Zimbabwe’s First Successfully Separated Conjoined Twins Turn 22
- Chipo Basira
- 30 Mar, 2026
Zimbabwe’s First Successfully Separated Conjoined Twins Turn 22
Tinashe and Tinotenda Mufuka, recognised as Zimbabwe’s first conjoined twins to be successfully separated, are set to celebrate their 22nd birthday on July 28.
The twins were born on July 28, 2004, at Howard Mission Hospital in Chiweshe to Elizabeth Mufuka. They were joined at the abdomen and shared a liver, a rare condition that required highly specialised medical attention. It was later established that The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada, was the only facility with the expertise and resources to attempt the separation.
In December 2004, the infants were airlifted to Canada. Doctors delayed the operation after discovering the babies were malnourished and needed time to recover. On March 7, 2005, a team of 25 doctors and nurses performed the complex five-hour surgery, which was successful.
The case drew international attention after Dr. Rachel Spitzer, a Toronto obstetrician volunteering at Howard Hospital through the Canadian Jewish Humanitarian and Relief Committee, delivered the babies. Dr. Paul Thistle, then chief medical officer at Howard and a Salvation Army member, alerted the organisation in Canada to the twins’ urgent need for support.
Despite severe internet challenges at the time, hospital staff spent hours trying to send images of the twins to Canada for assessment. The effort eventually succeeded. The Salvation Army agreed to fund the flights and assist the family during their stay in Toronto, working with the host organisation Ve’ahavta, which had long supported Howard Hospital.
Following the separation, the twins remained in Canada for additional procedures to correct cleft lips and palates before returning home.
Now aged 21 and soon turning 22, the twins recently featured on the Canadian podcast The Avrum Rosenweig Show through an online interview. With the help of a Shona interpreter, Sister Pedrinah Muso from Howard Hospital, they shared that no one had ever fully explained to them that they were born conjoined, apart from photographs they later saw in old newspaper cuttings.
They expressed gratitude to the medical teams that saved their lives and spoke about their present circumstances. Having completed high school, the brothers now earn a living through a poultry project at Mufuka Village in Chiweshe.
They live with their mother, Elizabeth, at her father’s homestead and have two older sisters. Their father is not part of their lives. Apart from occasional back pain when they overexert themselves, they have not experienced serious health complications since the surgery.
Looking to the future, they hope to one day own property, move into their own home, get married and start families.
Zimbabwe has since recorded other successful separations. In 2014, Kupakwashe and Tapiwanashe Chitiyo from Murehwa were separated at Harare Children’s Hospital. In 2021, twin girls Anotipaishe and Anotidaishe from Banket also underwent successful surgery at Harare Hospital.
Conjoined twins are extremely rare, occurring in about one in every 50,000 to 200,000 live births worldwide. They form when a single fertilised egg fails to split completely. Studies show that female conjoined twins are more common than males, and some research suggests slightly higher occurrences in parts of Africa and Southwest Asia.
As they prepare to mark 22 years of life, Tinashe and Tinotenda’s story remains a remarkable account of survival, international cooperation, and resilience.
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