Clinics and specially trained police units work in conjunction in Zimbabwe to provide medical and legal assistance to rape victims, following a protocol that eventually leads to the justice system. But many victims say that although they make sure to seek medical attention at clinics, they refuse to report the incidences to the police for reasons ranging from fear their family members will find out to a lack of faith in the legal and justice systems.

Women of Zimbabwe Arise report on a case in which charges against six women were dismissed. In another case, two women face a case seen as an attempt to fix them with criminal charges.??

For the last decade the Zimbabwean government has been in default on most of its debt owed to the rest of the world, currently estimated to be around US$7 billion. This debt dates primarily from loans made in the 1980s and 1990s by private lenders such as banks; foreign governments such as France, Germany and the UK; and multilateral institutions like the World Bank, African Development Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). This report from the Zimbabwe Europe Network argues that in order to move towards a just and positive resolution to this crisis the origin of Zimbabwe’s debt must be investigated. The legitimacy of the debt needs to be established by examining whether these loans genuinely benefited the Zimbabwean people.

Botswana President Ian Khama, an arch-critic of President Robert Mugabe, could be working on normalising relations with the octogenarian leader after he sent a delegation from his party to 'offer solidarity support' to Zanu PF at the just ended annual conference. Khama, who has openly clashed with Mugabe in the past, sent a delegation from his Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) to attend the Zanu PF conference. BDP secretary-general Thabo Fanu Masalila heaped praise on Mugabe urging Zanu PF members to back the ageing leader.

A Zimbabwean activist, Gladys Mabvira, is set to spend her first Christmas in Harare in nine years as she is set to be kicked out of the UK next week. She has been an active member of opposition group ZAPU UK. Her open and public participation with this group, particularly her online blogging, would put her at risk if she was returned to Zimbabwe, says this article from

Waterborne diseases, such as typhoid, dysentery and watery diarrhoea - all approaching epidemic levels - are creating concerns that conditions exist for a reprise of the 2008/09 cholera epidemic, which killed more than 4,000 people and infected nearly 100,000 others. The Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP) for Zimbabwe, launched on 9 December, is asking for US$268 million for humanitarian assistance in 2012. The CAP highlights a decade of 'neglect' of the country’s water sanitation and hygiene sector (WASH), which has left 8 million people, or about two-thirds of the population, 'with limited access to WASH and health services'.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said it would be an act of cowardice for him to retire ahead of elections expected to be held next year. Closing his party's annual conference, Mr Mugabe, 87, condemned the current power-sharing government as a 'monster' which should be buried. Resolutions were passed endorsing Mr Mugabe as candidate, in spite of reports he is suffering ill-health.

Foreign companies have snatched $553 million worth of contracts for different projects in the country, with the Chinese getting the lion’s share, Parliament was told. Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion Paddy Zhanda made the disclosure while presenting a report on the 2012 National Budget. '$553 million worth of contracts were awarded to foreign companies and most of these to Chinese companies,' said Zhanda. 'Zimbabwe has a very high unemployment rate and a liquidity crisis and we implore the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, to stop this bleeding,' he said.

WikiLeaks’ archive of US State department cables on Zimbabwe has highlighted human rights abuses, corruption, and profound divisions within both the ruling party and the opposition, shaking the establishment in Zimbabwe. Political analysts suggest that the revelations may have brought the party to a breaking point. This post summarises the revelations that have been revealed by WikiLeaks.

The Constitutional Court has directed a Mail & Guardian application to have a South African government report on the 2002 Zimbabwe general elections made public, back to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria for further consideration. This decision, says the blog Writing Rights, shows the fragility of legality and the rule of law should the Constitutional Court become pro-executive or pro-wealth rather than stand fearlessly on the side of the Constitution and the people’s right to know.

Nationally, Zimbabwe is more food secure at the end of 2011 than it has been for several years. However, parts of Zimbabwe suffered serious crop failure earlier this year and a million people are still predicted to need supplementary feeding. In Gwanda, Matabeleland South, the authors of this study by the Solidarity Peace Trust found that almost half of households indicated a day without food in the recent past.

Women whose names do not appear on title deeds face hardships in Zimbabwe. The legal situation is such that husbands whose names appear on the title deeds can sell the immovable property to the detriment of the wife. The law only 'intervenes' at death in terms of the inheritance laws that state that the immovable property goes to the surviving spouse. Upon divorce, the immovable property is shared equitably using the provisions of the Matrimonial Causes Act. Women and Law in Southern Africa and the Property and Inheritance Rights Network of Zimbabwe has prepared a position paper for submission to the Law Development Commission.

Zimbabwean Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede has told Parliament’s committee on home affairs that deportations of Zimbabweans from South Africa and Botswana were stretching his department’s capacities, forcing it to operate seven days a week. Mudede said his staff now worked long hours to process documents for deported citizens. He said his office was overloaded, even though last year staffers went to South Africa to document Zimbabweans without passports who sought permits to reside there.

The Zimbabwean Defence Force has taken delivery of 20,000 AK-47s, uniforms, 12-15 trucks and about 21,000 pairs of handcuffs, says this article from Black Business Quarterly. The arms were delivered from China via a secret circuitous route, avoiding countries such as Mozambique and South Africa where the trade unions have in the recent past prevented Chinese arms shipments from reaching Zimbabwe.

In what has ignited strong fears of nuclear resource transfer between Zimbabwe and Tehran, the nuclear-power pursuing nation, Iran, has stated that it intends to share technology and scientific resources and expertise with the nation of Zimbabwe. This was revealed by the the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran.

'We write to you at this critical juncture to alert you to the potential individual and public health consequences which may ensue from the implementation of the immigration policy to deport. Our organisations are greatly concerned that, with the lifting of the moratorium and the resumption of deportations of Zimbabweans, there will be inevitable dire health consequences which will arise as the deportation process intensifies.'

Health authorities say 207 cases of typhoid are being treated in Zimbabwe’s capital after a prolonged spell of unusually hot weather amid acute water shortages. Harare city council health director Dr. Prosper Chonzi says no deaths have occurred so far in the monthlong outbreak. He said the disease will be difficult to contain in impoverished townships relying on water from shallow, makeshift wells and marshlands.

Nevanji Madanhire, the editor of the weekly Zimbabwe Standard newspaper, and reporter Nqaba Matshazi, were arrested in Harare on Tuesday 15 November and charged with theft, unlawful entry and criminal defamation. It is believed the journalists were taken to the Harare Central Police station. The duo’s arrest is over a story Matshazi wrote on 6 November that claimed a new health insurance firm, Green Card Medical Society, was reportedly on the brink of collapse. The story claimed that the company’s expenditure outstripped its income.

Regional leaders meeting for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Angola cornered President Robert Mugabe and told him Zimbabwe could not hold elections without reforms that would guarantee free and fair elections. He was also told last week the region would not accept violent elections. Mugabe suffered a double blow at the summit after his plan to have South African president Jacob Zuma toppled as facilitator to the Zimbabwe crisis was thrown out by SADC leaders, who felt Zuma had done well in trying to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis.

About 1,841 Zimbabweans who were living in South Africa illegally had last week trickled back into the country as the first batch of those deported arrived. Most of the deported Zimbabweans spoke out about their chilling experience at the hands of South Africans. 'Life in South Africa is very difficult for foreign nationals. Every day I was constantly reminded that I was a foreigner and most of the South Africans call us makwerekwere, a derogatory term used to mock foreigners,' said Alson Mhiri, a deportee.