Pandemic lawsuits in Zimbabwe stretched from April 2020 well into the mid-2020s, with courts deciding cases over protective equipment for doctors, accessible public health information, mass arrests under lockdown rules, the limits of executive emergency power, and — years later — whether insurers had to pay out on business interruption claims. Most of the headline rulings went against the government or the state broadcaster. One, delivered in 2026, went against a major insurer.
Doctors’ Suit Over Protective Equipment
The first major pandemic case grew out of a strike by health workers in late March 2020, when members of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) walked out citing a total lack of personal protective equipment, erratic hospital water, and what the public services union called “shockingly low wages.”1Public Services International. Zimbabwe: Health Workers Demand PPE and Water More than 1,500 ZADHR members reported working without adequate PPE while Zimbabwe still had only a handful of confirmed cases.2Human Rights Watch. Zimbabwe: Doctors Sue Government Over Covid-19
On April 5, 2020, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights filed a High Court petition on ZADHR’s behalf, naming the ministers of health, finance, and transport.3People’s Dispatch. Zimbabwe Court Orders Government to Protect Health Workers It sought to compel the state to equip all health workers at public facilities and all field contact tracers.4Anadolu Agency. Covid-19: Doctors Sue Zimbabwe Govt for No Safety Gear On April 14, 2020, the High Court ruled for ZADHR and ordered the government to supply PPE across public health facilities and to contact-tracing teams.
Access to Public Health Information
Two cases pressed the government on what it was telling the public, and how.
On April 15, 2020, the Centre for Disability and Development, the Deaf Zimbabwe Trust, and the Zimbabwe National League of the Blind sued the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and three government ministers, arguing that COVID-19 communications excluded deaf and visually impaired Zimbabweans from life-saving information.5Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. ZBC, Govt Sued Over Lack of Accessible Information on Coronavirus Justice Joseph Mafusire heard the matter on April 20, 2020. Because ZBC consented, he entered a final order requiring subtitles or captions on pre-recorded programming, sign language interpretation during all main news bulletins, and the secondment of trained interpreters from the Deaf Zimbabwe Trust. A provisional order against the ministers required COVID-19 information in Braille and large text, disability-trained hotline staff, and a public statement urging private entities to do the same, and called on the ministers to show cause why all future government communications should not permanently be issued in accessible formats.6Spiked Media. Covid-19: High Court Orders Improvement in Dissemination of Information to the Deaf and the Blind
In January 2021, the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s Zimbabwe chapter filed an urgent application alleging that the ministries of health and information were providing “incomplete, uninformative and inadequate” information about the COVID-19 response, and seeking an order compelling disclosure of details about public and private testing, isolation, and treatment facilities.7Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. Covid-19 Database – Zimbabwe On January 21, 2021, Justice Dube granted a provisional order directing the respondents to disseminate “comprehensive and adequate information” to the public. Both ministers filed notices opposing confirmation.8Veritas Zimbabwe. MISA v Minister of Health and Child Care and Minister of Information and Publicity
Lockdown Enforcement and Civil Liberties Cases
Enforcement of Zimbabwe’s lockdown rules was heavy. By mid-July 2020, more than 105,000 people had been arrested for violations including unauthorized movement, failure to wear masks, and informal gatherings.9BBC. Coronavirus in Zimbabwe: Over 105,000 Arrested for Lockdown Violations The African Union Commission chairperson described the police and military response as a “disproportionate use of force,” and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said authorities were using the pandemic as a “pretext to clamp down on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”10Human Rights Watch. World Report 2021 – Zimbabwe Several of these cases ended up in court.
The Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marova Case
On May 13, 2020, MDC Alliance activists Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri, and Netsai Marova took part in a peaceful protest over the government’s failure to support vulnerable communities during lockdown. They were abducted from police custody by suspected state agents and found 36 hours later, alleging they had been severely tortured and sexually assaulted.11Lawyers for Lawyers. Covid-19 Series: The Impact of the Crisis in Zimbabwe The state then charged Mamombe and Chimbiri with publishing false statements prejudicial to the state, in effect accusing them of fabricating the abduction.12ICJ. Zimbabwe: ICJ Welcomes Acquittal of Joana Mamombe and Cecelia Revai Chimbiri
On July 4, 2023, the Harare High Court acquitted both women. Judge Nyaradzo Munangati Manongwa found the state had failed to establish a prima facie case and described the decision to prosecute as “grossly unreasonable,” “capricious,” and driven by “bias and mala fides.”12ICJ. Zimbabwe: ICJ Welcomes Acquittal of Joana Mamombe and Cecelia Revai Chimbiri Marova did not stand trial with them because she had left the country.13Amnesty International Canada. Cecillia and Joanah Acquitted of Publishing Falsehoods
Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume
In July 2020, police arrested investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume after both called for nationwide anti-corruption protests. Chin’ono was charged with incitement to commit public violence and held at Chikurubi Maximum Prison for roughly six weeks before being released on bail. His conditions included surrendering his passport and limits on his social media use. A Harare High Court judge intervened after a magistrate disqualified lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa from representing him; the magistrate was later removed from the trial. On December 6, 2021, the Harare Magistrate’s Court declared the charges null.14Front Line Defenders. Charges Against Human Rights Defender and Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono Nullified
Ngarivhume’s case ended differently. In April 2023 he was convicted for calling for the protests and sentenced to four years in prison.15ECOI. Zimbabwe – Hopewell Chin’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume
Constitutional Challenges to Emergency Measures
Other cases tested where executive power under the pandemic ran up against individual rights.
In Stringer v. Minister of Health and Child Care and Sakunda Holdings, decided March 31, 2020, Justice Zhou dismissed a challenge to the establishment of a private COVID-19 isolation center, applying the maxim salus populi suprema lex and holding that individual environmental concerns were subordinate to the public interest during an emergency.16Veritas Zimbabwe. Stringer v Minister of Health and Sakunda Holdings The court confirmed that fundamental rights could be limited under Section 86 of the Constitution where public health required it, while noting that rights such as dignity and freedom from inhuman treatment remained non-derogable.17PMC/National Library of Medicine. Salus Populi Suprema Lex and COVID-19 Lockdown Measures in Zimbabwe
In April 2020, legislator Allan Norman Markham and activist Mfundo Mlilo asked the High Court to compel the government to provide food, cash, and water to vulnerable populations, arguing that without those safety nets the lockdown violated rights to life and health. The court dismissed the application on April 15, 2020, finding that the government was already distributing electronic cash payments and housing homeless individuals, and that the applicants had not named the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, which actually administered social assistance.18Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. Covid-19 Database – Zimbabwe
Water access produced split outcomes. On April 4, 2020, a court granted urgent relief ordering the Zimbabwe National Water Authority to provide potable water to residents regardless of unpaid bills, citing the public health consequences of cutoffs during the emergency. A later challenge on similar grounds was dismissed after applicants failed to show irreparable harm.19COVID and Constitutionalism Project. Zimbabwe – COVID and Constitutionalism
Courts generally upheld restrictions on commerce, dismissing a May 2020 challenge to private business closures during initial reopening as “necessary and proportionate.” They did set limits elsewhere. In February 2021, a court held that forcing a disciplinary hearing to proceed in person during a lockdown, when the respondent’s lawyer could not attend, was a “severe limitation on right to a fair trial,” and ordered it postponed.19COVID and Constitutionalism Project. Zimbabwe – COVID and Constitutionalism
The Drax Procurement Prosecution
A criminal prosecution ran alongside the civil cases. Health Minister Obadiah Moyo awarded a US$60 million contract for COVID-19 testing kits, drugs, and protective equipment to Drax International, variously described as registered in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, without a public tender. The deal drew outrage after Drax invoiced the government US$28 per disposable mask, items local suppliers were selling for under US$4.20The Africa Report. Zimbabwe: Covid-19 Drugs Scandal Lays Bare the Rot in the System
Moyo was charged with criminal abuse of office, with prosecutors alleging he pressured subordinates to bypass mandatory due diligence. Delish Nguwaya, Drax’s local representative, was arrested on fraud charges along with several executives from the state-run National Pharmaceutical Company.21OCCRP. Zimbabwe’s Health Minister Charged for Covid-19 Corruption An Interpol investigation traced US$2 million to a Drax account in Hungary.20The Africa Report. Zimbabwe: Covid-19 Drugs Scandal Lays Bare the Rot in the System President Emmerson Mnangagwa dismissed Moyo for “inappropriate conduct,” and the government canceled all contracts with Drax.22The Guardian. Zimbabwe Health Minister Facing Coronavirus Corruption Charge Sacked Two permanent secretaries who signed off on the deal were never charged, and some legal analysts characterized the proceedings as political maneuvering rather than genuine accountability.
The 2026 Zimnat Insurance Ruling
Pandemic litigation in Zimbabwe did not end with the public health emergency. In a consolidated judgment delivered in 2026, the Bulawayo High Court ordered Zimnat General Insurance to pay more than US$2.4 million to two Victoria Falls tourism operators whose businesses were shut down during the pandemic.23Newsday. Covid-19 Payout Blow as Insurer Ordered to Pay Tourism Giants US$2.4m
The cases, HC1800/22 and HC1801/22, were brought by Africa Albida Tourism and its subsidiary Victoria Falls Safari Lodge Hotel, which were awarded US$1,066,239, and by Spencers Creek, operator of Ilala Lodge, which was awarded US$1.4 million.23Newsday. Covid-19 Payout Blow as Insurer Ordered to Pay Tourism Giants US$2.4m The claims arose from March 2020, when tourists at Ilala Lodge showed COVID-19 symptoms and staff fell ill, triggering operational shutdowns even before the national lockdown took effect.
Justice Mpokiseng Dube found that the pandemic and the resulting shutdowns were an insured “occurrence” under the hotels’ business interruption policies, which covered losses from a “notifiable contagious or infectious disease” at the insured premises.24Zimbabwe Now. Zimnat Ordered to Pay US$2.4 Million in Landmark Covid-19 Insurance Ruling Zimnat argued there was no definitive proof the virus had been present at the hotels, but the judge accepted testimony from the doctor who diagnosed Zimbabwe’s first COVID-19 case in Victoria Falls. The court rejected the insurer’s expert witness as “biased and less persuasive” and criticized Zimnat for issuing a “Fire, Lightning and Storm” claim form for a pandemic-related loss, saying the company had been “caught unawares.”23Newsday. Covid-19 Payout Blow as Insurer Ordered to Pay Tourism Giants US$2.4m Both operators were awarded the full claimed amounts plus 5% annual interest from the date the lawsuits were filed, and the decision is regarded as a precedent for how Zimbabwean courts read business interruption coverage against systemic pandemic risks.