Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa says Victoria Falls is Zimbabwe’s alone not Zambia’s.
Speaking on 9 September at the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo in Masvingo, he rejected the long-standing line that Mosi-oa-Tunya is shared.
“Some say it is shared between Zimbabwe and Zambia, but that is not true,” he said. “If you are proposing love to a girl, you do not court her from behind but from the front. Victoria Falls faces Zimbabwe and has its back to Zambia.”
That is a political claim, not the official map.
The falls sit on the Zambezi, which is the border. UNESCO lists Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls as a joint World Heritage Site: Zambia’s Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park on one bank, Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls National Park on the other. The gorge is the boundary. Tourists use both sides. Livingstone is Zambia. Victoria Falls city is Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe side is famous for the wide frontal view. The Zambia side looks into the gorge and the eastern cataract. That viewing difference is real. Exclusive ownership is not.
The remark is already being treated as a possible diplomatic flashpoint with Lusaka. No official Zambian government reply was out at the time of this report.