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3 killed in Togo unrest after arrest of religious leader
Lome - Togo officials say three people, including two soldiers, have been killed in clashes after the arrest on Monday evening of a religious leader close to an opposition politician.
The government said on Tuesday that paramilitary forces arrested Mohamed Alassani Djobo on charges of preaching violence and hatred against the military. Djobo is associated with opposition politician Tikpi Atchadam who has led protests calling for presidential term limits.
The government said protesters in the central Togo cities of Sokode and Bafilo erected street barricades and set fire to the ruling party headquarters and the homes of government officials.
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Hangman or 'hangwoman'? Dozens apply for job as Zim executioner
Harare - More than 50 people, including women, have applied for the post of hangman in Zimbabwe, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The post has been vacant for years, amid reports that former justice minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa was reluctant to have it filled because of his opposition to the death penalty.
"People are very interested [in the job]," a top official in the justice ministry, Virginia Mabhiza, told NewsDay.
"The response has been overwhelming and the applications have been from both men and women interested in taking up the position of hangman. We have received over 50 applications in the past few months," she told the paper.
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Zanu-PF youth wing: Mugabe should be allowed to die in office
Harare - The youth wing of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party has proposed that the nonagenarian should be allowed to die in office, fuelling speculation that the 93 year-old leader was not keen on relinquishing power.
This comes at a time when the majority of the ruling party’s structures in all provinces countrywide met at the weekend and resolved to call for a special congress in December to deal with factionalism caused by Mugabe’s failure to groom a successor during his 37 years in power.
The provincial meetings came only a few days after the ruling party’s highest decision making body between congresses, the Politburo, considered a motion to convene a special congress to deal with internal fissures threatening to destroy Zanu-PF ahead of next year’s elections.
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Zim students in Russia 'starving', begging for immediate help – report
Moscow – Zimbabwean students in Russia have reportedly begged Higher Education Minister Jonathan Moyo for assistance as they claimed to be "starving" after being abandoned by President Robert Mugabe’s government.
According to New Zimbabwe.com, a student leader in Russia said nothing had come of representations to Department of Scholarship Minister Christopher Mushohwe.
In a note sent to Moyo, the student leader, Hubert Nyabadza, has accused Mushohwe of doing nothing while the students’ situation was desperate and in need of immediate intervention.
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Zimbabwe's white farmers trying to strike new deal
Harare – Zimbabwe’s remaining white commercial farmers who fear renewed land invasions, have resorted to negotiating directly with the government or the possible new owners to protect their properties, says a report.
According to New Zimbabwe.com, an unnamed member of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) says that the remaining farmers have abandoned courts and the union, and instead opted for a new approach.
The CFU member said that farmers have now decided to share their land with the new farmers in the hope that they were not going to be moved by President Robert Mugabe's government.
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Kenya high court suspends ban on opposition protests
Nairobi - Kenya's high court on Tuesday temporarily lifted a government curb on protests in three main cities, until a full hearing can be held on an opposition petition to scrap the ban entirely.
Security Minister Fred Matiangi announced the ban last Thursday but opposition supporters have defied the order, notably in the western stronghold of Kisumu where three people have been shot dead by police.
The high court ordered the ban suspended "pending the hearing and determination" of a petition by the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition arguing it contravened their constitutional right to protest.
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Zimbabwe bans fruit, vegetable imports to save scarce forex
Harare - Zimbabwe has banned the importation of fruit and vegetables to save scarce foreign currency in the face of a worsening economic crisis, state media reported on Tuesday.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told The Herald that President Robert Mugabe had directed that the importation of horticultural products be stopped "as they waste much-needed foreign currency".
"This means that the importation of fruit and vegetables will be stopped immediately."
"The foreign currency being wasted on the importation of carrots and grapes will now be utilised towards the purchase of more fertilisers and pesticides," he said.
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