From mid-September, our executive director, Ben Freeth, rode a few spot Appaloosa horse called Warrior across western Namibia to raise funds for three projects in Zimbabwe: a small Christian primary school for underprivileged children that we support, our conservation agriculture training programme and our free, open-pollinated (OPV) seed pack project for poor rural families. He also called for the regional court of justice, the SADC Tribunal, to be reinstated so that the 400m million SADC citizens can once again have access to justice.

A Harare vendor, James Chamisa, has successfully sued Harare Municipal Police for US$21 000 after he sustained serious injuries following a severe assault in 2018. According to court papers, he was wrongly and unlawfully assaulted by municipal police with batons, fists, booted feet and palms. As a result, he suffered physical bodily injury, including a fractured right hand and two fractured ribs. He also suffered psychological injury and trauma. He was awarded US$1 830 for medical expenses, US$20 000 for shock, pain and suffering and US$10 000 for contumelia (harm and humiliation).

Constitutional law expert Professor Lovemore Madhuku has trashed the ruling party ZANU PF’s attempts to illegally extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s second term to 2030. “There is no legal mechanism of doing it as it currently stands,” he said. “The kind of amendments ZAU PF is talking about are not possible without a referendum. There are a few things you can amend without going for a referendum but if you want to tamper with the term of office of the president, the exercise of executive powers or the structure of the state, you cannot avoid a referendum.”