Woman gives birth on the street

A woman from Masvingo's Mucheke suburb whose age could not be ascertained gave birth to a bouncing baby girl on the street while on her way to a prayer session at a nearby shrine.

The incident took place at about 8am on Thursday when Ms Agnes Mupande of Runyararo West was on her way to visit "Madzimai" a prophetess at a church shrine near Mucheke F.

When a Chronicle crew visited the place, the woman was being attended to by a group of women from Mucheke F and was then taken to Mazorodze Private Clinic.

It is understood that Madzimai had, during earlier consultations, advised Ms Mupande to visit her before giving birth in order for her to conduct spiritual cleansing.

The cleansing was meant to help Ms Mupande not to face any complications during labour, an instruction that she followed.

Madzimai is said to have told Ms Mupande that failure to follow the instruction could result in complications during delivery which could result in her giving birth through a Caesarian section or lose the baby.

However, on her way, about less than a kilometre to the shrine, Ms Mupande went into labour and screamed for help, prompting women who were nearby to come to her rescue.

The women reportedly formed a human wall around Ms Mupande while one of them, a nurse aid with the Red Cross Society of Zimbabwe only identified as Ms Mupinga helped her deliver.

The woman gave birth on the street corner in full view of largely women and few mischievous men who wanted to get a glimpse of what was happening.

The delivery was free of complications.

Some of the women among the crowd had to give her their towels, blankets and nappies to help Mupande wrap the baby to the clinic where she was admitted and attended by nurses before later referred to Masvingo General Hospital.

The mother and the baby are reported to be well and are expected to be discharged from the hospital soon, said a source.