By Patience Gondo
For years, pregnancy in Mtetengwe and surrounding villages has carried an unspoken fear. When labour pains began at night, women often travelled long distances on rough roads some on scotch carts, others on foot hoping to reach the nearest clinic in time.
For many families, the journey itself was as frightening as childbirth.
That reality is beginning to change.
On January 12 2026, ahead of a ZANU PF Beitbridge West Constituency meeting the party’s Matabeleland South leadership toured a Women’s Waiting Centre under construction at Mtetengwe in Beitbridge West Constituency. The delegation was led by Provincial Chairman and Minister of Industry and Commerce Hon. Nqobizitha Ndlovu.
The project funded through Constituency Development Funds (CDF) and overseen by Beitbridge West MP Hon. Thusani Ndou, is expected to be completed by the end of February 2026.
Rising next to the Mtetengwe Rural Health Centre, the facility represents relief from years of anxiety for women from remote villages who have long struggled to access maternity care.
“This is not just a building. It is a place where life will be protected,” said Hon. Ndlovu during the tour.
In rural Beitbridge, distance has long worked against safe motherhood. Villages are scattered, roads are poor and transport is unreliable. Even when families decide early to seek medical care, finding affordable and safe transport during labour is often impossible.
“We used to pray that the baby would wait,” said local resident Rebokile Chinoni. “When labour starts at night, you ask yourself, do I risk giving birth at home or do I risk the road? Now our daughters will not have to make that choice.”
Such delays in reaching clinics have contributed to preventable maternal and infant complications pressure families have carried quietly for generations.
The Mtetengwe centre builds on similar initiatives in the district, including the Tongwe waiting mothers’ shelter handed over by World Vision Zimbabwe in 2022, which demonstrated how proximity to care can save lives. While government policy scrapping maternity fees improved access, distance and transport remain major barriers.
“This centre is about dignity, safety and giving every child a fair start to life,” said Hon. Ndou.
In Mtetengwe, that long held tension is finally easing. With the Women’s Waiting Centre nearing completion, childbirth is no longer only a test of endurance it is becoming once again a moment of hope.