stay at home for three months. He was retrenched, and left with only enough money to pay his way back to his rural home in the northwestern province of Binga. Hospitals, according to Simalie, "are now a place to die - they refer everyone to a filthy deathbed under a hardworking but underfunded home-based care system."

The Project Officer will be responsible for writing progress reports and proposals for fundraising, facilitating production of training materials and publications, facilitating the implementation of program activities and production of materials. The Field Officer will be responsible for the provision of information to support the organisation 's education, research and advocacy programme.

The ruling Zanu PF party's talk and hype about stamping out corruption in Zimbabwe is just "a puff in the wind" meant to hoodwink gullible voters as the country prepares for next year's general elections, analysts have said. The analysts, who spoke to The Standard, expressed scepticism about Zanu PF's commitment to weed out corruption and also questioned the timing of the anti-corruption drive.

With people still left guessing as to whether he intends holding formal talks with his country's opposition, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe added a new dimension to the drama this weekend when he was allegedly rushed to South Africa after collapsing at his home in Harare. The speculation about the Zimbabwean leader comes at the tail end of a week of debate about South Africa's role in helping to resolve the political situation in Zimbabwe. On Thursday South African President Thabo Mbeki said Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party had agreed to enter into formal talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on resolving Zimbabwe's long-running political crisis. But the MDC's Secretary for Information and Publicity, Paul Themba Nyathi, told IPS that his party was extremely sceptical about "the nature of Mugabe's commitment to a process of dialogue".

Zimbabwe's political parties have told the BBC that they are unaware of talks, which South African President Thabo Mbeki says they have agreed to. Mr Mbeki said that President Robert Mugabe had agreed to hold formal talks with the opposition to try to solve the country's political impasse. But a senior official of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party told BBC News Online he could not confirm this reported change of position. And a leading figure of the opposition MDC also said it was news to him.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai told his treason trial on Wednesday that he did, as alleged, discuss "eliminating" President Robert Mugabe but was trapped into using a word he only meant in a political sense. Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has denied charges of plotting to kill Mugabe and stage a coup d'etat ahead of the country's controversial 2002 general elections. The state's case against Tsvangirai, who could face a death sentence if convicted, hinges mainly on a videotape of a meeting he held with Canadian-based political consultant Ari Ben-Menashe where prosecutors say Mugabe's "elimination" was discussed.

The Daily News, banned since September 12 2003, has reappeared on the streets. The popular daily paper is published by the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ). The reappearance of the paper follows a High Court order on 21 January ordering that the police leave the premises of the media house and also stop interfering with the operations of the newspaper group.

The unprecedented turmoil sweeping through the financial services sector following a stringent new monetary policy introduced by new Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono stole the attention of all Zimbabwe's media in the first days of the New Year. Indeed, the public too, impatiently awaited every new instalment of the spectacular scandals that have been tumbling into the public domain almost on a daily basis since Christmas. During the week January 5th to January 11th for example, the Press devoted 75 stories on the extraordinary events affecting the financial services sector, 40 of them in the government-controlled Press, according to research from the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe.

There is an old African folktale of the hare and the baboon. The story goes that Hare and his family held a huge feast and invited his uncle Baboon and family. On the morning of the day Hare and family burned the whole surroundings of his homestead. When Baboon and family arrived for the feast Hare advised them to go to the river to wash their hands first for no one with dirty hands could enjoy the feast. Baboon and family returned and upon inspection Hare maintained that their hands were still dirty. Because Baboon could not avoid touching the burnt surroundings, his hands were always dirty each time he returned from the river. Thus he never joined the feast on account of his dirty hands. He got frustrated and left. But the story goes further as, later that year, Baboon and family held an even bigger feast. He invited his nephew Hare and family. But the venue was up in the trees. Hare and family arrived but could not climb trees and so they salivated on the ground as Baboon and company enjoyed their feast. Sadly many of us seem to have forgotten the wisdom in these folk tales. This article is a follow up to a critique of the Supreme Court judgement in the ANZ case that was delivered on the 11/09/2003. In that judgement, the Court refused to hear the application brought by ANZ (Publishers of the Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday) challenging certain sections of the notorious Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). That unprecedented refusal to hear a constitutional application was based on the ground that ANZ had "unclean hands" because they had failed to comply with a law whose validity they were challenging. In that critique, the author argued, with all due respect, the Supreme Court had erred in applying the doctrine of Clean Hands, a doctrine of equity, in a matter involving the determination of fundamental constitutional rights. Such an application of the doctrine of Clean Hands poses a great hazard to the protection and uninterrupted enjoyment of human rights, says the author.

Zimbabwe's women are doubly disadvantaged by the country's four-year-old economic crisis. They are not only expected to manage dwindling, inflation-hit household budgets, but many are also victims of a corresponding rise in domestic violence. "We see an average of 10 new clients a day - and of these an average of three are seeking peace orders in matters of domestic violence, and some of the reasons have to do with financial issues," Emilia Muchawa of the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association told IRIN.

Each month as many as 150 children sleeping rough in the capital, Harare, are being treated for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), underlining their extreme vulnerability, according to a local NGO. Streets Ahead, an organisation trying to improve the welfare of Harare's 5,000 street children, said they discovered the STI outbreak when the children visited their offices for counselling and other support programmes.

The Chairman of the government appointed Media and Information Commission, Dr Tafataona Mahoso, has threatened to take action against the Zimbabwe Independent and its editor Iden Wetherell over what he calls a “racist” letter to the editor that was published in the paper on January 2, 2004.

SAT is a leading regional initiative that supports community responses to HIV and AIDS and facilitates networking, skills exchange and lesson sharing throughout the region. To increase the scale and impact of our work we are currently recruiting for these two positions based in our regional office in Harare.

More than a 1,000 people died of malaria in Zimbabwe during 2003, according to a report published by the UN Relief and Recovery unit in the capital, Harare. Confirming the figure, World Health Organisation (WHO) official Jasper Pasipamire said the high number of deaths was a "cause for concern." Pasipamire said one of the major factors influencing malaria mortality rates in the country was the failure to detect malaria cases at primary health care centres. A total of 682,855 cases, with 1,099 deaths, were recorded by the end of the year and confirmed by Zimbabwean health authorities.

Election agents, party supporters and the electorate were subject to violence and intimidation as a political tool during the Kadoma Central by-election held from 29-30 November 2003, says a just-released report from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum on political violence in Zimbabwe for the month of November 2003. "The prospects for a free and fair electoral environment had already been dampened by violence that prevailed in the area prior to the election and the surrounded the holding of Nomination Court in October. The by-election was characterized by the infringement of the right freedom of association, expression and movement, with several reports of assault, political intimidation and death threats."

"Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is particularly concerned that these fresh arrests compromise the independence and entrenched freedoms of the press. ZLHR views the action by the police as a calculated and deliberate attempt to muzzle the independent media and deprive Zimbabweans from fully enjoying the right to freedom of expression. ZLHR is concerned that if such a tragic trend is to continue, it will be impossible for journalists to continue carrying out their mandate to keep the public informed. " - Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights statement on the arrest of independent journalists in Zimbabwe this week.

Zodwa Sibanda died on December 24 after battling a long illness. Her death marks the end of a life symbolized by a remarkable dedication to family, community and country. This powerful and committed woman carried enormous energy into every facet of her life, as wife to Gibson Sibanda for thirty four years, mother to four children, political activist, community worker and entrepreneur. Born Ntombizodwa Elnora Mbambo on April 3, 1946 in Donkwedonkwe village in the Kezi District, Sibanda established a vigorous reputation in fighting for the rights of women, promoting self-help projects and developing business creativity at a young age.

The police have defied a High Court order passed on 9 January ordering them to vacate premises of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the banned The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday. Despite being served with the order, police ignored it and stayed put at the premises, preventing journalists from accessing the newsroom. The government argues that there is nothing in the order granting the ANZ the right to resume publishing. The government has appealed to the Supreme Court to have the paper remain closed.