Changelog 28 October 2026, 18:53 585bfcetree

Expand Zimbabwe: arrests, mbanje culture/words, pipe-bowls article

1 country profile edited 1 article written 1 file of code, design or docs +54 −1 lines

Countries and states 1 file

Zimbabwe countries/zw.yaml

sources

The Observer Zim — 3 cops arrested over mbanje (22 November 2025) The Observer Zim — Beyond the 200kg drug bust: the powerful names linked to Zimbabwe's highly-politically connected drug cartels (14 March 2026) 11 unchanged

words

word Mbanje · lang Shona · meaning cannabis; the standard Shona word, also dagga in police reports · sources duvall19

context › arrests › text

In November 2025 three serving police officers were arraigned in Bulawayo for allegedly receiving 11 kg of dagga smuggled from South Africa, alongside two civilian accomplices.[@observer25] In March 2026 a Bulawayo Road operation seized 200 kg of mbanje and arrested 11 people linked to politically connected cartels.[@observer26]

context › arrests › sources

observer25, observer26

context › culture › text

The Shona word is [mbanje](/culture/language/mbanje/): Duvall traces it across the region from an 1851 Sierra Leone account to the Kasai Bena Riamba movement, and it is the everyday word in Zimbabwe today.[@duvall19] The custom is older than the word's paper trail — pipe bowls point to cannabis in the Zimbabwe kingdoms from around 1200 (see the [pipe-bowls entry](/history/zimbabwe-pipe-bowls-1200/)).

context › culture › sources

duvall19

Articles and atlas entries 1

zimbabwe-pipe-bowls-1200 article · added · 151 words

Code, design and documents 1 file

docs/research/expansion-2026-10-28-africa-3.md +5 −1

@@ -25,5 +25,9 @@ All batch files verified free of others' uncommitted changes at start.
 - Driving researched section skipped (no source). Audit 0/0; page + both articles verified.
 - Left: 1920s/30s/60s/80s/2000s/2010s history decades.
-## zw — pending
+## zw — committed
+- New arrests (Nov 2025: 3 cops + 2 civilians, 11 kg SA dagga; Mar 2026: 200 kg, 11 held) + culture (mbanje atlas + pipe-bowls link) + words (Mbanje/Shona via Duvall).
+- New `articles/zimbabwe-pipe-bowls-1200.md` (1200 CE bowls, Zimbabwe/Monomotapa circulation).
+- Audit 0/0; page + article verified. Builds repeatedly blocked by others' in-flight edits (hr, ro, lock); green on retry.
+- Left: 1920s–40s, 1960s–80s, 2000s history decades; first-restriction estimate kept.
 ## gn — pending
 ## rw — pending