Save the Children, the UK-based international aid agency, on Monday warned of mass migration of starving people from Zimbabwe to neighbouring South Africa within the next three months.

President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party was declared the winner last night of controversial mayoral elections in a northern town, in a rare urban victory over the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC immediately dismissed the result as a result of rigging.

Zimbabwe's Minister of Home Affairs John Nkomo has dismissed the impact of expanded European Union (EU) sanctions on the country's ruling elite, despite five government officials being denied entry to Europe last weekend.

The International Community of Women living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) developed a project encouraging HIV positive women to share and document their experiences of living with HIV, particularly in relation to sexual and reproductive health and needs. In Zimbabwe, Positive Women: Voices and Choices has been quite outstanding in its process and outcomes. HIV positive women, from resource-poor mainly rural communities, were elected by their support groups to be trained to collect data and analyse the findings. The process of teamwork gave the women skills and self-confidence and they are now strong advocates from their communities, representing the issues of HIV positive women in many fora and making presentations at high-profile, national and international events.

Zimbabwe has denounced the UK authorities after a senior figure in President Mugabe's party was stopped in London for defying an EU travel ban. Joseph Malinga, Deputy Secretary for the disabled in Zanu-PF, was held - along with his wife - on his arrival at London's Gatwick airport by British officials as he attempted to get on a plane to New York.

Jonathon Moyo, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, should be prosecuted by an international court for inciting racial hatred in his country, journalists from six different African countries said last week at a workshop on conflict resolution in Grahamstown, South Africa.

Among the dozens of men labouring knee-deep in muddy holes at a gold claim near Mbalabala, 80 kilometres north of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second large city, a handful of women also toil, their torn dresses spattered with dirt. Panning for gold is no longer a male preserve in Zimbabwe and women have now taken up the activity.

Military helicopters hovered over the capital and police in riot gear patrolled the streets on Tuesday, as Zimbabwean authorities tried to stave off anti-government protests ahead of the opening of parliament.

The Media Monitoring Project deplores the flagrant disregard for the due process of the law demonstrated by The Herald, which convicted opposition MDC MP Learnmore Jongwe of murdering his wife before any trial by a court in its editorial comment on Tuesday, July 23rd.

The killing of Rutendo Muusha-Jongwe was a terrible act of domestic violence that cannot be condoned. But in The Herald’s efforts to link this tragic incident to political violence and the silence of Western nations, the newspaper demonstrated its contempt for the proper administration of justice by usurping the work of the court in declaring that Rutendo had been murdered.

The paper declared:

“His (Jongwe’s) butchering of a defenceless woman is quite telling of the MDC’s disposition towards human rights…

“Unfortunately, violence begets violence and the chilling murder of Rutendo has shown how this violence is now being directed against its own innocent women.”

In this grossly unethical attempt to manipulate a personal tragedy for political gain, the paper ignored the regulations relating to the administration of justice and the fundamental constitutional right that every individual is entitled to a fair trial. For this reason any public comment likely to prejudice this right is forbidden and would constitute contempt of the court charged with conducting the trial.

The emotional nature of The Herald’s editorial and its repeated use of the word “murder” evidently ignores this basic rule and amounts to an unacceptable conviction by the media.

It was not the only paper to commit this basic offence: The Sunday Mirror carried a picture of Rutendo on its front page under the heading “Brutally Murdered” and compounded this error in the first sentence of its news story about the incident: “MDC Member of Parliament for Kuwadzana Judah Learnmore Jongwe who brutally murdered his wife is now facing murder charges.”

The reporter’s unequivocal statement, that the MP had murdered his wife, clearly pre-empts any court verdict on the matter and similarly constitutes an erosion of the right to a fair trial.

These are examples of unethical journalism at its worst and MMPZ expects justice to be dispensed accordingly.

It is not the first time such offences have been committed by Zimbabwe’s media and even public figures.

MMPZ believes that if Zimbabwe is to avoid becoming a country governed by the law of the jungle, it is the duty of the media and those in authority to bring an end to this gross affront to the administration of justice.

The matter in which Daily News editor Geoff Nyarota and reporter, Lloyd Mudiwa are being charged with publishing falsehoods has been adjourned while the magistrate's court decide on an application by the defense lawyer for the matter to be heard in the Supreme Court. Mudiwa and Nyarota's lawyer, Chris Andersen argued on Monday 22 July, that the trial should be heard in the Supreme Court as it dealt with constitutional matters such as freedom of expression and protection of the law.

The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) on Sunday said it would encourage all teachers countrywide to leave their schools if the Ministry of Education Sport and Culture, together with the Public Service Commission, failed to take concrete and visible steps to protect their lives and properties.

Zimbabwe's refusal to respect Article 19 of the Declaration of Human Rights is, once again, in the news. This alert from the Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC) notes the ramifications of international media freedom violations for journalists publishing online.

Children are said to be dying at their school desks in Zimbabwe as a "fatal cocktail" of Aids and food shortages sweeps the country.

European Union foreign ministers have agreed to extend sanctions on the leadership of Zimbabwe to include an extra 52 people.

As the fight against malaria gains momentum in the country, villagers in Kanyemba, Lower Guruve, have mobilised local resources and skills at all levels, a move that has seen a remarkable decline in reported malaria cases throughout the district.

About 210 MDC members in Marange, Mutare West, have reportedly fled their homes after being tortured by Zanu PF youths camped at Bazel Bridge in the run-up to rural district council by-elections.

A western human rights group on Tuesday called on the Zimbabwean government and NGOs to step up assistance to the growing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, saying that although information was lacking on exactly how many people were on the move, aid to IDPs should not be delayed.

Journalists and media houses operating in Zimbabwe that did not meet the deadline for registration are now illegal. This is because the government of that country decided journalists and media houses operating in the country should be registered and accredited at a fee by the end of June this year.

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives, is deeply disturbed by the decision of the government to deport the Zimbabwe correspondent for the British newspaper, The Guardian. On the basis of information provided to IPI, on 15 July, Andrew Meldrum, a United States citizen who has lived in Zimbabwe for over 20 years and who holds a permanent residency permit, was informed by the Department of Immigration that he must leave the country within 24 hours.

Andrew Meldrum, a correspondent for the Guardian, who was served with a deportation order on 15 July, has appealed against the order to the Minister of Home Affairs John Nkomo and the High Court.