This article will be punishable by up to two years in prison under the new media law that Robert Mugabe is likely to push through Zimbabwe's parliament this week. For a start, it quotes the Herald newspaper in Harare - a government propagandist rag with little regard for the truth or its plummeting circulation - for the want of a response from Zimbabwe's minister of information about the coming legislation.

South Africa has finally started to voice alarm and impatience over the crisis in Zimbabwe, but Pretoria lacks guaranteed leverage to ensure political and economic normalisation in its northern neighbour.

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has ruled that President Robert Mugabe's land reform programme complies with the constitution.

The government of Zimbabwe has approved the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, which seeks to regulate the operations of the media in Zimbabwe and purportedly give access to information held by public bodies.

The United States House of Representatives has passed legislation which urges President George W Bush to impose targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe's leadership.

President Robert Mugabe's attempts to silence the independent media and foreign reporters are increasingly desperate and brutal. Here, Basildon Peta, one of five reporters recently branded as "terrorists'' by the government, describes for ZWNEWS the dangers, the harassment - and the determination.

Amendments to the Electoral Act - intended to disenfranchise as many potential opposition supporters as possible - will give a legal basis for rigging of the ballot.

Civil rights activists in Zimbabwe have threatened to launch a campaign of civil disobedience in January unless the government implements political reforms and ensures next year's presidential election is free and fair.

President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa sought to distance himself from the worsening situation in Zimbabwe yesterday when his spokesmen suggested that he had toughened his attitude towards President Robert Mugabe.

On behalf of the International Federation of Journalists, the world's
largest journalists' group, I wish to protest most strongly over the accusation by a
spokesman of the Government of Zimbabwe, reported in The Herald on November 23rd, that a number of named journalists are supporting "terrorists" and that the government "would make no distinction between those that it considered to be terrorists and anyone who supported them."

Geoff Nyarota is the editor of The Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper. Launched less than two years ago, the Harare-based paper has managed to become Zimbabwe's most influential voice despite repeated attempts by President Robert Mugabe's government to silence it, and Nyarota, has been awarded the 2002 Golden Pen of Freedom, the annual press freedom prize of the World Association of Newspapers.

The President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, warned today that civil conflict could explode in Zimbabwe if full press freedom is not ensured in the run-up to presidential elections next March.

Independent journalists in Zimbabwe have vowed to fight the government's plans to control the media. Under proposed legislation, a new regime of licensing journalists would disqualify foreign reporters from working in the country.

Robert Mugabe’s government is tightening its fist before the up-coming elections.

The International Press Institute has written to the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, asking him to repudiate his government's accusation that local and foreign journalists are colluding with terrorists.

Zimbabwe's government has threatened to treat six journalists working for foreign media organizations including The Associated Press as "terrorists" after accusing them of filing false reports on political violence.

ZANU PF’s propaganda in the state media plumbed unprecedented depths during the coverage of the murder of Cain Nkala, the Bulawayo war veteran’s leader. The state media exposed their total disregard for the general standards and ethics of journalism to churn out inflammatory hate speech reminiscent of the hate radio before and during the genocide in Rwanda. ZANU PF officials and war veterans were quoted describing the opposition, as ‘terrorists’ or the ‘enemy’.

State agents attacked at least 10 persons in Chimanimani including a nine-year-old boy. One of the victims of the attack was beaten by soldiers and sustained a fractured skull. In Bindura, an 11-month-old infant was taken into custody along with its parents and beaten by a police officer. There have also been reports of widespread attacks on civil servants in October, particularly focused on teachers. This is the continuation of intimidation and threats since January; civil servants have been ordered to support Zanu (PF) in numerous rallies throughout the year.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government sought Sunday to overturn a High Court decision allowing long-delayed mayoral and council elections in Harare to go ahead next month.

Zimbabwe's state election agency said yesterday that foreign observers would be welcome at presidential elections next year, in an embarassing retreat from President Mugabe's enraged dismissal of a European Union delegation last week.