Dear Family and Friends,
Just when we thought we were having a strangely warm winter with blue sky sunny days and cold nights, an icy blast blew in the back door. White frost spread its frozen crystals everywhere and daytime temperatures dropped to 19 degrees and 5 degrees at night. A slender mongoose came up the steps to my front door, stopped, looked straight at me reading my new book and then ran across the lawn, fur fluffed up, looking for a little spot in the sun. But it isn’t only winter that’s giving Zimbabwe an icy blast this July.
Since my last Letter, while our attention was on thousands of Zimbabweans being deported and repatriated from South Africa, President Mnangagwa was signing the controversial Constitutional Amendments into law. The Act was published in the government Gazette on the 7th July 2026 and Zimbabweans were not given their right to vote in a Referendum.
These are dark days in Zimbabwe. Under the new Constitutional Amendments, the President will no longer be elected by the people but by Parliament. Presidential and parliamentary terms have increased from five to seven years leaving the current President, MPs and Senators in office until 2030. Senate will be expanded from 80 to 90 members with the 10 new Senators being appointed by the President. Public interviews for Judges have been scrapped and they will now, with consultation, be appointed by the President. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission will no longer oversee voter registration, this will now be done by the Registrar-General and a new Delimitation Commission, appointed by the President, will take over the delimitation of constituencies and wards.
President Mnangagwa said in the Sunday Mail that extending this second term by two years, from 2028 to 2030 was not his idea it was “a collective evolution of the political process.” A coalition of churches, labour unions, civic groups, war veterans and opposition political leaders say they are now planning peaceful mass action to challenge the Act.
Meanwhile we watched increasingly distressing video clips of people being deported and others who were ‘voluntarily repatriating’ from South Africa to escape harassment and persecution from protestors in South Africa who were going door to door chasing them out. Two weeks ago, the number was 29,000 deported and repatriating. This week the government said that between the 28th of May and 10th of July 99,418 Zimbabweans have been repatriated. A staggering number in just 6 weeks.
Watching for the return of the mongoose, I paged through the proof copy of my beautiful new photobook which has just arrived. Despite everything, from power hungry politicians to the anguish of 100,000 people coming home in an icy winter, every year I publish my annual photobook to highlight the other face of Zimbabwe, beautiful, diverse and always welcoming.
This year my new photobook has pictures and stories from Chimanimani, Nyanga, Mavhuradonha, Gonarezhou, Umfurudzi ,Marondera, Darwendale, Mazowe and others. From the beautiful winged antlion on my back door to the huge elephants going for an afternoon swim in the river, this is our beautiful country. Thank you all for your support of my photobooks over the last five years, the everyday, off the beaten track memories that make us so love this country. “Zimbabwe’s Timeless Beauty The 2026 Collection” is available now in hardback or paperback from https://cathybuckle.co.zw/ or https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/cathybuckle2018
There is no charge for this Letter From Zimbabwe but if you would like to support my writing and donate, please visit my website.
Until next time, thanks for reading this Letter From Zimbabwe now in its 26th year, and my books about life in Zimbabwe, a country in waiting.
Ndini shamwari yenyu (I am your friend)
Love Cathy 17rd July 2026. Copyright © Cathy Buckle https://cathybuckle.co.zw/
Please visit my website to see all my Books, Photobooks and Calendars https://cathybuckle.co.zw/