BY LONDIWE DLOMO

Twenty-eight-year-old Vimbai Masiyiwa is the executive director of Batoka Hospitality, the first black, female-owned safari lodge group in Africa.

She co-founded the company with her mother Tsitsi Masiyiwa. Their project, Zambezi Sands River Lodge, a safari lodge nestled on the western end of the Zambezi National Park and about an hour from Victoria Falls, due to open in June, is a luxurious testament to community-led initiatives centred around women empowerment.

Batoka Hospitality is a luxury eco-tourism and community development group.

“At the moment, just about 40% of our staff are women… In the organisation we have paths to leadership and also, we support women-led projects. We’re working with a member of our staff, she leads a women-led initiative sewing club in Zimbabwe.

“Our work with her is in looking for opportunities for women to sell their sewing products beyond Chisingwe village, beyond Victoria Falls and into retail and then we’re looking at [business] mentorship,” says Masiyiwa.

Masiyiwa and her mother decided to get more involved in the hospitality side of the family business portfolio. For those who might not know, Vimbai is the second-born daughter of Zimbabwean billionaire businessman Strive Masiyiwa.

She has worked with her father for some years, starting off as an intern at the age of 14, throughout her university years and working as a special assistant for him until almost two years ago, when she fully stepped into her role at Batoka.

Her dad has always been open and generous with all he’s learnt in business; he would update his Facebook page with lessons for all to learn from. From those lessons Vimbai and her siblings were also able to ask follow-up questions. She says she’s learnt from her dad to be a great listener, and says her father always hears people out and then says his piece.

“I used to jump into saying what it is I wanted, being very straightforward but as I’ve grown over the last few years I’ve really mirrored exactly what I see him do. I’m sure if you put us in the same room and put a screen between us and had someone talk to us we would look identical, I mirror everything … from how he sits to how he responds just because I’ve seen him grow in business over the years and I’ve seen what has worked. I’m an observer and I learn by observing. I’m a bit of a copycat in that sense.”

Vimbai has lived in Zimbabwe, SA and the UK, and is based in the UK and US currently. She is no stranger to luxury as is testament in the décor of her lodge, which was started during the thick of the global coronavirus pandemic.

She is also known for her love of African designers, her fashion sense has seen her, alongside Kate Middleton, voted as one of 2022’s Best Dressed Woman by the UK’s Tatler magazine. She laments the lack of funding for African designers as this costs them opportunities to distribute their products to a global consumer base.

“They get the design right, they get the story behind it right, one of my favourites at the moment, I have three favourites: Thebe, I absolutely love Thebe Magugu, Christie Brown [Ghana] and Moses by Moses in Rwanda and all of them tell a story… They get it right, they understand authenticity, there’s just a lack of global funding,” she adds.

She has worked with her father for some years, starting off as an intern at the age of 14, throughout her university years and working as a special assistant for him until almost two years ago, when she fully stepped into her role at Batoka.

Her dad has always been open and generous with all he’s learnt in business; he would update his Facebook page with lessons for all to learn from. From those lessons Vimbai and her siblings were also able to ask follow-up questions. She says she’s learnt from her dad to be a great listener, and says her father always hears people out and then says his piece.

“I used to jump into saying what it is I wanted, being very straightforward but as I’ve grown over the last few years I’ve really mirrored exactly what I see him do. I’m sure if you put us in the same room and put a screen between us and had someone talk to us we would look identical, I mirror everything … from how he sits to how he responds just because I’ve seen him grow in business over the years and I’ve seen what has worked. I’m an observer and I learn by observing. I’m a bit of a copycat in that sense.”

Vimbai has lived in Zimbabwe, SA and the UK, and is based in the UK and US currently. She is no stranger to luxury as is testament in the décor of her lodge, which was started during the thick of the global coronavirus pandemic.

She is also known for her love of African designers, her fashion sense has seen her, alongside Kate Middleton, voted as one of 2022’s Best Dressed Woman by the UK’s Tatler magazine. She laments the lack of funding for African designers as this costs them opportunities to distribute their products to a global consumer base.

“They get the design right, they get the story behind it right, one of my favourites at the moment, I have three favourites: Thebe, I absolutely love Thebe Magugu, Christie Brown [Ghana] and Moses by Moses in Rwanda and all of them tell a story… They get it right, they understand authenticity, there’s just a lack of global funding,” she adds.

On top of her drive for women empowerment, Vimbai is also a mental health advocate. When she was 20 years old she was diagnosed with cancer and suffered a severe depression after receiving treatment.

It was hard to fathom what she was going through as most African families struggle with mental health awareness and support. She has become an advocate for education about mental health issues as she had to educate friends and family about what she was going through at the time.

“I’m so interested in sharing my experience and supporting organisations that are busy with mental awareness, it’s because I felt so much shame myself and only when I began to talk about it did I realise that there’s so many other people that don’t need to feel this shame that probably end up in a worse situation than I did. It’s just totally unnecessary for people to get there.”

She celebrates that there are a lot of African people becoming mental health professionals. She is excited about the advancements in educating Africans on mental health but says there’s absolutely more work that needs to be done.

“We need the older generations to participate in [the] conversation because they are the lawmakers, the financiers, and in order for us to see growth we need them to have a better understanding of mental wellbeing.”

Her lodge has 10 tented suites that have been redesigned by South African interior designer Yvonne O’Brien. Each of the suites has a private plunge pool and spectacular views of the Zambezi River. The group’s Tesse Fund is financed by 10% of the revenue made from each guest’s stay. The purpose of the fund is for staff members within the Batoka Hospitality family to come up with projects that benefit their local community.

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

Matobo police in Matabeleland South Province have arrested a 13-year-old juvenile from Plumtree who allegedly stabbed to death a four year old infant before concealing the body under a bed after the two were left alone at home.

In a statement, police said the incident, which took place at Mathendele Extension happened on Wednesday and the teen was arrested moments after fleeing the scene.

“On 04/01/23, Police in Plumtree are investigating a murder case involving a 13-year-old juvenile who allegedly stabbed a 4-year-old infant to death after the two were left home alone in Mathendele Extension, Plumtree,” police said.

The juvenile concealed the body under a bed before fleeing from the house.”

In another case, police in Matobo said they were also investigating another murder case where a 28-year-old man, who was wanted by the police for several cases of assault and unlawful entry into premises and theft, was fatally assaulted by a mob at Ntunjambili Business Centre on Tuesday.

BY AWAKHIWE KHUMALO

The father of a 11 year- old Victoria Falls girl who committed suicide has revealed some shocking information where he alleges that his daughter was a rape case victim.

Patience Happiness Chishemu, a grade five student at Mpumelelo Primary School in Bulawayo committed suicide by hanging herself on a tree in her Njube residency on Sunday afternoon.

The deceased’s father, Mike Chishemu told VICFALLSLIVE in an interview at his Chinotimba residency in Victoria Falls that his third born child was a victim of sexual abuse by a feared serial gangster in Bulawayo.

“Patience visited me here in December last year, and she told me that she needed to talk to me in private,” Chishemu narrated his suspicion of his daughter’s decision to take away her life.

“We went to the bedroom and she revealed that she had been raped in 2021 and she was advised by a close family member (name withheld for ethical reasons) not to say anything because the person who had raped her was very dangerous and might harm her”

“l the  contacted her mother to try and find out about what had happened, her mother confirmed the incident and said they must not do anything because the person who raped Patience was a serial rapist and a killer but has never been convicted,”

“She was raped again this year by a tenant who lived with her in March and she was unwell after and we had to take her to the hospital,”

Chishemu said they reported the matter to the police and the man was arrested, although he was released after a few days due to lack of evidence.

“Patience was then taken by an organization that deals with child care and she lived there for about four months where she had been offered psychological therapy, but had clearly not healed.

Way forward:

“It’s very hard for me to let this go because l have lost a child,” teary Chishemu said as the family prepared to lay her to rest on Thursday last week.

“We will go back to police after this to seek a new investigation into her rape cases and to find out how these people who raped my child are still not in jail.”

What we know so far about Patience’s last Sunday:

“Patience’s mother is working as a vendor at a market in Entumbane complex, so I was told that her mother had asked her to bring her food which she did not do,”Chishena revealed.

“The mother went back home at around 12pm and found Patience playing with her other friends. In anger, she beat her with a cooking stick then told her again to bring her food to the market.

“At around 3pm, two children from the neighborhood went to the market and told her that patience has hung herself on a tree.”

Chishemu said when his ex-wife arrived at the scene, she took a knife and she used it to cut the rope that she had used to hang herself, before attempting to render first aid.

“She went on to look for a taxi to take her to the hospital, but  an ambulance passed by and the paramedics tried to assist, but confirmed that she had been deceased.

According to the post-mortem results, the girl died due to suffocation.