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.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
One of Japan’s biggest pop stars and best-known TV hosts, Masahiro Nakai, yesterday announced his retirement over sexual misconduct allegations, reports said, in the latest scandal to rock Japan’s entertainment industry. Nakai’s announcement came after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates admitted in 2023 that its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men. Nakai was a member of the now-disbanded SMAP — part of Johnny & Associates’s lucrative stable — that swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the band’s nearly 30 years of fame. Reports emerged last month that Nakai, 52, who since
EYEING A SOLUTION: In unusually critical remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump said he was ‘destroying Russia by not making a deal’ US President Donald Trump on Wednesday stepped up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war. Trump’s warning in a social media post came as the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term. “If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
RSS