Zimbabwe's two largest infectious diseases referral hospitals are being inundated by new cases of cholera, despite government claims that the situation is under control. A team of government and municipal health workers visited both the Wilkins and Beatrice Infectious Disease Hospitals in the capital, Harare, this week in a bid to ascertain the extent of the outbreak. Patients in three wards at Beatrice hospital have had to be evacuated to make room for those suffering from cholera.

Zimbabwe has paid an extra $15 million towards its debt arrears to the IMF as the fund sends in a review team before a March deadline for the country to clear its debt.The International Monetary Fund executive board in September gave Zimbabwe a six-month reprieve to settle its arrears or risk being expelled. Zimbabwe's payments to the IMF have left observers wondering where it had secured the money, but central bank governor Gideon Gono has insisted the funds came from export earnings, inflows from expatriate Zimbabweans and locals working for foreign-owned organisations who are paid in foreign currency.

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“The MDC as an institution is hardly what we must be fighting to preserve or protect but rather the values that formed its formation and the formation of the broader progressive forces in Zimbabwe.” These were the words of well-known political analyst and human rights lawyer Brian Kagoro. Kagoro was speaking on the programme Hot Seat on the political crisis in the country and on how to salvage the opposition after the devastating effects caused by the infighting within the six year old opposition.

"As you may know Progressio (formerly the Catholic Institute for International Relations) has been involved in solidarity work with the peoples of Southern Africa for a considerable period of time. With our southern African partners and Northern partners in the CIDSE group of Catholic agencies we wish to draw your attention to significant events regarding Zimbabwe.

On December 5th 2005, the African Commission for Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) adopted a resolution condemning the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, and calling on the government of Zimbabwe to act urgently to improve the situation. The resolution calls on the Zimbabwean government to implement the recommendations of the previous ACHPR fact-finding mission, as well as those of the July 2005 report of the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues. It further calls on the government to cooperate with the African Commission Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons, including allowing a fact-finding mission to investigate the situation of internally displaced persons in Zimbabwe. It highlights the failure of the government to uphold the principle of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary. We therefore urge all members of the African Union to ensure that the annual report of the ACHPR is adopted at the African Union Summit in Khartoum on the 23rd and 24th of January this year."

The government of Zimbabwe is reportedly reviewing the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), in the wake of intense criticism and condemnation of Zimbabwe's dented human rights record and suppression of freedom of expression, according to an alert from the Media Institute of Southern Africa. This comes hard on the heels of a damning report by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), which expressed concern over the suppression of fundamental rights and liberties through laws such as AIPPA, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA).

The latest bulletin from the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum headquarters in Harare includes the resolution that The African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights adopted on Zimbabwe during its 38th Session late last year. The issue contains a discussion of the fact finding mission report released early last year, as the main event leading up to the resolution being finally passed. Since the ACHPR 31st Session in Pretoria in May 2002, the Forum, together with human rights organisations from other parts of Africa and other partners, has fought for a resolution to be passed.

The human rights culture is still very green in the African Union, contends this commentary in South Africa's Sunday Tribune newspaper. "This became most apparent this week when a resolution by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights condemning human rights abuses in Zimbabwe finally came to light," says the commentary, going on to note that, "The resolution was adopted more than a month ago, but was never published and only came to light this week because it was leaked to journalists."

The man who has declared himself the new leader of Zimbabwe's divided main opposition party says he is confident that the party will bounce back. Gibson Sibanda admits last year's split in the Movement for Democratic Change weakened the party. But he told the BBC that all MDC supporters will back him after they know the facts. He says he has the support of 25 of the party's 41 MPs.

Surely things can't get worse! Or can they? Haven't we been asking this for over 5 years now? What can we expect from 2006 financially and economically? Let's take a look at what we can expect of the new year - bearing in mind, of course, that any form of prediction in Zimbabwe is whimsical, given the proven tendencies of this regime to interfere with economic forces in order to protect or better their own lifestyles, regardless of the effect on the people they are supposed to be serving. Will we see any improvement to our standard of living? The short answer is "probably not".

Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF has recommended a purge of all staff at state-owned media who were hired by the former Information Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo, writes Gugu Ziyaphapha in an article posted on www.journalism.co.za The recommendation was made at the just-ended party conference, where Makonde legislator Leo Mugabe also attacked Moyo for having sabotaged the public media with his policies. Zanu PF’s deputy secretary for information and publicity, Ephraim Masawi, said the party and government should clean up the structures put in place at the state media by Moyo because he was using them for his selfish ends.

Zimbabwe's Agriculture Minister Joseph Made says the Harare government is considering enacting new legislation to force the country's banks to finance black villagers resettled on land seized from whites. Speaking to ZimOnline at the weekend, Made accused commercial banks of ganging up to sabotage President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reforms by refusing to advance loans to blacks allocated land by the government.

Annastasia, 12 months old, her hair plaited with red and white ribbons to match her flowery dress, conjures the ideal image of a cute toddler, a perfect contender for a baby pageant. The only discordant note is her surroundings - four high white walls make up Annastasia's world, and she will only discover what lies beyond them in six months' time, when her grandmother fetches her to live with her four siblings. Prison Fellowship of Zimbabwe (PFZ), the local charter of an international Christian alliance for rehabilitating and assisting former inmates, estimates that over 200 children are in the country's jails with their detained mothers.

President Robert Mugabe's human rights record has been condemned for the first time by African leaders, significantly increasing pressure on the Zimbabwean leader to restore the rule of law and stop evicting people from their homes. The unprecedented criticism comes from the African Union's Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, meeting in Banjul, The Gambia, which had until now been silent about the growing evidence of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, according to the Mail and Guardian.

Media organisations have slammed Harare’s move to make it compulsory for aspiring journalists to undergo national youth military training, writes Gugu Ziyaphapha. The outcry came after the Deputy Minister of Gender and Youth Development, Saviour Kasukuwere, told the national broadcaster that all those who wanted to learn journalism at government media houses and training institutions will be required to do militia training.

The African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR), an African Union (AU) institution, has adopted a resolution strongly denouncing Zimbabwe's human rights practices. "This will exert a lot of pressure on Zimbabwe - this is the first time such a significant body, so close to African heads of state, observes and condemns such defiance of human rights compliance," Arnold Tsunga, Director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told IRIN.

Beatrice Mtetwa, a Zimbabwean lawyer and human rights activist, was named Human Rights Lawyer of the Year in December by the legal and human rights campaigning group Liberty. She also received the International Press Freedom Award this year, issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Mtetwa fights for the right to press freedom in a country currently facing an economic meltdown. In this article, The Mail & Guardian Online asks Mtetwa about the greatest challenge facing an ordinary Zimbabwean, the struggles of the Zimbabwean media and the latest clampdown on the people - the Zimbabwean travel ban.

AFRODAD seeks an exceptional and experienced Program Director for Research and Policy Analysis for a period of two years (renewable subject to good performance) who will continue and develop its strong reputation for effective policy research and advocacy strategies on Debt and Development priorities (currently Millennium Development Goals, accountable resource use and good management including the promotion of effective and better use of aid, economic justice and External and Domestic Debt Analysis) . This is a key senior post in AFRODAD and the incumbent will play a significant role across Africa, working and representing AFRODAD externally at the highest levels.

According to reports in Zimbabwean newspapers, President Robert G. Mugabe has placed between 15 and 64 human rights activists and critics on a list of people who are banned from traveling outside the country because they allegedly threaten the country's national interests. The ministries of Justice and Foreign Affairs are deliberating draft regulations that will require Zimbabweans to obtain exit visas to travel outside the country.

The Zimbabwe Mirror Newspaper Group (ZMNG) board has defied a High Court order lifting the suspension of the paper’s founding editor-in-chief and CEO, Dr Ibbo Mandaza, writes Gugu Ziyaphapha in an article reposted on www.journalism.co.za The publishing group slapped Mandaza with a fresh suspension letter outside the court building soon after Justice Bharet Patel lifted Mandaza’s October suspension. The group publishes the Mirror and Sunday Mirror.