Emmerson mnangagwa
Riot police deployed in Zimbabwe ahead of planned stayaway
Reports from towns and cities across the country appear to show that the situation is normal.
The 36-year-old former soldier is the fourth person who has tried to gain access to President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s official residence in recent months.
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday sacked his state security minister Owen Ncube for "inappropriate" behaviour, his office announced.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections and deaths, with more than 2,000 cases and 30 deaths reported on Thursday.
Sarudzayi Ambiri Jani (39) and Remember Ncube (35) were arrested in June 2020 for sharing the image on a neighbourhood group in the southern border town of Beitbridge.
From 1983, Robert Mugabe deployed a North Korean-trained military unit to crack down on a revolt in the southwestern region of Matabeleland in newly independent Zimbabwe, say rights groups.
Critics see little difference between Emmerson Mnangagwa - Robert Mugabe's former deputy - and his ex-boss, accusing him of seeking to create a one-party state under the ruling Zanu-PF.
Wednesday marked the start of the second phase of the vaccine rollout that began last month and it's hoped this high-profile event will encourage others to receive the jab.
In a statement, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that ZANU–PF was misusing the levers of government to silence its critics.
Infections and deaths from COVID-19 are coming down, at least according to official figures, with just 31 new cases reported on Sunday.
The EU said that a lack of political and economic reforms were allowing the humanitarian, economic and social situation to deteriorate in the country.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced the death of Douglas Nyikayaramba at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.
Job Sikhala, vice chairman of the main opposition party Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-Alliance), was arrested on 21 August and charged with inciting the public to commit violence.
Worsening economic hardships, the arrest of government critics, and a clampdown against planned protests have triggered a storm of criticism at home and abroad, but Zanu-PF insisted there was no crisis to discuss.
Robert Mugabe died on 6 September last year, aged 95 in a Singapore hospital, two years after he was forced to resign in 2017, and after 37 years in power.
Last month, Zimbabwe agreed to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to local white farmers whose land was forcibly taken by the government to resettle black families, moving a step closer to resolving one the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era.
The authorities have arrested several opposition activists and government critics in recent months, including opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume and journalist and documentary filmmaker Hopewell Chin'ono.
On Friday, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) issued an unusually strong letter deploring the thwarting of anti-government protests on July 31.
Fortune Chasi was seen as one of the more progressive ministers in the Mnangagwa cabinet, but a statement said that Chasi’s conduct was incompatible with the president’s expectations.