A group of legislators in Zimbabwe had themselves circumcised last week to set a good example for the country, most in an impromptu surgical theater in a tent in Parliament House.

One even allowed photographers in to snap pictures of his bandage, local reporters said.Various journalists put the number circumcised at 44, or 20, or “at least 10.”

One day earlier, more than 100 legislators and staff members had H.I.V. tests, also in the Parliament building. Members of both main political parties — normally bitter rivals — had the surgery. Studies in Africa have shown that circumcision reduces by 60 percent the chance that a man will get H.I.V. from heterosexual sex.

Blessing Chebundo was the first legislator operated on. He told reporters afterward that he had been “a bit scared, but after they had explained the process, I felt at ease.”