Week 40
Een wekelijkse selectie artikelen uit Zimbabwaanse kranten
Matabeleland has the highest number of widows in Zimbabwe
A government survey has revealed that Matabeleland North and South provinces top the statistics of families with widows compared to other provinces.
The statistics are contained in a 2024 Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLAC) Rural Livelihoods Assessment (RLA) report under the characteristics of household head: marital status section.
“Matabeleland South (27.3%) had the highest proportion of household heads who were widowed against the national proportion of 23.6%,” the report reads.
“The average age of the household heads was 54.9 years.
“About 37.7% of the households were female-headed and the highest proportion was recorded in Matabeleland North (44.3%).
“Elderly- headed households constituted 26.4% whilst child-headed households were 0.3%.”
Gukurahundi: Zimbabwe’s lingering genocide wounds
Nearly four decades ago, Ben Moyo, who was 24 years old and a trainee teacher in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North Province, experienced a sad turn of destiny when a deadly genocide erupted in the country.
The genocide left Moyo in a wheelchair. He was one of the victims of many roadblocks mounted by marauding soldiers that randomly killed villagers in Tsholotsho where he worked. On that fateful day, he barely escaped death.
The genocide came to be known as “Gukurahundi,” and raged on from 1982 onwards. Elements within the Zimbabwean army targeted the minority Ndebele tribe. Gukurahundi is a term drawn from the Shona language which loosely translates to “the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains.”
A silent struggle: Pregnant vapostori women’s secret quest for antenatal services
In a secluded, dimly lit room at a rural public health clinic in Mashonaland West province, Makanaka, a 23-year-old heavily pregnant woman, sits quietly, her eyes scanning the door nervously.
She’s among thousands of apostolic sect members — commonly referred to as vapostori — whose faith prohibits them from seeking medical attention.
Yet here she is, in direct violation of her doctrine, hoping to get vital antenatal services that could save her life and that of her unborn child.
“I am not supposed to be here,” she whispers, her hands trembling slightly as they rest on her swollen belly.
“In my church, we believe that prayer can heal and protect us, even during childbirth. But this is my third pregnancy. The first two babies died during labour.
“I don’t want to lose another child. I need help, but I must make sure no one from the church finds out.”
Coltart proposes Khami Dam as panacea to water crisis
Bulawayo mayor David Coltart on Tuesday hinted on Khami Dam as a possible solution to the city’s water crisis, but indicated that efforts to draw water from the dam were being resisted by residents of the city.
But speaking on Tuesday during the Wet Skills Foundation ceremony, Coltart said the city should follow in the footsteps of the City of London in the United Kingdom, which recycles water up to 20 times a day.
“To the south-west of the city, we have Khami Dam whose water people will not drink because they think it is filthy and yet the quality of that water can easily be enhanced. So there are many solutions that are open to us,” Coltart said.
“We understand that in the context of the city, there are a variety of aspects that involve the problem of water. It is not just the construction of dams and the construction of efficient water delivery systems, [but] it is also the recycling of water.”
Matabeleland North tops in open defecation
Matabeleland North has been ranked top in open defecation due to lack of sanitary facilities, a new report has shown, amid fears this could lead to the spread of communicable diseases such as diarrhoea.
According to the 2024 Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee Rural Livelihoods Assessment report under the sanitation section, there was no significant change from 2020 on the proportion of households which practised open defecation.
The report said Matabeleland North had the highest proportion of households which practised open defecation in the five years.
The tabulated statistics show that Matabeleland North in 2024 reported that 48% of people practising open defecation, a figure that dropped from last year’s 53%. Matabeleland North is followed by Masvingo at 34% and Mashonaland West at 30%.
Digital revolution eases life in rural areas
Recognising the transformative power of ICT, the Zimbabwean government has made efforts to improve infrastructure and connectivity in rural areas.
Through the Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services ministry, several initiatives have been launched to increase internet penetration.
Speaking at the launch of the National ICT Policy in 2020, former ICT minister Jenfan Muswere highlighted government’s plans to bridge the digital divide.
“The government has committed to building community information centres in rural areas, equipping them with computers and providing free internet access to citizens. We want rural communities to be part of the knowledge economy,” he said.
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) has also taken significant steps.
Through the Universal Services Fund, Potraz is setting-up base stations in remote areas to improve mobile network coverage.
PVO Bill to define country’s identity — Ziyambi (The Herald, state owned)
The Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) Amendment Bill, passed by the National Assembly last week, is revolutionary and will allow the civic society to be governed in a manner that defines the nation’s identity, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has said. The PVO Amendment Bill now awaits transmission to the Senate.
The Bill seeks to demand better financial accountability of private voluntary organisations through tightening of financial accounting and insistence on a PVO remaining solely within its listed functions, and deal with criminals carrying out undesirable and harmful illegal activities under the name of charity.
Zanu PF, opposition and the road to 2028
This paper revisits three critical results from the Afrobarometer/MPOI poll results which have the most critical highlights of the political pulse reading in Zimbabwe.
First, the results on current voting intentions show that, if presidential elections were held tomorrow, 41% would vote for Zanu PF and/or its candidate, 15% for Nelson Chamisa and/or a party aligned with him, 7% for CCC and/or its candidate, 7% wouldn’t vote, 29% don’t know/refused to answer, and 1% for other candidates.
Second, the Afrobarometer/MPOI poll results show that about 61% of Zimbabweans, with majorities among them being from rural areas, believe the country is moving in the wrong direction, and 63% describe the economic conditions as “fairly bad” or “very bad.” In contrast, 38% think the country is moving in the right direction, and 26% think economic conditions are “fairly good” or “very good.”
Curtain comes down on Kunda/Nqobi TB program
The Kunda/Nqobi TB (KNTB) program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) comes to a close at a time beneficiaries are still drooling for more having screened over 1 million Zimbabweans since 2019.
The USAID injected US$15 million for this project implemented by The Union Zimbabwe Trust (UZT) in partnership with Baines Occupational Health Services, Hospice and Palliative Care Association of Zimbabwe and Jointed Hands Welfare Organisation (JHWO).
Addressing the close out ceremony in Harare, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora in a speech read on his behalf by his Deputy, Hon. Sleiman Kwidini said the close-out ceremony provides a chance to count the gains achieved over the past five years.
Over 1 million people get information on TB
More than one million Zimbabweans have been reached with vital information about TB and HIV since 2019 through the US$15 million USAID-supported Kunda-Nqob’iTB (KN-TB) programme.
The programme was implemented by the Union Zimbabwe Trust in partnership with the Joined Hands Welfare Organisation, Hospice Palliative Care Association of Zimbabwe and Baines Occupational Health Services, as part of a global initiative to end TB.
So far 13 800 individuals in eight districts have been screened for TB.
It was implemented across the eight priority districts of Gweru, Kwekwe, Shurugwi, Chirumhanzu, Zvishavane, Gwanda, Insiza, and Mwenezi to find missed persons with TB and link them to care.
ZiG rejection: Consumers at the receiving end
The dust road to Mutare stretched out before the 75-year-old Jacob Mutasa, a retired teacher from Chihera village in Betera, Buhera, under Chief Nyashanu.
He had made the 191km journey countless times during his working years, but this time it felt different.
It was a journey of sorts a desperate attempt to make his little pension stretch a little further.
The meagre sum, now paid in the increasingly devaluing Zimbabwean Gold currency (ZiG), is his only source of income.
The hope he clung to, as he stepped into the city of Mutare is quickly extinguished.
His bank card felt like mere scraps of paper in his hands.
“The network is down; we are not taking ZiG; our swipe machine is out of battery,” Mutasa recalled how he moved from one shop to another getting one excuse after another.
RBZ devalues ZiG. . . it’s too little too late, says analyst
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) yesterday devalued the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) to ZiG24,39 per dollar from ZiG13,99 in the biggest drop as monetary authorities buckled under pressure to dump the command exchange rate.
The devaluation comes amid a rise in premiums on the parallel market amid concerns the overvalued exchange rate would fuel arbitrage.
The dollar is trading at between ZiG35 and ZiG40 on the parallel market.
The devaluation comes barely a week after retailers warned of closure citing the exchange rate which was choking players.
