Twenty-seven people died after a haulage truck collided head-on with a minibus taxi carrying members of an indigenous African Christian denomination on a major highway in Zimbabwe on Friday night, police confirmed on Saturday.
Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi confirmed the death toll on August 29, stating that the victims were members of a popular indigenous African Christian denomination known for wearing white robes. The group was travelling to a conference when the crash occurred near Chivhu town, roughly 132 kilometres south of Harare.
Details of the Collision
Nyathi said the truck's driver was attempting to overtake another vehicle when the lorry struck the minibus head-on. Both vehicles were reported to be carrying an "unspecified" number of passengers at the time. The minibus caught fire on impact and was left a burnt-out shell, according to local media reports accompanied by photographs of the wreckage.
State broadcaster ZBC News, quoting a provincial government minister, reported that 23 people died at the scene. Additional victims succumbed to their injuries after being taken to a nearby hospital, bringing the final toll to 27.
Zimbabwe's Road Safety Crisis
The crash is the latest in a long series of fatal road accidents in Zimbabwe, where crowded buses, minibus taxis, and unregulated sedan taxis regularly feature in deadly incidents. Authorities attribute 94% of road accidents in the country to human error, and Zimbabwe is consistently ranked among the nations with the worst road safety records on the continent.
Across Africa, road crashes claim roughly 300,000 lives every year, accounting for about a quarter of all road fatalities worldwide, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The commission notes that Africa has the highest road fatality rate in the world, despite the continent's 1.5 billion people owning only around 3% of the global vehicle fleet.
The incident underscores the persistent dangers on Zimbabwe's highways, where enforcement of traffic regulations remains a challenge. The final death toll of 27 makes this one of the deadliest single-vehicle accidents in the country this year, prompting renewed calls for stricter road safety measures.
