Once renowned as Zimbabwe’s “white gold belt,” Gokwe South has seen a drastic reduction in cotton farming, a development that has done little to strengthen the local HIV response.
Instead, the decline has triggered new drivers of infection as communities turn to alternative — and often riskier — sources of income.
For decades, cotton was not just a cash crop in Gokwe South, but also a stabilising economic force.
Families thrived on predictable harvests, and the steady income helped reduce the push factors that drove people into risky livelihoods.
However, with plummeting cotton prices and erratic rainfall patterns worsened by climate change, many households abandoned the crop.
In its place, people have turned to artisanal mining, vending and cross-border trading as well as labour migration.
While these alternatives bring income, they have also increased vulnerability to HIV.
“I left my wife in Shurugwi to come and work here in Gokwe South,” said Trynos Ndlovu, an artisanal miner in Masoro, Ward 24.
“Yes, I got out and got services from sex workers and I don’t even know what my wife does when I am not around.”
This publication established that artisanal miners live in isolated, male-dominated camps where alcohol and transactional sex are common.
“I stay here at the compound and often visit close by makeshift beer outlets (zvindanya) where we buy beer and we are entertained by sex workers,” Ndlovu said.
“Some of these sex workers are coming from as far as Gokwe town, Kwekwe and Kadoma.”
Mary Zhou, a vegetable vendor at Gokwe town, said her husband left for South Africa two years ago following the demise of the cotton growing industry.
“He told me that he was going to look for a job in Kwekwe before he crossed the border into South Africa,” Zhou said.
“My husband is yet to return home and I am left to look after our three children, who are in secondary school.
“He always promises to return home, but I just heard that he was staying with another wife.
“This side I am forced to entertain some other men.”
Ruth Moyo*, a 36-year-old mother of three from the Chief Jiri area, echoed similar sentiments.
“When cotton was still giving us good money, families were together, and life was manageable,” Moyo said.
“Now my husband works in South Africa, I stay at home with the kids, and we only see each other once or twice a year. It is very difficult to keep trust in such a situation,”
Large numbers of Zimbabweans have migrated to South Africa over the last 20 years, with the total population of Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa estimated to be between three to five million.
Migration has been primarily driven by dire economic conditions, particularly lack of viability in farming in rural communities, which compel people to seek work and better living standards in South Africa and other countries.
“We have a lot of people that have moved to South Africa, we are talking about people here in Gokwe South who live in communities along the borders with Lupane and Nkayi, who have left their families for foreign countries like Botswana and South Africa,” said Isaki Chiwara, the Gokwe South NAC district coordinator.
“We also have a lot of artisanal mining activities in communities like Masoro, Gwenika in ward 24.
“There is also a lot of trade here at Gokwe centre and this includes local vendors and cross-border traders, who spend weeks away from their spouses, which expose women to exploitative relationships.”
Chiwara said spousal separation, as family members seek greener pastures in South Africa, Botswana and beyond, has weakened family structures and created conditions where multiple concurrent sexual partnerships are common.
NAC statistics show that while HIV prevalence in Gokwe South is among the lowest in the Midlands province, hotspots like Gokwe town, Gwenika shopping centre, CMB Nemangwe and Manoti shopping centre, among others remain a concern due to mobile populations and changing economic activities.
“We have noted with concern that the reduction in cotton production has not translated into improved HIV outcomes,” Chiwara said.
“Instead, new forms of livelihoods such as artisanal mining and cross-border trading are increasing risk factors for HIV transmission.”
Chiwara said in the wake of this new shift, NAC was now implementing intervention programmes targeted at artisanal miners and other key populations.
“We are collaborating with the Ministry of Health and other partners to ensure that HIV services are accessible even in hard-to-reach areas like mining sites and trading corridors,” he said.
“One such strategy has been the peer-led model, which we are implementing in communities like Masoro in ward 24.
“This model is led by peer mentors, who conduct risk assessments among their peers, create a caseload of 20, and further disseminate HIV and Aids-related information.”
Edmore Mutamba, a peer educator from Masoro said the programme was helping artisanal miners.
“We talk directly and we speak of issues that directly affect us,” Mutamba said.
“At the end of the day we come up with home grown solutions and in some cases we coordinate how best our peers can be supported considering that most of these guys are isolated from their wives.”
Mambewu Shumba, the NAC Midlands provincial manager, said the peer-led model was one of a range of intervention strategies that his organisation was implementing in the province.
Shumba said the cotton situation requires urgent adaptation of HIV programmes to match new economic realities.
“The cotton era shaped family life in a unique way, but now the livelihood landscape has changed,” he said.
“We need to be innovative in our HIV programming so that we do not lose the gains we have made.”