ZANU PF’s new secretary for information and publicity, Rugare Gumbo, has reportedly sharply criticised President Robert Mugabe over who the most senior party official in the Midlands province should be as he battles to displace bitter rival Emmerson Mnangagwa as the political titan of the deeply-divided region.

Gumbo’s unexpected criticism of Mugabe, which could trigger a fierce backlash, during last weekend’s provincial development committee meeting in Gweru left senior party officials shocked and wondering whether their long-serving leader’s grip on the fractured movement was faltering.

AN ownership tussle has split Telecel Zimbabwe after Telecel International announced plans to sell a disputed 11% stake in the country’s second largest mobile phone operator, the Zimbabwe Independent can reveal.

Sources close to the developments say Telecel International, the largest shareholder in the company, last month indicated that it would sell the 11% stake in its local operation in line with laws restricting foreigners from owning a controlling shareholding in local telecoms companies. 

FINANCE minister Tendai Biti yesterday distributed US$100 million –– part of the International Monetary Fund’s US$510 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR) funds received last year for infrastructural development.

THE anguish on Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s face said it all as Rutendo Munengami, wife of Glen View North MP Fani Munengami, yesterday narrated her ordeal when 10 armed men beat her up and raped her in her home.

THE defence lawyer in the trial of MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett told the High Court this week that placing the deputy Agriculture minister-designate on his defence would be a complete “miscarriage of justice” as the state has failed to provide evidence to support allegations it raised in its summary.

FOLLOWING President Robert Mugabe’s claims last week that De Beers looted diamonds from the controversial Chiadzwa fields for 15 years and that African Consolidated Resources plc (ACR) was their agent that replaced them, the Zimbabwe Independent’s Chris Muronzi this week caught up with ACR chief executive officer Andrew Cranswick to hear his side of the story. Below are the excerpts.

IN 2007 Zimplats invited President Robert Mugabe to tour its Makwiro Platinum Mine at a time when the empowerment crusade was gathering momentum.

WITH the debate on the indigenisation regulations still raging on, the Zimbabwe Independent’s Chris Muronzi spoke to Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere about the matter. Below are excerpts of the interview.

THE Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC and Zanu PF are advocating adoption of a powerful executive and superficial reforms in the constitution-making process that will not broaden democracy, political analysts said this week.

ZIMBABWE is facing political and security risks which might scuttle the current transition, the International Crisis Group (ICG), a global organisation led by retired statesmen, has said.

INDIGENISATION and Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere will meet the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) and the Securities Commission (SEC) to deliberate on the empowerment regulations compelling white and foreign businesses to sell controlling stakes to blacks, amid reports that government may grant a reprieve.

MDC-T legislators this week took their leader Morgan Tsvangirai to task demanding a clear party position on sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

BRITISH premier Gordon Brown yesterday said sanctions against Zimbabwe should not be lifted until concerns about human rights violations and media restrictions are addressed.

THE government has accused the region’s biggest mining giant, South Africa’s De Beers, of looting tonnes of diamonds from the Chiadzwa mining fields over a period of 15 years without notifying the state of the discovery of the gems.

WHEN mystic Rotina Mavhunga, alias Sekuru Muboni, announced she had discovered pure diesel flowing from rocks in the sacred Chinhoyi caves, she became Zanu PF’s new best friend.