Two Zimbabwe opposition politicians were arrested yesterday as they entered parliament to be sworn in, their party said.
One of the men, Eliah Zembere, was among seven Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activists police have said they were seeking, alleging they were involved in election violence. The other, Sure Mudzingwa, was not on the list, and the two uniformed and three plainclothes officers who made the arrests did not say why nor where the two were being taken.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was unaware of yesterday’s arrests, and added: “It would be illegal for anyone to be arrested while they were proceeding to parliament.”
Independent human rights groups have said Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s forces were responsible for most of the violence since the opposition won the most seats in March 29 legislative elections.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mugabe and two other candidates in presidential elections held alongside the legislative balloting, but did not gain the simple majority of votes needed to avoid a runoff. Mugabe and Tsvangirai have entered into power-sharing negotiations.
Opposition spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the MDC remained determined to take up seats in parliament, which Mugabe was to open today for the first time since the elections nearly five months ago. Chamisa charged that the arrests were politically motivated, an attempt by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party to regain control of parliament. ZANU-PF had controlled parliament from independence in 1980 until the March vote.
“ZANU-PF are in a desperate attempt to try and stop or abort our victory,” Chamisa said. “It’s a struggle. We have to fight it out.”
Tsvangirai’s party has 100 seats in the 210-seat legislature; Mugabe’s party holds 99; and a faction that broke away from the opposition has 10. An independent politician who broke away from Mugabe’s party has the remaining seat.
Tsvangirai had criticized the reconvening of parliament given the deadlock in power-sharing talks mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Leaked documents from the talks show Tsvangirai balked at signing a deal based on an offer making him prime minister with limited powers and answerable to Mugabe, who would remain as president.
The documents show the prime minister would be deputy chairman of the Cabinet, and the president and the prime minister would need to agree on ministerial posts. With the prime minister reporting regularly to the president, Mugabe’s power would be left virtually intact.
The political impasse has worsened Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown.
Official inflation is given as 11 million percent, but independent financial institutions say it is closer to 40 million percent amid acute shortages of food, gasoline, medicine and most basic goods.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It