A Zimbabwean official just took home a top award at the big amateur boxing world championships in Dubai. Steven Masiyambumbi won the title of best referee and judge for the entire men's tournament. This is a major deal in that world, basically saying he was the most consistent and fair official there over all the fights.
He's been building toward this for a long time. A former boxer himself, Masiyambumbi has moved through the officiating ranks for over a decade. He now holds the IBA's highest certification and gets regular calls to work the biggest global events. At these championships, officials are under a microscope, with every call influencing their future at things like Olympic qualifiers. Handling that pressure across dozens of...
Zimbabwe's tourism is looking up for the holidays. Operators are seeing solid advance bookings, with resorts around 70 percent full already. The country got a boost from a recent Forbes ranking, calling it the world's best place to visit. Official numbers show over 1.6 million international visitors last year, bringing in more than a billion dollars.
Hospitality Association president Emmah Kativu says city hotels are also filling up. She credits a surge in local travel and smarter business strategies. Charles Chakanya from the Victoria Falls boat cruise group notes a trend of last-minute plans, mostly from residents and people coming back home. He still expects a packed season.
The tourism ministry is setting up welcome desks at major...
A tiny off-grid village called Lushonkwe in Gwanda North shows a brutal split after dark. Some homes have light from solar systems. Many others, especially those run by women, are stuck with candles. For people there, this isn't just about convenience. It's a basic climate survival issue, with droughts making firewood scarce and fossil fuels too pricey. Women like Senzeni Tshuma describe the constant cost of candles and the poor light for her kids' schoolwork.
Others who made the switch show what's possible. A nurse named Thenjiwe Moyo used her savings for a solar setup, letting her run a fridge and save on monthly fuel costs. Poultry farmer Kelebone Ndlovu says solar refrigeration stopped her chickens from spoiling, doubling her...
The first-ever Haya Sizwe national poetry slam got taken down by a Bulawayo poet. Gugulethu Matshazi Dube, who goes by Mazweli, won the whole thing at the Zimbabwe Academy of Music. She beat out other finalists Silethemba Dube from Bulawayo and Nakai Tadana from Harare. Women totally owned this event, making up most of the competitors and sweeping the top spots. Accountability Lab Zimbabwe ran it with Sox the Poet leading the charge.
Mazweli picked one of her pre-written pieces for the timed slam format. Her poem dealt with heavy topics like who we are, how we're governed, and what's next for the continent. The win was a big comeback for her after stepping away from competition for two years. Her mom was in the crowd watching her slam...
Yeah, okay, so the authorities are going full dystopia on the Beitbridge border crossing. Zimbabwe's finance minister Mthuli Ncube confirmed they're throwing more drones into the air at that port and others. The whole thing is part of a bigger anti-smuggling push with the tax agency Zimra and other groups. They're aiming to choke off illegal trade routes that have been a problem forever.
Local companies like Delta Corporation and African Distillers have apparently seen a boost because fewer illegal drinks are coming in. The minister admits businesses are whining about Zimra's heavy-handed tactics, like searching buses all the time, but he's backing the enforcers completely. He says they might tweak import duties to get more compliance...
A former soccer star is auctioning his old jerseys for charity. Esrom Nyandoro sold some of his Mamelodi Sundowns gear for seventy thousand rand at a Johannesburg event. Now his Zimbabwe national team shirt from the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations is up for bids locally, starting at two thousand dollars.
The money supports his foundation, which pays school fees for dozens of students in Bulawayo. The recent gala raised over three hundred thousand rand in pledges, with big donations from companies like Diaspora Meds. Nyandoro said the effort is about giving back to the community that supported him. He got help from former teammates Surprise Moriri and Peter Ndlovu at the event.
A new real estate fund is trying to raise twenty-five million bucks. The Pfuma REIT is doing a private placement before listing on the Victoria Falls exchange. It starts with two retail properties already in its portfolio, the Hogerty Hill and Chegutu shopping centers.
Tenants in those malls include TM Pick n Pay and Simbisa Brands restaurants. The fund expects to pay investors dividends each quarter. They plan to use the raised money to buy more properties in places like Harare and Chivhu, aiming to grow the portfolio value significantly. The manager is Arctic Blue, with CABS as the trustee.
A guy in Harare got his child support bill cut after losing his job. Thomas Gwaada went to court to ask for lower payments, saying he was out of work and living off relatives. He wanted to pay forty dollars a month instead of one hundred sixty for his two kids.
The magistrate, Hannah Fazilahmed, noted the mom was not at the hearing. She agreed his finances had changed, but said forty was too low for the children's needs. The court set the new amount at seventy dollars, stressing he still had to provide support.
A mine worker in Hwange got five years for stealing power cables from his job. Admire Shoko, who is twenty, admitted to the crime in front of Magistrate Rumbi Kabasa Bonzo. He took copper cables from the Zhongxian Chabha mine, where he worked, hiding them in his bag during a security check.
The cables were worth forty bucks. He had no permit to take them. The court ordered the property returned to the mining company. Despite his plea for a lighter sentence, the magistrate said these crimes threaten infrastructure and safety, especially at mines.
