Botswana's president accused Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Friday of failing to honour a power-sharing deal with his foes and called for new elections to resolve the political deadlock. In a state of the nation address after his re-election last month, Botswana's leader Ian Khama made clear he believed the blame for the political paralysis in neighbouring Zimbabwe lay at the hands of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

The President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Lovemore Matombo, and four other unionists were set free on Thursday after a Victoria Falls magistrate threw out charges against them. The 5 were arrested on Sunday for holding consultative meetings with workers in the town. Police, acting on instructions from Mugabe’s regime, claimed the leaders had violated the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) by holding the meetings without police permission. The magistrate however ruled that trade unions were exempt from seeking police authority for their meetings.

October has been a month characterised by violence, lawlessness, corruption and the complete abuse of power for partisan and personal objectives. Despite Robert Mugabe’s outrageous claim to the contrary, Sokwanele has logged an incredible 3850 breaches of the GPA by Zanu PF since the start of the ZIG Watch project, making this party responsible for 88.8% of all breaches logged up until the end of October.

There have been many reports in recent times on diamond extraction and trade in Marange from national, regional and international organisations. Most of these reports have focussed on the role of government in trying to halt the illegal extraction, on networks of powerful political figures that control the trade, and on the impact on the economy of the country and compliance with the Kimberley Process.

Applications are invited from suitably qualified and experienced person to fill in the position of Administration Officer at the Legal Resources Foundation with immediate effect. This is a contract of 4 to 6 months. The closing date for this vacancy 13 November 2009.

The Legal Resources Foundation, a local legal service NGO invites applications from suitably qualified and experienced persons for the post of Centre Director that has arisen at its Masvingo Centre.

Wazir Mohamed and Esau Mavindidze report on a recent symposium aimed at creating a space for Zimbabweans to discuss the present and future of the country. Bringing together representatives of government, civil society, human rights groups, scholars and Zimbabweans in the diaspora, the symposium – hosted by Syracuse University’s Africa Initiative and the Newhouse School of Public Communications – provided ‘a rare avenue’ to ‘assess the progress, status, challenges and opportunities for lasting peace, healing and reconstruction for the people of Zimbabwe’.

‘Greedy colonial-racist interests’ are ‘the common historic cause for Africa’s woes’, including those of Zimbabwe, Udo W. Froese writes in this week’s Pambazuka News. The ‘Rhodesian lobby’ has 'to date worked hard at destabilising and isolating Zimbabwe' in order to retain its 'interests in agriculture, mining and resources', Froese argues. The Movement for Democratic Change’s links to this lobby and to the West, Froese suggests, make the party a ‘non-starter’. ‘SADC heads-of-state would find it difficult to support an old colonial, race-based order, where their kith-and-kin have no access to land and the wealth of their land,’ writes Froese.

The SADC Troika on Defence, Security and Politics began its fact finding mission in Harare on Thursday in an effort to narrow the differences between Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. The ministerial mission is being led by Oldemiro Baloi, the Mozambican Foreign Affairs Minister, Zambia deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Fashion Phiri and Lutho Dhlamini from Swaziland.

Women's football is being used in Zimbabwe to confront the stigma associated with HIV and Aids. A total of 16 women's teams now take part in competitions for players who have openly declared that they are HIV positive. But despite the courage of the women involved, there has been much resistance.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum unreservedly condemns the arrest and detention of NANGO Board Chairperson Dadirai Chikwengo and Chief Executive Officer Cephas Zinhumwe on Sunday, 25 October 2009. The conduct of the police in Victoria Falls is reminiscent of the repression and clamp down on Civil Society and political opposition forces that was taking place before the inception of the Inclusive Government.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has urged Robert Mugabe to ‘relinquish power’ saying the ZANU PF leader alone was ‘responsible for the political stalemate’ in Zimbabwe. Speaking in France during a joint press conference with the French Foreign Affairs Minister, Odinga did not mince his words, bluntly saying; ‘In Zimbabwe Mr. Mugabe is not part of the solution to the political problem; he himself, is the problem.’

The rift between Zimbabwe’s coalition parties has spilled into the country’s polarised parliament after legislators from President Robert Mugabe’s party walked out protesting against critics of the veteran leader. Zimbabwe was plunged into a fresh crisis last week after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change started boycotting cabinet and council of ministers meetings.

Jacana Media announces the publication of 'Becoming Zimbabwe', a new book edited by Brian Raftopoulos and Alois Mlambo. The book 'tracks the idea of national belonging and citizenship and explores the nature of state rule, the changing contours of the political economy, and the regional and international dimensions of the country’s history.'

The planting season in Zimbabwe is fast approaching, but farmers are struggling to access crucial agricultural inputs, bringing fears of yet another poor harvest. "Before the government of national unity came into being [in February 2009] ... new farmers would receive fuel, fertilizer, seed and implements at almost giveaway prices, and sometimes for free," said Thomas Chirandu, a large-scale farmer in Mashonaland West Province who had prepared his land but could not afford to buy maize seed and fertilizer.

The Chiadzwa diamond fields in Marange, Manicaland province are still off-limits for journalists working in the country. This was demonstrated by Friday's incident where freelance journalist Annie Mtalume was arrested on allegations of entering the ' protected' area without a pass. She was detained overnight in Chiadzwa and was only transferred to Mutare on Saturday.

Mugabe used an appearance at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) ‘World 2009’ meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday to attack the West for what he called the continued violation of Zimbabwe’s airwaves by foreign based radio stations. In a speech that aptly summed up his regime’s attitude towards media freedom, Mugabe told a Council of Ministers meeting that ‘certain western countries had ‘radio broadcasting systems’ that were targeting ‘his’ country to further their ‘obnoxious regime change agendas’.

President Robert Mugabe has called for a new start to relations with those Western countries he has spent years insulting for their criticism of his leadership. "Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh, friendly and co-operative relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us in the past," he said yesterday at the first sitting of parliament since a unity government was formed with the former opposition in February.

The United Nations has provided hundreds of bicycles and motorcycles for Zimbabwean health workers to respond to potential cholera and flu outbreaks, the latest in a series of steps by the world body to help the southern African country confront acute humanitarian needs. The 300 black bicycles and 124 bright red motor cycles, purchased by the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) with $500,000 from the Central Emergency Response Fund, will enable health workers to move quickly to prepare for and respond to potential health concerns, including cholera outbreaks and the H1N1 flu pandemic.

On Wednesday close to two hundred thousand people from Arizona to Zanzibar read the last email from ZW News – a daily email compilation of the latest news stories on Zimbabwe. Despite the cost effectiveness and wide subscriber base, the man behind ZW News in the UK, and his colleague in Zimbabwe, have been unable to source funding to keep going.