News stories by Michelle Chifamba

HARARE, Feb 20 (IPS) - While there are a large number of instances of child smuggling and trafficking across Zimbabwe's porous borders, these cases still remain unknown and unreported because of the nature of the crime.

Elton Ndumiso*, a bus-conductor who works a bus route from Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, to neighbouring South Africa, sees it all the time: Zimbabwean women travelling with three or four children, who are clearly not their own kids, and taking them across the border.

It's a crime that most bus drivers or conductors either turn a blind eye to, or become accomplices in by assisting the women. 

HARARE, Aug 12 (IPS) - Ethel Maziriri, 27, holds an Honours Degree in Social Work from the University of Zimbabwe, but instead of working in her chosen profession, she works as a cashier in one of the country's leading clothing retail company. And it's not by choice.

HARARE, Sep 26 (IPS) - On top of a small wooden cabin in Norton, a dormitory town outside the capital of Zimbabwe, is a solar panel that Silvester Ngunzi uses to light up his household.

HARARE, Sep 04 (IPS) - Prosper Muripo rents a small space in a general dealer's shop at the Gotora shopping centre in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland East province. He is one of the many people in rural Zimbabwe who earn a living selling recharge vouchers and charging mobile phone batteries on solar-powered chargers.

HARARE, Jul 06 (IPS) - Like many other aspiring voters, Emilia Magirazi, 27, braved a chilly winter's morning as she waited patiently to register as a voter in the slow-moving queue at Kuwadzana 8 Primary School in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.

HARARE, Jun 24 (IPS) - When Maude Taruvinga* votes in Zimbabwe's elections later this year, she will be voting for her local female politician as she has placed her hopes for a better future on the presence of more women in this southern African nation's legislature.