Bikita is a district in the

Masvingo Province Masvingo is a Provinces of Zimbabwe, province in southeastern Zimbabwe. It has a population of 1.485 million as of the Zimbabwean census, 2012, 2012 census, ranking fifth out of Zimbabwe's ten provinces. Established as Victoria Province by the B ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. It borders with Gutu District,

Zaka District Zaka is a district in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, located 86 km southeast of Masvingo. Old administration offices were at Ndanga Ndanga is a sub-district in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe and is located 60 km south-east of Masvingo. T ...

, Chipinge District, Chiredzi District, Buhera District and

Mwenezi District Mwenezi is a small district situated in southern Zimbabwe. It is bisected by the Mwenezi River and the A4 highway, the main thoroughfare that connects the town of Beitbridge, on the border with South Africa, to Masvingo. Background Mwenezi der ...

. It is located about east of

Masvingo Masvingo is a city in south-eastern Zimbabwe and the capital of Masvingo Province. The city is situated close to Great Zimbabwe, the national monument from which the country takes its name and close to Lake Mutirikwi, its recreational park, ...

. Its administration is at Nyika Growth Point but initially it was at Bikita Office, 11km south of Nyika towards Jerara Growth Point in

. The surrounding area is mined for

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid ...

Bikita mine The Bikita mine is the largest lithium mine in Zimbabwe. The privately owned company holds the world’s largest-known deposit of lithium at approximately 11 million tonnes. The mine is located in southern Zimbabwe in Masvingo Province. The Bik ...

being one example. The reputed to have the largest reserve of

petalite Petalite, also known as castorite, is a lithium aluminum phyllosilicate mineral Li Al Si4 O10, crystallizing in the monoclinic system. Petalite occurs as colorless, pink, grey, yellow, yellow grey, to white tabular crystals and columnar masses. ...

in the world.

Name

Its name probably is derived from a mountain in the Bikita Mamutse Area called Bikita Mt. Speculation was it came from the

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people * Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today Shona may also refer to: * ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing * Shona (given name) * S ...

word ''Dikita'' which means ''antbear'', which describes the shape of a nearby hill. The district used to be known as Denga which means ''up in the clouds'' and has moved several times to different locations.

Government and politics

The district sends three members to Zimbabwe's

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

. Each of the wards in the district has an elected official who works at the rural district council. The district was divided into three sections for the 2008 elections, namely east, west and south. The district was a stronghold of ZANU-PF from 1980 until the time of the 2008 parliamentary election, when the opposition

Movement for Democratic Change Movement for Democratic Change or MDC may refer to: * Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), the former main opposition party in Zimbabwe ** Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai Congress 2006, the second MDC–T congres ...

(MDC) won all three seats, one with a razor thin margin.Sokwanele site

Bikita South

Bikita South, Zaka east and central, is made of wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 26, 28, and 29. During the 2008 House of Assembly elections, Luka Gumbare (ZANU-PF), Wilson Makonya (MDC (mut)) and Jani Varandeni (MDC (tsv)) ran for the seat. The

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is an independent Chapter 12 institution established in terms of Section 238 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe; which is responsible for the management and administration of Zimbabwe's electoral processes. It was ...

(ZEC) announced Jani Marandeni as the winner with a total of 6,916 votes to 5,284 of Luka Gumbare. Matsai community is one of the most impoverished in Bikita but it has its shining beacon Mashoko mission with a renowned hospital and state-of-the-art high school. Ward 28 and 29 is made up of small scale commercial farms. These farms were mostly purchased in the early 1950s. During the 2018 House of Assembly elections JOSIAH SITHOLE K(ZANU PF) was announced the winner by ZEC with a total of 10300 votes followed by Jeppy Jaboon (MDC Alliance) with 3000 votes.

Bikita East

Bikita East comprises wards 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, and 27. Matthew Makaza (ZANU-PF), Walter Mutsauri (independent) and Edmore Marima (MDC (Tsva)) ran for the seat for the House of Assembly. According to the ZEC, Edmore Marima won the seat with 7,784 votes to 5,373 polled by Walter Mutsauri.

Bikita West

The constituency seat is made up of eleven wards, namely 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 22, 23, and 32. Ellias Musakwa (ZANU-PF) and Heya Shoko (MDC (tsv)) ran for the seat. Shoko narrowly won the seat with 7,048 votes to Musakwa's 7,029.

Development

* Bikita Forum * Silveira Tarred Road *District Development Fund (DDF)

References

{{authority control Districts of Masvingo Province Populated places in Zimbabwe