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Zimbabwe Plans a New City for the Rich

Published

3 years ago

January 27, 2023

BY RAY NDLOVU & ARCHANA NARAYANAN

Zimbabwe’s political leaders have a remedy for the collapse of the capital Harare: Build a new “cybercity” with as much as $60 billion of other people’s money.

The development in Mount Hampden, 11 miles northeast of Harare, is slated to be the site of the national parliament, headquarters of the central bank, the high and supreme courts, mineral auction centers, a stock exchange, a presidential palace and luxury villas.

“Mount Hampden is the new Harare,” said Shaji Ul Mulk, the billionaire who is backing it, adding that he’s investing $500 million to get started on a project that he believes will ultimately cost $60 billion and resemble Dubai, where he lives. “The parliament building has already been built there and all the ministers are moving there.” A brochure depicts pristine walkways, towering high rises and shining malls — all to be shared by a multiracial coterie of well-heeled residents. Plans also call for a solar plant, an important draw for a country currently experiencing 19-hour daily power cuts, and the use of blockchain technology. Digital asset accounts will be permitted.

That’s a world apart from Harare, which in two decades has transformed from a well-maintained city into what it is today: an urban sprawl riddled with potholes where refuse is rarely collected, electricity supply is more often off than on and many suburbs and townships have had no reliable running water for years. Commercial buildings have just 40% occupancy, and the city center is overrun with street vendors.

The planned development in Mount Hampden reflects “a ruling elite preoccupation not to interrupt their lives by having to see dirt and poverty,” said Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. In 2005, Zimbabwe’s leaders cleared slums and informal businesses in cities with earth-moving equipment in a program called Operation Murambatsvina, which means “move the rubbish” in the Shona language, displacing 2.4 million people.

Now, rather than attempting to address underlying issues, officials are opting to move the capital entirely.To critics, it’s just the latest attempt by Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa to revive a national economy that’s all but collapsed. The 80-year-old has traversed the world since taking power in a coup in 2017 trying to woo investment. To date he’s had little success. About $30 billion of projects ranging from mines to abattoirs have been announced, with little actually taking place on the ground despite promises of almost immediate development. The economy is fragile, with a chronic lack of foreign currency making it hard for major construction projects to move forward. Zimbabwe’s currency has plunged, interest rates are the world’s highest and annual inflation is 244%.

Still, Mnangagwa is undeterred.

The president laid the foundation stone for the project on July 20, saying it was a testament to his ability to attract funding. Mnangagwa’s government is not the only one to dream of building state-of-the-art cities from scratch. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has a $500 billion plan for a futuristic city called Neom , and Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is pushing the construction of a new capital known as Nusantara at an estimated cost of $34 billion.

Still, for Zimbabwe, roiled by economic and political turmoil over the last two decades, the challenges are huge. The country can’t earn enough foreign exchange to fund the imports of food and fuel it needs and is locked out of international capital markets because it can’t service $13 billion in external debt.

There is a concerning lack of detail on terms for the investments in Mount Hampden, and no plans have been presented to Zimbabwe’s parliament for approval, said Tendai Biti, a leading opposition member and former finance minister.

“They are busy mortgaging Zimbabwe,” he said of the government.

The development has attracted the interest of China, whose ties with Zimbabwe date back to its support for the African country’s liberation struggle in which Mnangagwa fought. China built the new parliament building in Mount Hampden at a cost of $140 million as a gift to Zimbabwe. It was officially opened on Nov. 23 by Mnangagwa. His Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, delivered the 2023 national budget there the following day.Local Government Deputy Minister Marian Chombo, whose department oversees municipalities, said in a response to written queries that the “cybercity” is attracting interest from commercial, retail and industrial investors without naming them. Ul Mulk said Zimbabwe’s largest bank, CBZ Holdings Ltd. has made $100 million in financing for the development available. CBZ declined to comment.

The development offers investors a five-year holiday from paying company tax, a lower income tax burden for workers and expedited immigration permits for foreign staff, according to the brochure that contains quotes from and photographs of Mnangagwa.

At least 12% of 250 luxury villas to be built in an initial stage have already been bought in advance, according to Ul Mulk. He provided no further details on the identity of the buyers but said the development is aimed at providing housing costing more than $500,000 a unit. Zimbabwe’s annual per capita income is $1,737, according to the World Bank, the development goes ahead, Harare is likely to face further declines. The city was founded in 1890 as Salisbury by the Pioneer Column, a group of mercenaries sent north by South Africa-based businessman and politician Cecil John Rhodes’ British South Africa Company to conquer an area assumed to be rich in gold. It was built to cater for a population of 200,000 White settlers but today houses 1.6 million people. Infrastructure and services haven’t kept pace.

“Refuse has remained uncollected for months,” said Andrew Mushonga, 38, a Harare resident in Waterfalls, a middle-class suburb 26 miles south of Mount Hampden. “There are pools of water everywhere as the drains are blocked. The roads are potholed. The water coming out of taps is smelly.”

Local residents closer to the planned development woke up one day to find a billboard along Old Mazowe road, which runs north-west of Harare, marking the site of the new capital, including a mall near their brick houses. Much of the 13,000 hectares (32,124 acres) set aside for the development have been cleared with just one green-roofed house still standing. The property’s owner declined to comment.

But even with that ground now bare, there is still doubt the development will ever progress.

“It would be a bubble, an anomaly in a country where most face infrastructural degeneration,” said Chan, the London professor. “It’s unlikely, even in a country with the warped priorities of Zimbabwe, ever to be built.”

In the community

Tsholotsho teacher dismissed over protest photo, union cries foul

Published

21 hours ago

May 2, 2026

VicFallsLive

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

A Tsholotsho teacher has been dismissed from the public service after participating in an online protest by taking a photo in class holding a placard demanding better wages, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from a teachers’ union.

According to a letter dated April 10, 2026, from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in Matabeleland North, Bridget Dhliwayo, a teacher at Zibungululu Secondary School in Tsholotsho District, was found guilty of misconduct and discharged from service with effect from May 14.

The dismissal letter, signed by Jabulani Mpofu, the Chief Director for Provincial Education Services in Matabeleland North, states that Dhliwayo violated public service regulations by taking a selfie inside a classroom on May 13, 2025, holding a placard reading: “We demand a fair wage; we say no more to slave wages. Sifuna imali now.”

Authorities said she shared the image on a WhatsApp group linked to the Amalgamated Rural Teachers of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) and failed to conduct lessons over several days in May 2025, in breach of her duties.

“This is not the first time that you have been found guilty of misconduct,” the letter reads, adding that Dhliwayo had previously received warnings.

However, ARTUZ condemned the dismissal in a statement posted on X, arguing that the action criminalises labour activism.

“Since when has exercising labour rights become a dismissible offence?” the union said, describing the incident as part of an online demonstration campaign over low salaries.

Zimbabwean teachers, represented by groups such as ARTUZ, have long protested against poor pay and working conditions, often clashing with authorities over strikes and demonstrations, which are tightly regulated under public service rules.

The letter advises Dhliwayo that she may appeal the decision to the Labour Court or seek a review through the Public Service Commission within 21 days, although such processes do not automatically suspend the penalty.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education had not publicly commented on the union’s claims at the time of publication.

In the community

Nkayi’s mortuary crisis leaves families racing against time

Published

2 days ago

May 1, 2026

VicFallsLive

BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI

When an elephant trampled Mbusi Mabhena to death two weeks ago in Mthoniselwa village in Nkayi, his family’s grief was swiftly compounded by another ordeal.

By the following day, he had been buried.

In Ward 13 of Nkayi district, there was no time for a traditional week-long wake or a post-mortem examination. There is no mortuary.

Local leaders say immediate burials have become common in parts of Nkayi and neighbouring Lupane, where families cannot preserve bodies due to a lack of cold storage facilities.

Weston Msimango, the councillor for Ward 13, said Mr Mabhena’s body was covered with sand before burial in an attempt to slow decomposition.

“It has become normal for people to be buried within 24 hours,” he said. “We have no facilities to keep them.”

The problem centres on Mbuma Mission Hospital, the main referral hospital for Nkayi and Lupane districts. Despite serving thousands of people, it has never had a mortuary.

For many villagers, transporting a body to cities such as Bulawayo or Gweru is too expensive. As a result, families resort to improvised methods to manage the smell of decomposition while making urgent burial arrangements.

Thandiwe Moyo, from Mkalathi village, said families often use sand and bananas to try to reduce odours while waiting for a few relatives to gather.

“To bury someone you love within 24 hours, without a proper goodbye because there is no cold room, feels like we are disposing of trash rather than honouring a life,” she said.

Residents say the lack of basic infrastructure contrasts sharply with the political rallies occasionally held in the district.

Jabulani Hadebe, the Member of Parliament for Nkayi South, has criticised what he describes as a lack of political will to address the issue.

He pointed to a large 2023 election rally in the area, attended by senior political figures, as an example of misplaced priorities.

“Leaders had an opportunity to visit the hospital, see what was missing and help,” he said. “Instead, the focus was on displays of wealth.”

Hadebe also alleged that some people who attended the rally were given spoiled food and later fell ill, though this claim could not be independently verified.

Sibusiso Sibanda, from Gonye village, said residents struggle to reconcile the arrival of luxury vehicles at rallies with the absence of a basic mortuary facility.

“They can come with big cars and give out meat, but they cannot finish a small room at Mbuma to keep the dead,” he said.

He added that without funeral insurance or money for transport, families have little choice but to bury relatives quickly.

“In the morning you are alive. If you die and you do not have a funeral policy, by evening you are in the sand,” he said. “There is no dignity left.”

Villagers in Somakantane said the absence of a mortuary has also disrupted cultural practices that require the body to remain at home for several days before burial.

The situation is not unique to Nkayi. Lawmakers have raised similar concerns in Binga, where some hospitals also operate without mortuary facilities.

Despite the issue being raised in Parliament, there has been no formal response from the government indicating when mortuaries might be built or repaired in affected districts.

The Ministry of Health’s spokesperson, Donald Mujiri, could not be reached for comment.

SOURCE: CITE

National

Zimbabwe export surge, diaspora inflows mask funding gaps in foreign affairs sector

Published

3 days ago

April 30, 2026

VicFallsLive

BY STAFF REPORTER

Zimbabwe is seeing strong gains in export earnings and diaspora remittances, but lawmakers warn chronic underfunding is undermining the country’s diplomatic and economic ambitions.

Parliament heard that remittances reached about $1.8 billion by the third quarter of 2025, while exports rose sharply, helping cut the trade deficit. Lawmakers said the diaspora remains “a vital source of foreign exchange, directly contributing to the enhancement of the nation’s foreign reserves and overall economic stability.”

However, MPs said financial constraints are weakening the institutions meant to sustain that growth. The Zimbabwe Foreign Services Institute received only a fraction of its budget, limiting recruitment and training.

“The staffing shortfall has inevitably affected operational efficiency and the institute’s ability to discharge its core mandate,” the committee report noted.

Lawmakers warned that without consistent funding, gains in exports and diaspora engagement could stall, particularly as Zimbabwe pushes toward an export-led economy.