Some rural folk in Zimbabwe are now relying on wild fruits which are quickly running out. Quite a number of them have died from hunger and starvation. If only the goevernment had not banned the NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) who were donating food to the poor the number of deaths would not be that much.

The future of Zimbabwe's AIDS programmes hangs in the balance after the government failed to meet the deadline of Thursday 6 November to return over US$7 million to the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization, has deployed its staff into Zimbabwe to help fight the cholera epidemic, an MDC MP disclosed on Thursday. Willas Madzimure, MDC MP for Kambuzuma in Harare, said the organization has brought in badly needed facilities, such as special beds for cholera victims and gloves for medical personnel.

Robert Mugabe’s government has effectively been placed on the Global Fund blacklist, after the state’s central bank failed to account for more than US$7 million worth of Global Fund grant money. Global Fund executive director Michel Kazatchkine announced on Monday that the donor group had ordered that funds under its administration in Zimbabwe be placed under the Additional Safeguards Policy (ASP), which aims to ensure that funding is used for its intended purpose and not to benefit the government.

Renewed violence has ended hopes of negotiating an end to Zimbabwe's political crisis, the country's main opposition party has said. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) blamed President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party for an "orgy of brutality" across Zimbabwe. The statement came ahead of regional talks in South Africa this weekend on Zimbabwe's political stalemate.

We the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, on behalf of the women of Zimbabwe remain gravely concerned by the failure of the Political Principals to conclude the talks that will result in the resolution of the Zimbabwe’s political, economic and humanitarian crisis.

WCoZ has always advocated for peace and nonviolence in the country. However realizing the grave crisis that faces the country now WCoZ launched the “Conclude the Talks - We are Dying of Hunger Campaign”. On the 27th of October 2008, about 1000 women gathered near the venue of the SADC Troika Talks to demand a resolution of the crisis and send a message to the three political leaders and SADC Troika that the talks should be concluded urgently and efforts to restore Zimbabwe should begin henceforth.

Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu have been granted bail by Justice Ndou in the Bulawayo High Court this afternoon. The two were instructed to pay bail of $200,000 each (roughly USD 1.50). Other conditions include reporting to their closest police station twice a week and not travelling outside of a 40km radius of Bulawayo Post Office without written permission from a Magistrate.

Southern African leaders meeting in Harare on Monday have failed to get Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe to agree on who controls the home affairs ministry which has the police and the registrar general's office under its control. Mugabe and Tsvangirai's failure to agree means there is no cabinet deal yet with a Sadc troika comminque expected to be released in the next few hours. A full Sadc summit will be called soon.

An Anglican bishop from Zimbabwe was Tuesday named winner of a Swedish human rights prize for 'having given voice to the fight against oppression.' Bishop Sebastian Bakare was also cited for his work to promote 'freedom of speech and of opinion in a difficult political situation.' He was due to accept the 2008 Per Anger prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on November 10, Johan Perwe of the government agency Living History Forum told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

African leaders must take "decisive" action to end the deadlock between Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday. Both men remained deadlocked over who will control Zimbabwe's powerful home affairs ministry, which oversees the police, despite efforts to end the crisis early this week in a high-level security meeting.

The United States says it regrets that the six-week impasse over implementation of a power-sharing agreement for Zimbabwe was not resolved at the recent Southern African Development Community-hosted talks. White House spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the US administration said it was unhappy with President Mugabe’s government for its refusal to implement a genuine and equitable power-sharing deal.

A cholera outbreak has claimed its first victim in Zimbabwe's capital after causing death and illness elsewhere in a country too poor to provide clean water or clear garbage from the streets. Health authorities reported the death in Harare Thursday and said 20 other people had been hospitalized.

For almost six months now, John Mberi*, 14, from the high-density suburb of Mufakose in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, has been taking care of his sick mother, Fortunate, who returned home from neighbouring South Africa very ill. The community attributed Fortunate's condition to food poisoning while awaiting deportation in the infamous Lindela repatriation camp in South Africa, but close family members knew that Fortunate was HIV positive.

There are understandable concerns that internal corruption at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) will see desperately needed foreign monetary aid being diverted into different channels – this as a cash boost of millions of US dollars by the United Nations could soon be filtered through the central bank.

Public examinations, due to start countrywide next Monday, hang in the balance after the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA) forwarded some salary demands which have not been met by their employer. The final Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) examinations for Ordinary and Advanced level were originally supposed to start across the country on Monday this week. Grade 7 pupils write their examinations during the first week of October every year.

International pressure is rising fast as the rest of Africa,and the international community loses patience with Robert Mugabe’s open flouting of both the terms and the spirit of the power sharing accord. The Mugabe regime and the state-controlled media continue to parrot the tired refrain that personal travel restrictions against the Zanu (PF) hierarchy and an arms embargo, which they call
sanctions, are responsible for the country’s economic collapse.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai failed Friday to agree on who should control powerful ministries, leaving their proposed unity government in doubt. Four days of lengthy negotiations, Tsvangirai said he still hoped that diplomatic efforts by fellow African countries would find a way to save the month-old power-sharing deal, seen as the best chance for rescuing the country from economic collapse.

This paper investigates the impact of the framework and strategies to retain critical health professionals (CHPs) that the Zimbabwean government has put in place, particularly regarding non-financial incentives, in the face of continuing high out-migration. The study investigated the causes of migration of health professionals; the strategies used to retain health professionals, how they are being implemented, monitored and evaluated and their impact, in order to make recommendations to enhance the monitoring, evaluation and management of non-financial incentives for health worker retention.

As a Zimbabwean I was disappointed that the writer, still regards the Zimbabwe case as an academic political science assignment. Clearly I just didnt see his point at all. People are dying in that country. More people would have died if Tsvangirayi had proceeded to the runoff elections.

Mugabe's youthful butchers were instructed to wait in the villages until the outcome. We appreciate meaningful help from the international community and this includes the writer but please spare us this academic grandstanding.