Zimbabwean president fixes August 23 for presidential, parliamentary elections

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has fixed August 23 for the country’s next elections, setting a campaign season among political parties and aspiring candidates in motion.

Local media reported on Wednesday that Mr Mnangagwa set June 21 as the date on which nomination courts would sit countrywide to accept applications by political parties and their candidates to participate in the polls.

The president was billed to announce the date on Monday but postponed doing so, with his spokesperson, George Charamba, saying he will do so in due course.

More than 5.8 million people have registered to vote in the presidential, legislative and local authority elections, according to the report.

The ruling ZANU PF party has already held primary elections to choose candidates for the polls, while the two major opposition parties, MDC-T and Citizens’ Coalition for Change, are yet to present theirs to the electorate.

Two Zimbabwe govt ministers die of COVID-19

The government of Zimbabwe has confirmed the death of two serving ministers who both died after contracting the deadly COVID-19 disease.

This was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by the deputy health minister John Mangwiro who said that Transport Minister Joel Matiza had died after falling ill with COVID-19, less than two days after the country lost Foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo to the same disease.

He also revealed plans to intensify the current lockdown, which has been in place since early January and includes a strict nightly curfew.

“We are in a dark cloud that we have to clear very soon,” the deputy health minister said.

Mangwiro also said that restaurants, bars and gyms have also been forced to close.

“We have seen people not adhering to the lockdown regulations announced early this month,” he added.

Reports say Zimbabwe has registered 30,523 cases of infection since the start of the pandemic, including 962 deaths.

Water shortage in a community in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe water shortage: The community that gets water from a cemetery

Zimbabwe water shortage: The community that gets water from a cemetery

The residents of Hopley, a large settlement in the south of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, have had to take drastic measures to ensure they have access to water.

As community wells dry up, people have been forced to use a well situated in a nearby graveyard.

Contamination, from embalming fluids and decomposition, poses risks, but with experts saying rainfall will reduce a further 20%, water sources like this might be the community’s only choice

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