Like many Zimbabweans, the main concern of Simon Marume is how he can stretch his salary to feed his family. Marume, 49, works for a milling company in the capital, Harare. His wife is unemployed and he has five children to support. He also has financial obligations to his extended family in his rural home area of Masvingo, in southwestern Zimbabwe.

In the face of vastly reduced crop estimates for next year, the Famine and Early Warning Systems Network says that the Zimbabwe government and NGOs need to step up efforts to provide food aid to about 6.7 million people, whose food security is under threat.

The Dongo List was given by the government, from its own records, in answer to a Parliamentary Question by Margaret Dongo, who was one of only three opposition MP’s in the last Parliament. She lost her seat in the June elections. The list shows some of the farms bought by the government from commercial farmers on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, and gives some indication of how agricultural land intended for resettlement by peasant farmers has instead been allocated to government and Party supporters.

Only people with Zanu PF cards were allowed to buy maize meal at the Sunningdale community centre in Harare this week. This was despite government denials that food is being distributed or sold on partisan lines. Baton and whip-wielding police officers and “Green Bombers” manned the gates at the centre while hundreds of people crowded outside the perimeter fence.

A high-profile anti-torture group in Zimbabwe has closed its doors after threats were made against it in parliament and in a government newspaper. The actions of Robert Mugabe's government are seen as a continuation of its campaign to silence all critical voices within the southern African nation. The Harare-based Amani Trust, which helps victims recover from the psychological and physical effects of torture, has come under fire from the Zimbabwean government several times in the past.

Amnesty International has condemned efforts by the Zimbabwean government to silence human rights defenders. Recent statements by government ministers signal intensified scrutiny and intimidation of NGOs who have spoken out about the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe. "Human rights organisations who expose human rights violations and are perceived to be critical of government policy are coming under increasing attack," Amnesty International said.

The Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) has written to the Public Service Commission (PSC), threatening strike action next month if the government does not heed its demands for a salary increment. This could disrupt classes and the writing of forthcoming national examinations.

About 170 street children on the Simukai Street Youth Programme in Mutare have been reunited with their families since January following a successful rehabilitation exercise.
Simukai is an outreach partnership between Family Aids Caring Trust (FACT) in Mutare and Scripture Union Eastern Region. It is a joint venture formed in January 2000 to look into the welfare and plight of the children.

Dozens of anti-rape protestors have been locked up by police in Harare and are due to appear in court. The protestors, who included school children, had gathered at a school in Marimba Park, a high-density suburb of the capital city where a 63-year-old male deputy head teacher, is alleged to have raped a 13-year-old girl.

A Daily News crew of reporter Henry Makiwa, Photographer Gally Kambeu and
driver Trust Maswela was arrested on 19 November 2002 when they were
covering a demonstration by parents and students who were protesting against the
alleged rape of a girl by a deputy school head in the suburb of Marimba in Harare.

Professor Jonathan Moyo, the minister of State for Information and Publicity has attacked the private media for what he called its "anti-nation" and "anti government" reporting. Moyo, who was addressing army officers in Harare on 18 November, said that the private media, especially The Daily News, was being used by Western powers to attack the government, the country's values and traditions.

High Court Judge Justice Makoni has dismissed a Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) urgent High Court application intended to allow its members to fill in accreditation forms without supplying certain information about their lives. ZUJ is arguing that the forms which require journalists to supply the Media and Information Commission with their residential addresses, mobile phone numbers, passports and drivers numbers and E mail addresses is too intrusive and violates their privacy. ZUJ was therefore seeking a provisional order for the forms to be declared an invasion of their privacy.

The Zimbabwe government has announced sweeping price freezes on everything from food and fuel to farm machinery and light bulbs, in a bid to curb soaring prices in the midst of an economic crisis. The surprise move announced in the state-owned media, came just days after Zimbabwe's finance minister said that the price controls on other goods set two years ago did not work.

A desperate move by the Zanu PF government to protect consumers from economic hardships it has created, has backfired, causing more hardships instead. The deterioration of the economy has been worsened since late last year by the desperate ruling party, which sought to ensure the re-election of President Robert Mugabe in the face of a challenge from MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai. The price controls have caused havoc in the country, threatening the livelihood of many people.

Harare executive mayor, Elias Mudzuri, has been denied entry into the Hatfield Municipal Hall, where about 500 Zanu PF supporters were distributing maize meal on a partisan basis.

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) last Thursday said it would continue to challenge the results of the March presidential election despite losing a court appeal for a computerised list of the voters' roll.

The impact of Zimbabwe's controversial fast-track land reform programme has rippled through the economy, but it has been the country's once robust agro-industries that have been the hardest hit.

This posting from Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe comments on media commentary of Zimbabwe's 2003 budget proposal by Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa and coverage of the US/Zimbabwe relations with regards to the warning by the US against alleged politicization of food by ZANU PF. The update also examines the manner in which the media covered the land issue in relation to the country's food security.

The Zimbabwe government has vowed to arrest Zimbabwe citizens working for SW Radio Africa in Britain, if ever they set foot in Zimbabwe.

South Africa this week dropped its ambivalence on Zimbabwe by endorsing President Robert Mugabe’s controversial policies, but analysts warned that Pretoria and southern Africa could pay a heavy price if such support pushed Zimbabwe to the brink.