By Staff Reporter
Mabel Chinomona has urged Zimbabwean women to stop using family planning methods and give birth to more children to counter the country’s declining birth rate.
Speaking in August 2026 at a ZANU-PF Women’s League event in the Murehwa West constituency, the Senate President and ZANU-PF Secretary for Women Affairs expressed serious concern over the nation’s shrinking workforce and population growth.
During her address, Chinomona explicitly told attendees, “Women, please stop using family planning; please go and give birth.”
She noted that the country needs a larger population to supply essential sectors, stating that the nation is running short of soldiers, farmers, doctors, and nurses while women are “busy swallowing those pills.”
Chinomona critiqued the younger generation’s preference for smaller families, questioning why many now believe having a single child is sufficient. Acknowledging that women worry about the cost of raising children, she dismissed this by stating children would simply eat whatever is available at home.
She suggested that the Zimbabwean government should explore subsidizing childcare, pointing out that other global nations now offer financial incentives to women who give birth.
Chinomona’s remarks come at a time when Zimbabwe’s total fertility rate has dropped to 3.7 children per woman. While this remains above the global replacement rate of 2.1, it marks a significant decrease from the average of 6 children per woman recorded in the 1990s.
Experts attribute this decline to ongoing economic hardships, increased access to education for women, and the widespread availability of modern contraceptives.
Notably, Chinomona’s stance stands in sharp contrast to the official policy of the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Care and organizations like the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC), which actively promote family planning to reduce maternal mortality and manage sustainable family sizes
