Zimbabwe

HARARE, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday appointed Vice President (VP) Constantino Chiwenga as new Minister of Health and Child Care.

Chiwenga takes over former minister Obadiah Moyo whom was fired by Mnangagwa last month over corruption allegations.

This means Chiwenga will double as VP and health minister.

Misheck Sibanda, the chief secretary to the president and cabinet, confirmed the appointment of Chiwenga in a statement.

Sibanda said Chiwenga's appointment was with immediate effect.

HARARE, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zimbabwe abruptly suspended all mobile money transactions, the most widely used platform to make and receive payments in the crisis-ridden country, claiming the move would tackle crime and economic sabotage.

The government also suspended all trade on the country’s stock exchange, which it accused of being complicit in illicit financial activities.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s health minister on Saturday was charged with criminal abuse of duty as a public officer, accused of illegally awarding a multi-million-dollar contract for COVID-19 medical supplies to a shadowy company that sold the government $28 face masks and other materials at inflated prices.

The country’s anti-corruption agency arrested Obadiah Moyo on Friday and the government cancelled the contracts following public uproar.

HARARE, May 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Zimbabwean President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, expressed Zimbabwe’s gratitude to the visiting team of Chinese medical experts, for sharing their experience and knowledge with Zimbabwe’s front-line medical staff in fighting the COVID-19.

He extended the appreciation in a letter, read out by Zimbabwean Health Minister, Obadiah Moyo, at a joint press conference at the conclusion of the team’s two week visit to the country.

He said, Zimbabwe’s medical staff had benefited immensely from the team’s front-line knowledge in fighting COVID-19.

HARARE, May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zimbabwe’s second biggest city of Bulawayo limited access to tap water to just one day a week as reservoir levels fall to dangerously low levels amid the country’s worst drought in years.

After a devastating drought in 2019 and patchy rains this year, water shortages have worsened in Bulawayo, in the west of the country, forcing families to trek to unsafe wells as taps run dry.

HARARE, May 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A team of 12 Chinese doctors have arrived in Zimbabwe to help in the fight against coronavirus.

The southern Africa nation has confirmed 36 cases in total and four deaths.

The doctors, from China’s Hunan Province, arrived in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, on Monday with test kits and protective gear, the state-run Herald newspaper reports.

The 12 doctors have “front-line experience in the prevention and control of Covid-19”, Chinese state-owned China Global Television Network reports.

Harare, Mar 27 (AFP/PTI) Zimbabwe has re-introduced the use of foreign currency for domestic transactions in what was seen as a bid to tap into private forex savings as the country gears up for the battle against the novel coronavirus.

In a statement the central bank governor John Mangudya said the move is part of "measures to mitigate the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the Zimbabwean society and the economy".

HARARE, March 25 (NNN-XINHUA) — With demand far outstripping supply, prices for essential products needed to contain the spread of COVID-19 are on the rise as the virus takes its first life in Zimbabwe.

In most supermarkets at the capital Harare, face masks and sanitizers were in acute short supply, and in all the pharmacies they were available they were being offered at exorbitant prices.

HARARE, March 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared the coronavirus pandemic as a national disaster.

He said this could help the government mobilize resources. Mnangagwa also cancelled Independence Day celebrations and international sporting events to curb spread of COVID-19.

“The government has postponed the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), all previously scheduled national independence celebrations and international sporting events on hold until the coronavirus threat dissipates”, Mnangagwa said.

HARARE, March 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — They figure on Zimbabwe’s national flag, banknotes and official documents: stone statues representing birds taken away by the European colonialists more than a century ago.

The eight original sculptures hold great spiritual value for people of the southern African nation, and have been made into national emblems.

Six of the large carvings were stolen from the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, an imposing stone complex built between the 11th and 13th centuries and attributed to pre-colonial King Munhumutapa.