Parliament pushes national conference over tobacco levy failures
Mary Mundeya A push for a domestic climate conference is gathering momentum following a She Corresponds Africa investigation that exposed major failures in the collection and use of environmental levies, including Zimbabwe’s tobacco afforestation levy. The investigation, published earlier this year with support from Information for Development Trust (IDT), found that the levy has raised…
Mystery over Zimbabwe’s tobacco levy as forests keep disappearing
Mary Mundeya Harare — For nine consecutive seasons, Serina Matenga, a smallholder tobacco farmer in Headlands, a farming bastion in Manicaland province, has watched the woodland around her homestead recede. Trees that once buffered her fields now vanish year after year, cut to feed tobacco curing barns that keep her livelihood afloat. And for nine…
The rage-bait economy: How hate became a business model in Zimbabwe
Mary Mundeya When Zimbabwe’s intersex community filed a landmark lawsuit against the government in September 2025, demanding legal recognition, Ronald, an LGBTQI+ rights activist in Harare, knew what would follow. They didn’t anticipate just a sober legal debate, but rather braced for a digital storm. Within hours, their social media feeds were flooded, not with…
Lives on the line: The dream that vanished…
Mary Mundeya and Kudzai Chikiwa MAKONI DISTRICT, Zimbabwe — The notebook is Anashe’s (name changed for ethical reasons) secret archive of a dream that only lasted one school term. Its pages, filled with notes on English grammar and a carefully drawn map of Africa, are all that remain of her time with DREAMS. From 2016, the DREAMS…
“My existence is treated as the forgery”: Intersex Zimbabweans fight state silence and conflicting documents
Mary Mundeya Tendai’s Story – The exile at the border The relentless does little to stop the hassle, bustle and chaos that is the norm at Beitbridge border post. For Tendai (name changed for ethical reasons), 28, like other travelers this place was meant to be a gateway to a better livelihood, but instead, his experience…
Thirst for power: The political poison in Harare’s water pipes
Mary Mundeya The first sign of trouble in Prudence Hanyani’s Mabvuku home is one she has known for nearly three decades. The 47-year-old resident of Ward 21 last saw council water flow from her taps almost 30 years ago. “We’ve become water beggars,” she says, staring at the army of plastic buckets lining her wall….
Inside the ‘bondage’ of Zimbabwe’s contract tobacco farming
Linda Mujuru This story was originally published by Global Press Journal. HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Zimbabwe’s tobacco sector was once on the brink of collapse. Now, it’s booming again. Last year alone, it earned the country close to US$1 billion in revenue. But though the crop is one of the country’s top exports and production has…
Lithium smuggling rampant as Zimbabwe fails to end corruption
Linda Mujuru, GPJ Zimbabwe This story was originally published by Global Press Journal. HARARE, ZIMBABWE — In 2023, Peter, a truck driver, was approaching a border checkpoint between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. He had little reason to question what was in his truck’s sealed container — he’d transported shipments for this Chinese-owned company before. “We just…