Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Source: Six new courts to open by year-end – herald

Trust Freddy

THE Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is set to open six new courts before the end of the year as it accelerates the expansion of the justice delivery system, with particular focus on bringing courts closer to communities in high-density areas.

The programme includes new courts in Mabvuku, Harare; and Cowdray Park, Bulawayo, while major developments are also underway in Gwanda, Kwekwe, Beitbridge and Guruve.

JSC secretary Dr Walter Chikwana said the projects were part of broader efforts to improve access to justice by decentralising court services and responding to growing demand in areas where existing courts were under pressure.

“We have a construction project that is going on at Cowdray Park in Bulawayo. The court is at window level. We have a construction project that is going on at Mabvuku, a high-density suburb in Harare, where the court is now at roof level,” he said.

“We expect those two courts to be completed before the end of the year, and those two courts in those two townships will be opened.”

The JSC has already secured land for similar courts in Mkoba, Gweru; and Sakubva, Mutare, with construction expected to begin after the completion and commissioning of the Mabvuku and Cowdray Park facilities.

The biggest development is the multi-purpose Gwanda Court in Matabeleland South, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

The facility, currently at roof level, will house the High Court, the Labour Court, the Sheriff’s Office and the Magistrates’ Court, making it one of the largest court complexes in the country.

“The court is at roof level and we expect the court to be completed by the end of this year. This is one of the biggest courts in the country,” Dr Chikwana said.

In the Midlands, the JSC is constructing a High Court division, while expanding the Magistrates’ Court in Kwekwe, with the project expected to be complete within the next two to three months.

In Beitbridge, the JSC is expanding the Provincial Court to accommodate additional magistrates as the border town experiences increasing litigation linked to its growing economic activity.

Dr Chikwana said the existing complement of two magistrates was no longer adequate.

“Beitbridge has become so busy it is no longer tenable to deploy two magistrates only. We need to deploy four magistrates in the provincial court and the regional court,” he said.

“We are completing the construction of an additional court at Beitbridge Provincial Court.”

The JSC is constructing a new regional court in Guruve as it expands judicial services outside the country’s major urban centres.

The commission is also investing in its own training facilities in a move expected to reduce the cost of staff development.

The Judicial Training Institute of Zimbabwe is constructing a 200-seater training theatre in Harare, which is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2027.

The facility will allow the JSC to conduct training programmes at its own premises instead of routinely hiring hotels and other external venues.

“We are constructing a 200-seater training theatre where all our trainings are going to be done. We will then cease to be booking hotels and expending money in training venues,” Dr Chikwana said.

“We will now be having a training centre of our own where all our members of staff will be trained.”

Dr Chikwana said construction was progressing and the commission was hopeful the facility would be completed by the first quarter of next year.

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Source: Govt expands school feeding ahead of El Niño – herald

Precious Manomano

THE Government is expanding the national school feeding programme to more schools and drought-prone districts ahead of the anticipated 2026/2027 El Niño-induced drought.

The authorities are also strengthening school-based food production programmes to ensure learners do not go hungry.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education said it was taking early action to protect children from possible food shortages, with nutrition gardens, small livestock projects, solar-powered irrigation schemes and food prepositioning being rolled out ahead of the rainy season.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Mr Taungana Ndoro, said the Government would not wait for food shortages to emerge before intervening.

He said the school feeding programme was a critical social protection initiative that would continue throughout the drought period.

The programme has already been extended to secondary schools, with coverage being increased in drought-prone districts including Binga, Chivi, Kariba, Nkayi, Lupane, Umguza and Bubi, where thousands of learners are receiving daily hot meals.

The Government is also assessing the possibility of providing two meals a day to the most vulnerable learners in communities likely to be hardest hit by the drought.

In addition, schools are being turned into food production centres through nutrition gardens, small livestock projects and solar-powered irrigation schemes.

The initiatives are intended to improve schools’ self-sufficiency while reducing their reliance on external food supplies during periods of shortages.

Mr Ndoro said the school feeding programme had been incorporated into the national early warning system.

This allows the authorities to identify food-stressed districts and vulnerable learners early and preposition grain and other food supplies before shortages develop.

The Government is also working with development partners, including UNICEF and the World Food Programme, to mobilise food, funding and technical assistance, while communities, parents and volunteer groups are providing labour, maintaining nutrition gardens and helping prepare meals.

Mr Ndoro said the school feeding programme remains a key pillar of the National Development Strategy 2 and assured parents that the Government would do everything possible to ensure hunger did not disrupt children’s education. Climate forecasts indicate a high probability of El Niño conditions developing during the 2026/2027 rainfall season, prompting the Government to roll out early interventions across agriculture, water, health and education to minimise the potential impact of the anticipated dry spell.

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Source: Kunzvi Dam: 278 houses ready for displaced families – herald

Precious Manomano

THE construction of 278 houses for families being relocated to make way for Kunzvi Dam has been completed, with another 95 homes under construction, as the massive water infrastructure project moves closer to completion.

The resettlement programme is progressing alongside construction of the dam, which is now 74 percent complete and began impounding water during the 2025/2026 rainy season.

Of the houses planned for affected families, 120 of the 177 homes in Goromonzi district have been completed, while 158 of the 258 houses planned in neighbouring Murewa district are now ready.

A further 95 houses are under construction in Murewa.  The development means hundreds of families affected by the project are being moved into new accommodation as the Government pushes ahead with one of the country’s major water infrastructure projects.

Kunzvi Dam is being constructed on the Nyagui River along the border of Murewa and Goromonzi districts in Mashonaland East province.

According to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), the dam has reached a major construction milestone, with work continuing on the dam wall, intake tower, spillway and other key components.

ZINWA head of corporate communications and marketing Mrs Marjorie Munyonga said the dam started impounding water during the last rainy season.

“Steady progress continues to be recorded on the Kunzvi Dam construction project, with the dam now 74 percent complete. The dam started impounding water in the 2025/26 rainy season,” she said.  Once completed, Kunzvi Dam is expected to significantly improve water availability in Harare and communities in Mashonaland East.

The project will also provide irrigation water for at least 500 hectares of farmland, allowing farmers in surrounding communities to move towards year-round production.

The dam will provide potable water to Juru Growth Point, Cross and Musami business centres and Majuru Business Centre in Goromonzi.

Construction progress is also being recorded on the dam’s main structures.

ZINWA said more than 1,2 million cubic metres of core material and 1,4 million cubic metres of fill material had been placed on the dam wall, while nearly 58 000 cubic metres of rip-rap had been installed to protect the structure from erosion.

Work is also continuing on the intake tower and spillway return channel, while monitoring equipment is being installed to track water pressure and seepage within the dam structure and ensure its long-term safety.

Construction of the Juru-Kunzvi road is progressing alongside the dam project, improving access to the construction site and surrounding communities, while laying the foundation for increased economic activity once the dam becomes operational.

The Kunzvi project forms part of the Government’s broader drive to expand water storage capacity, increase irrigation, improve access to safe drinking water and strengthen the country’s resilience to droughts and climate change.

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Source: ‘Muzarabani gas hopes raise prospect of new economic chapter’ – herald

Theseus Mauruki Shambare in MUZARABANI

MUZARABANI’S emerging oil and gas prospects are raising hopes of a new economic chapter for Zimbabwe, with expectations that a commercially viable petroleum industry could create jobs, attract investment and stimulate industrial development, a Cabinet minister has said.

Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Zhemu Soda, who is also Muzarabani North legislator, said the prospects could significantly alter Zimbabwe’s economic trajectory if successfully developed.

Addressing members of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe’s Men Christian union attending the Harare East District annual convention in Muzarabani, Dr Soda said the area’s natural resources presented an opportunity for the country to accelerate economic transformation.

“Here in Muzarabani, in the Mavuradonha Mountains, there are various mineral resources, including oil, which we hope will transform the country’s economy,” he said.

“As we know, oil is what drives many things in developed countries.”

Australian-listed Invictus Energy is preparing to drill its second oil and gas test well in November as it continues exploration in the Cabora Bassa Basin, placing Muzarabani at the centre of Zimbabwe’s hopes for a potential domestic petroleum industry.

The exploration programme has generated expectations that a successful commercial development could open opportunities well beyond the petroleum sector.

Dr Soda said the anticipated resource wealth would require responsible leadership and careful management if it was to deliver the transformation being envisaged.

He urged the church members gathered for the three-day convention to continue praying for the country’s leadership and for wisdom in managing emerging economic opportunities.

“Continue praying for us, asking God to give us wisdom and the ability to lead, so that the oil which was discovered here must turn the economy around and make Zimbabwe prosper,” he said.

Dr Soda said leaders should remain conscious of the expectations of citizens as new economic opportunities emerge.

“When we speak to God, God gives us wisdom. We are then able to understand that everything we do should respond to the expectations of the people we lead,” he said.

Muzarabani is home to the Mavuradonha Mountains, which Dr Soda highlighted as an important natural and cultural asset.

The area contains rock paintings, waterfalls and sites associated with rare eagle nesting, adding another dimension to the debate over how the district should develop.

“Mavuradonha was declared one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and there are rock paintings found here,” Dr Soda said.

“There are also waterfalls in these mountains. Even rare eagles lay their eggs here.”

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Source: Ministry targets rural health worker shortages with new system – herald

Rumbidzayi Zinyuke

HEALTH AUTHORITIES are developing a new classification system to identify health facilities struggling to attract and retain workers, as it moves to address the uneven distribution of health professionals between urban and rural areas.

The system will classify health institutions according to the level of hardship in the areas where they operate, allowing the Government to target staff deployment and incentives towards facilities facing the greatest challenges.

Health Service Commission (HSC) vice chairperson Dr Abigail Kangwende said the initiative was necessary because about two-thirds of Zimbabwe’s health workforce is concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural and hard-to-reach communities with inadequate access to skilled health personnel.

She said the classification would be based on a range of factors, including road conditions, electricity and other conditions affecting the ability of health facilities to attract and retain workers.

“It could be road conditions; it could be electricity and many others,” she said.

“It is a composite index of many different variables. This classification will enable implementation of evidence-based workforce attraction and retention strategies and will also assist with targeted deployment to hard-to-reach areas of our workforce.”

Under the proposed system, facilities facing the most severe challenges would be identified as “Red”, while those facing moderate and lower levels of hardship would fall under “Amber and Green” categories.

The system is expected to help the Government and development partners direct incentives towards facilities that have historically struggled to retain health workers because of remoteness, poor infrastructure and limited resources.

Dr Kangwende said the approach would help address the persistent imbalance in the distribution of health workers across the country.

“It will improve equity in workforce distribution. This three-tier categorisation system will guide Government and partners in prioritising staff incentives at health facilities historically shunned due to remoteness and resource limitation,” she said.

Dr Kangwende said the Government’s health workforce expansion needed to be accompanied by better deployment strategies and incentives for workers serving in difficult locations.

It is envisaged that the red-amber-green system will provide a basis for identifying where such interventions are most urgently required.

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