Zimbabwe

HARARE, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe held a crucial one-day parliamentary and local government by-election on Saturday which was characterized by a low voter turnout in many constituencies.

The by-elections, which had been set aside due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were to choose parliamentary and local government representatives in 28 parliamentary constituencies and 122 local government jurisdictions across the country.

Most constituents fell vacant when opposition lawmakers were recalled in a battle over the control of the country's largest opposition party, the MDC-T.

HARARE, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe will hold its first by-elections in two years Saturday following the lifting of the suspension of elections by the government in a bid to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Observers have said that the by-elections, in which 28 parliamentary and 122 council seats will be up for grabs, will provide contesting parties with ideas on how they will fare in 2023 harmonized presidential, parliamentary and council elections.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A retired U.S. Army soldier was fined $400 and given a suspended jail sentence Thursday for attempting to carry a gun and ammunition onto a plane in Zimbabwe.

Retired Sgt. Maj. Ronald Leon Johnson had been held in the renowned Chikurubi Prison for more than a week after he was arrested Feb. 15 at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe Airport in the capital, Harare.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — After learning that a friend tested positive for COVID-19, Thembi Ndlovu went to a health clinic in Zimbabwe’s capital in search of a free coronavirus test. But there were none left that day, leaving the 34-year-old hairdresser unsure if she needed to take precautions to protect clients.

“I wish we could just walk into a pharmacy and buy a cheap self-testing kit like we do with pregnancy or HIV,” she said as she left the clinic in a working-class township of Harare. “It would be much easier.”

HARARE, Jan 9 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — At least 11 Zimbabweans who attempted to cross the crocodile-infested Limpopo River into South Africa are feared dead after a boat transporting them capsized, while three others were swept away in different incidents.

Beitbridge Police District Chief Superintendent Tichaona Nyongo saidt only one body had been recovered so far.

“So far a body has been recovered, but yet to be identified,” he said.

He added that two more bodies were located in the river, on the South African side.

HARARE, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 77 people were killed in 1,295 road traffic accidents countrywide between Dec. 15 and 27 this year, Zimbabwean Police said Wednesday.

During the same period in 2020, there were 1,216 accidents and 66 deaths recorded.

Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said in a statement that 13 people died in 10 fatal road traffic accidents on Christmas Day. A total of 91 accidents were recorded on the same day, leaving 59 people injured.

He said another 12 people died and 25 were injured in road accidents on Dec. 26.

HARARE, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's largest coal mine Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) said Friday it has contracted German-based company DTM to help extinguish underground coal seam fires.

"DTM is the only company, which offered its services for managing the fires using modern and cost-effective methods among other companies, which HCCL consulted," HCCL Managing Director Charles Zinyemba said in a statement.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, DTM's necessary interventions have been postponed from November to the first quarter of 2022, Zinyemba said.

HARARE, Dec 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Shale clinic in Umzingwane district, Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe has temporarily shut down after nurses complained of being sexually assaulted by invisible creatures at the institution.

The clinic was commissioned in February this year.

Villagers used to walk several kilometers, some to as far as Esigodini to access health services before the clinic was opened.

Teachers at nearby schools are reportedly also being sexually assaulted.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls usually teems with tourists who come to marvel at the roaring Zambezi River as it tumbles down more than 350 feet (108 meters) to the gorge below, sending up a mist that is visible from miles away.

“The Smoke That Thunders” - the English translation of what the waterfall is called in the Sotho language - is still mighty, but the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced visitors to a trickle. Ordinarily, Victoria Falls attracts 350,000 tourists a year, but their numbers have dropped to almost none as a result of travel restrictions.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — When mother-of-three Amanda Wood heard that hundreds of coronavirus shots were available for teens, only one thing prevented her from racing to the vaccination site at a Toronto high school — her 13-year-old daughter’s fear of needles.

Wood told Lola: If you get the vaccine you’ll be able to see your friends again. You’ll be able to play sports. And enticed by the promise of resuming a normal, teen life, Lola agreed.

In Zimbabwe, more than 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) and a world away from Canada, immunity is harder to obtain.