President Robert Mugabe has made a bid to claim unilaterally key government ministries - including defence, foreign affairs and home affairs - in Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government. But his main opponents have rejected the move as "a giant act of madness."

The MDC dismisses the Zanu PF's unilaterally gazetted wish list of ministries, which is a betrayal of the wishes, expectations and aspirations of the majority of Zimbabweans.

PRESIDENT Mugabe has gazetted ministries allocated to Zanu-PF, MDC-T and MDC in terms of the power-sharing agreement signed by the three parties.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the parties in Zimbabwe to step up their efforts to reach a "workable agreement" following the power-sharing deal reached earlier this month that ended months of political upheaval and set the stage for the formation of a government of national unity.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected in Zimbabwe early next week, according to a statement by the Mutumbara MDC. The leaders of the political parties, Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara met in Harare on Friday but failed to resolve their differences over the distribution of cabinet posts, but finally agreed to recall the facilitator to help break the impasse.

Protest action group the Zimbabwe Vigil is marking its 6th anniversary outside the Zimbabwe embassy in London on Saturday - this as the country's political, humanitarian and economic crises continues to put millions of lives at risk.

There was an uproar from the journalism fraternity when some of them were barred from covering a scheduled press conference at Morgan Tsvangirai's home on Wednesday, by his security guards.

Constitutional amendment 19, which was expected to be railroaded through the second session of the seventh Parliament that begins in Harare on Tuesday, has not yet even been drafted.

The offices of a human rights pressure group were raided by police on Friday, immediately after the group held a demonstration around 11am.

Zimbabwe's official annual inflation rate reached 231 million percent in early October, from the July estimate of 11.2 million percent, and the deadlock in talks between the ruling ZANU-PF and opposition parties is likely to push hyperinflation higher.

AN award-winning Spanish dance company will perform in a one-off show in Harare on Sunday October 19, presenting their own work and also partnering with National Ballet and Dance Trust of Zimbabwe dancers in several pieces.

MUCKRAKER rarely bites the hand that feeds him, which is why the largesse extended by the diplomatic community at national-day functions mostly goes unremarked in this column.

WHILE the country's three political parties continue to haggle over cabinet posts, inflation has risen to 231 million %.

THE announcement this week that the government is deferring the writing of Grade 7 examinations to the end of the month epitomises the unprecedented level of state dysfunction as a result of the political paralysis that has affected the economy over the past decade.

IN their few and scattered moments of excitement, MDC supporters normally chant the classic "Zanu Yaora baba", which foreign journalists incorrectly translate as Zanu PF is rotten.

THE haggling over the distribution of cabinet posts between President Robert Mugabe and the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC under the unity government deal is a precursor to more clashes as the parties' differences come into play.

THE European Union (EU) foreign affairs ministers will meet on Monday to review targeted sanctions imposed on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle.

JOSPHAT Zulu stares in awe at the empty supermarket shelves in Mabelreign, Harare.

ALTHOUGH the milliard of Zimbabwe's doom and gloom merchants continue to have their endless prognostications of Zimbabwe's continuing demise,

THE MDC has approached former Reserve Bank governor Kombo Moyana to return to head the central bank after the formation of an inclusive government.