The government is planning to introduce important new restrictions on access to cabinet and royal papers under freedom of information. Under the new plans, cabinet papers would be absolutely exempt from FOI for a period of 20 years. This would include records relating to cabinet sub-committees. This would be significantly tighter than the current position, where for most cabinet documents the deci...

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- President Robert Mugabe is preparing to form Zimbabwe's next government, with or without his main political rival who is balking at a power-sharing deal, state media reported Wednesday....

THE Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security has recommended that talks over the allocation of Cabinet posts be referred to a full summit of regional Heads of State and Government after Zimbabwe's three main political parties failed to agree on the allocation of the Home Affairs ministry.

Regular readers of The Voice may be familiar with my correspondence with the Cabinet Office and the tales of how the Cabinet Office has lost correspondence, failed to comply with data protection access requests and ignored requests made under the Freedom of Information Act. In short, the Cabinet Office’s administration is frequently chaotic and on

Zimbabwe's power sharing talks looked set to completely collapse on Thursday after Mugabe issued an ultimatum to the MDC to join a proposed unity government or be left out. The ZANU PF leader threatened to appoint a new cabinet if the MDC did not sign up.

The Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that Cabinet this morning had lasted for about an hour. They predominantly discussed the economy and there was also a discussion on the Children s Plan led by Ed Balls and on the situation in Zimbabwe led by the Foreign Secretary. On the economy, the Chancellor reminded Cabinet about the action the Government was taking to ensure famili...

Some of you know my interest in democracy in Zimababwe - well the last 24 hours have seen a new low. Roy Bennett, treasurer for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe and deputy agriculture minister designate, was yesterday abducted by members of the notorious Law and Order unit as he was leaving the country on a flight to South Africa.Bennett had entered Zimbabwe on the morning of 1...

It is clear to everyone that Zimbabwe is literally starving to death with a population malnourished, lacking the energy to revolt, living in fear of the repression of the government. The fact that Zimbabwe now produces virtually no goods, has nothing to sell abroad is made strikingly clear from the official website of the Zimbabwe government. Clicking on this site you expect to see news, press rel...

What has happened in Zimbabwe is hateful... the regime that swore it would fight for freedom ended up being the enemy of freedom.The price has been, instead of the country being a benchmark for freedom, it has ended up being a benchmark for tyranny. President Mbeki, has revealed himself as indecisive at best- and a man in deep denial about the nature of the regime in Harare. He does not think that...

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude calls government proposals to make more data publicly available "Freedom of Information 2.0".