Zimbabwe - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Zimbabwe’s “Biker Queen” rides full throttle against gender norms

EVONNE Mudzingwa is in her happy place. The roar of an engine at full throttle is music to the ears of Evonne Mudzingwa and the glint in her eye is from light reflecting off brilliant chrome on powerful two-wheelers filling a parking lot in Harare. It’s a Sunday afternoon, which means the country’s highways have little traffic - every biker’s dream. Mudzingwa and the other members of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club are clad in leathers and are conducting their final checks, raring to go. Their destination is the city of Kadoma, 140 kilometres southwest of the capital. It’s an annual…

Feb

2024

By NYASHA CHINGONO

Zimbabwe to link exchange rate to hard assets, create currency board

BUSINESS

ZIMBABWE is working on new measures to stabilise its local currency including linking the exchange rate to hard assets such as gold and creating a currency board, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said. The Zimbabwean dollar has fallen about 40% since the start of the year, hurt by increased foreign-currency demand from civil servants being paid December bonuses and weaker commodity prices denting inflows. Last week President Emmerson Mnangagwa said authorities were looking to introduce a "structured currency", without explaining how that would work, and the central bank governor said that work was ongoing. "The idea going forward is to make sure that…

Jan

2024

By NYASHA CHINGONO

Zimbabwe launches door-to-door cholera vaccination campaign

HEALTH

ZIMBABWE launched a cholera vaccination campaign to immunize over 2 million people against the waterborne disease, amid an outbreak that has killed hundreds since early last year. Cholera had killed 452 people and infected a total of 20,446 in the southern African country as of January 24, since the outbreak started in February 2023, according to health ministry statistics. About half of the cases have involved children. Zimbabwe will receive a total of 2.3 million vaccine doses from UNICEF and the World Health Organization to be deployed to 29 of the hardest-hit districts. More than 892,000 doses have already been…

Jan

2024

By NYASHA CHINGONO

Zimbabwe opposition leader freed from two years’ pre-trial detention

NEWS

A Zimbabwean court freed opposition politician Job Sikhala after nearly 600 days of pre-trial detention on charges of inciting public violence in 2022. Sikhala, 51, a leader in the opposition party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), has been arrested dozens of times since he began his political career in 1999. He was jailed in 2022 for obstruction of justice and inciting public violence after saying that the ruling party, ZANU PF, had killed an opposition activist, which it denied. He denied all charges against him. On Tuesday, a Harare magistrate convicted him of inciting public violence but gave him a…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Weaver Press is closing – how one small, brave Zimbabwean publisher made a difference

MEDIA FREEDOM

WITH the news that it is to halt operations, it’s a fitting time to take stock of Weaver Press in Zimbabwe. The publishing house started small in 1998 and remained small, co-managed by its two full-time employees, the husband and wife team of Murray McCartney and Irene Staunton. At the same time as Weaver Press was celebrating its 25th anniversary, McCartney revealed that it would effectively be closing. TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU, Junior Research Fellow, University of Oxford For the couple, publishing was a labour of love. The company’s office in the backyard of their house in suburban Harare was a way…

Jan

2024

By NYASHA CHINGONO

Zimbabwe gold output declines 15% amid electricity, forex shortages

BUSINESS

ZIMBABWE produced 30 metric tons of gold in 2023, 15% less than the previous year, official data showed, as electricity cuts and currency volatility impacted output. The southern African country was once among the top gold producers on the continent but has fallen far behind regional peers Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Tanzania as an extended economic crisis kept investors away. Zimbabwe remains largely under-explored and its operating mines struggle to raise capital due to concerns over government policy and property rights, especially after the seizure of white-owned farms at the turn of the century. Output plunged to a…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe gold mine collapse leaves 11 miners trapped

NEWS

ELEVEN subsistence mine workers are trapped in an underground shaft after a ground collapse at Zimbabwe's Redwing Mine, 270 km (167.77 miles) west of the capital Harare, authorities said. The incident took place on Thursday morning, with initial assessments pointing to earth tremors as the possible cause of the accident, Zimbabwe's mines ministry said in a statement. Metallon Corporation, which owns Redwing Mine, confirmed the incident in a separate statement. The company has deployed a rescue team to bring the trapped miners back to the surface, it added. "The team has made several rescue attempts. However, the ground remains unstable,…

Dec

2023

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Africa’s Big Christmas Spenders: Cameroon and Zimbabwe

NEWS

AFRICAN households will focus on gifts and decorations as they take a more cautious approach to their Christmas holiday spending this year, on the back of a rising cost of living, according to the Cost of Christmas report. A new ‘Cost of Christmas’ study by WorldRemit shows Cameroon (US $650 and Zimbabwe( US$ 254) will be the continent’s biggest spenders this season, with bulk of their expenditure going to gifts and decorations. While Kenyans will spend the most to buy gifts to friends and families at 56% of their monthly household income, Zimbabwe comes second at 41% ,South Africa (38%)…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe names Mushayavanhu as next central bank governor

BUSINESS

ZIMBABWE said that career banker John Mushayavanhu would take over as its central bank governor next year. President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government said in a statement that Mushayavanhu has more than 30 years of experience at banks including Standard Chartered Bank and FBC Bank. Mushayavanhu will replace John Mangudya, whose 10-year term at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe ends on April 30 next year. Mangudya will become CEO of the Mutapa Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund that was created in 2014 but is only becoming active this year with the appointment of a board of directors and now a chief…

Nov

2023

By NYASHA CHINGONO

Zimbabwe restricts gatherings, food vending as cholera cases spike

NEWS

ZIMBABWE'S government has started restricting public gatherings and food vending while monitoring burials in all areas affected by cholera after cases of the disease spiked this week. New cholera cases in the southern African country trebled from 437 to 1,259 this week, the biggest jump since the latest outbreak of the water-borne disease started in February. This has triggered panic in Zimbabwe, where more than 4,000 people died from cholera in 2008. To date, the country has recorded 155 deaths linked to cholera from 8,787 cases, according to the health ministry. The authorities declared a state of emergency in the…