If you’re trying to catch a non-rained-out ZIFF film this week, note this update from ZIFF:

Please be advised that due to the unexpected change in weather we are unable to continue screening in our main screen venue, Harare Gardens. All main screen films will as from tonight Tuesday, 4  October be screened at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival Trust offices at 2 Canterbury Road Kensington, Avondale Harare. A tent will be provided to cover audiences from possible rain. All band performance have however been cancelled, but we will have Ceaser Kajura to play the saxophone every night after the screenings.



This morning, in a long-awaited bail hearing Justice Maphios Cheda of the Bulawayo High Court granted Jenni Williams and Magondonga Mahlangu of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) bail on a surety of $200 each, after 13 nights in custody.  The only condition is that they not interfere with any state witnesses.  They have not been asked to surrender travel documents or even to report to the police.  They will appear for remand on Thursday, October 6.

It is clear from this ruling that the judge did not take the case against them very seriously, and we wonder why it took so long for a bail hearing date to be set down.  Was the state attempting simply to punish the two by arresting and holding them on flimsy charges, knowing that in fact they have committed no crime?  If so, it would not be the first time this has happened.  WOZA is dismayed that under the Government of National Unity such a perversion of justice continues, with elements of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the justice system allowed to operate untrammelled without the slightest concern for the basic principles of law and human rights.  We hope that there will be no further delays and they will be released promptly, as is their right.

WOZA would like to thank all those supporters who showed solidarity with Williams and Mahlangu through the past two weeks. Together we can promote a more democratic society in which rights are respected and social justice prevails.

I don’t know about you but I’m beginning to feel like 18 hour powercuts are the new normal. There was a ZESA fault at home last week – and it took  a full day for anyone on our street to report it; we’d gotten used to the lights going off and never coming back.

The Zimbabwe Power Company chairperson is blaming low levels of generation – 4 of 6 units working at Kariba and the 2 Phase Two (larger) units are on line at Hwange. He says they hope to bring back two of the 4 Phase One (smaller) units over the next day or so. Maybe things are gonna get brighter?

But why does my ZESA bill never go down – even when the lights go out?

Zimbabwe International Film Festival arrives is on – 30 September – 7 October. Screening venues include Harare Gardens, Alliance Francaise, and the Embassy of Spain Cultural Centre.

Films include:

• An African Election (Ghana, 2010)
• Mama Africa (South Africa, Finland and Germany, 2011)
• The Redemption of General Butt Naked (USA, Liberia, 2010)
• Blood in the Mobile (Denmark, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010)
• Kinyarwanda (Rwanda, 2011)
• A Small Town Called Descent (South Africa, 2011)
• Sinking Sands (Ghana, 2011)
• Viva Riva (Democratic Republic of Congo, 2010)

Download the programmes here

According to NewsDay, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has reversed its recent directive which had dramatically restricted the activities of property sellers:

In a major climbdown the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has indefinitely suspended the implementation of recently introduced policy measures requiring proceeds from disposal of immovable property valued at $50 000 or more to be paid in tranches.

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