Basildon Peta, the secretary general of the Zimbabwean Union of Journalists, has denied allegations that he was fired by the Zimbabwean newspaper, the Financial Gazette. He says the number of threats he had been receiving in the state-controlled media had become unacceptable. Peta emphatically denied reports from Zimbabwe that he was fired by his local employer.

The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC)Commercialisation Bill, which was passed by parliament, has been gazetted into law, "The Herald" reported on February 4.

The public has given a thumbs-down to government's commitment to combating corruption, describing it as half-hearted and questionable, an anti-corruption public opinion survey has revealed. The survey, carried out by Transparency International (Zimbabwe) showed that the majority of people surveyed were not satisfied with the way the government and the public services tackled corruption issues.

President Robert Mugabe could lose Zimbabwe's presidential election next month in spite of his efforts to rig the result, senior US government officials say. Unofficial polls conducted by Zimbabwean organisations and seen by US officials show there would be a good chance Mr Mugabe would get only 25-30 per cent of the vote if the election was fair. The officials said this was despite widespread intimidation of the opposition and political violence over the past 18 months. However, they fear Mr Mugabe has the ability to "win" an additional 20 per cent by further manipulation of the vote and thus extend his 22-year rule.

The impact on children of Zimbabwe's mounting political violence was condemned on Monday by a coalition of child rights NGOs.

Over the last few months there has been increasing evidence of the youth militia involved in organized violence of having received formal training in torture techniques. However, a new and very disturbing form of torture has emerged in the last few weeks, with even more long-term ramifications for the victims than the physical and psychological trauma sustained with physical torture. Forced rape by men, witnessed both by the perpetrators of the violence and others, is being imposed on the victims, with the victims being forced to have sexual intercourse with other victims, either heterosexual or homosexual, with the perpetrators “supervising” the act.

The press carried 43 political violence related stories, of which two appeared in both the private and public press. Three new murders, all MDC members, were reported during the week, all in the private press. ZANU PF members were allegedly responsible. Zimpapers carried 20 reports of political violence, of which 15 were blamed on the MDC. Police arrests and court cases reported only implicated the MDC. TV recorded 15 incidents of political violence; four less than those reported the previous week. The MDC was blamed for five, while ZANU PF was identified as being responsible twice.

Zimbabwe’s fallout has proved beyond doubt that local civil society, epitomized by ubiquitous human rights Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), lacks the requisite political clout to challenge President Robert Mugabe’s increasingly totalitarian rule. Civil society’s capacity to build popular support for democratic change people-centred change has been blown out of proportion by outside donors, who continue to religiously pour funds into the rather politically innocuous sector.

The offices of Zimbabwe's only independent daily and those of a company that printed opposition election campaign material were petrol bombed early on Monday in the country's second largest city. The incident occurred amid an increasingly tense run-up to presidential polls on March 9-10.

Documenting political violence and abuses of power in Manicaland Province.

Fears were raised yesterday that Zimbabwe's regime could seek to step up its curbs on the media after it emerged that the Independent's Harare correspondent wrote a misleading story about his treatment by the police. The Media Institute of Southern Africa, a journalists' lobby group, accused Basildon Peta, 30, of "giving grounds" for "further repression" after he filed a detailed account of being held overnight in police cells last week.

About 50 suspected war veterans and 15 Zanu PF youths last Thursday raided the MDC offices in Buhera North, vandalised the premises and stole property worth more than $500 000.

Pierre Schori, head of the European Union observer mission to Zimbabwe's already bloody election campaign, failed to get his accreditation yesterday amid new incidents of violence. "We are in contact with the Government," Stefan Amer, his spokesman, said. "However, our mission has to be accepted as it is. We won't negotiate that."

A street-smart Zimbabwean radio station has found a way around President Robert Mugabe's crushing broadcasting regulations and is distributing its show by cassette. Radio Dialogue decided to distribute thousands of cassettes of their programme called 'Taxi Tunes' around Bulawayo after the government refused to grant it a license last month.

Britain has threatened to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe following the arrest of local journalist Basildon Peta on Monday. London is alleging that Harare broke the terms of an EU ultimatum, which among other things demanded the accreditation of the international media to cover next month's presidential election.

Despite assurances by the Zimbabwean government that foreign journalists will be allowed in the country, Australian journalist Sally Sara has been denied accreditation.

The European Union (EU) is going ahead with preparations to monitor Zimbabwe's presidential elections in March, despite the lack of a formal invitation from President Robert Mugabe, EU officials told IRIN on Monday.

A criminal racket on both sides of the border is helping illegal Zimbabwean immigrants cross into South Africa, a senior army officer told IRIN.

Britain and the U.S. have issued a joint list of Zimbabwean leaders they intend to slap with targeted personal sanctions in protest against what London and Washington allege were widespread violations of human rights in the southern African country, a local newspaper reported.

Foreign journalists are being forced to leave Zimbabwe as the threat from Robert Mugabe's government makes it too dangerous to work there.