HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Antelope Mine, now known as Maphisa, is a town in the Matobo district of the province of
Matabeleland South Matabeleland South is a province in southwestern Zimbabwe. With a population of 683,893 as of the 2012 Zimbabwean census. It is the country's least populated province after Matabeleland North.Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North were est ...
, Zimbabwe. On 14 June 2024, the government of Zimbabwe granted Maphisa the town status. Maphisa is located about 114 km south of
Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; ) is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council claimed it to be about ...
and 14 km south of
Kezi KEZI (channel 9) is a television station in Eugene, Oregon, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by Allen Media Group. The station's studios are located on Chad Drive in Eugene, and its transmitter is locat ...
. The village was established in an area once rich in wildlife and was named after a goldmine which started operating in 1913 but closed in 1919. The mine was established on the site of ancient African workings which were first discovered by Europeans in the 1890s and the first claims were pegged in 1894. The modern town is a commercial centre for the surrounding area and the Semukwa communal land. Together with the villages of Maphisa, it draws on the nearby Gulamela Dam to irrigate a large communal agricultural scheme. Many mission schools have been established in the area, and the
Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...
operates both a mission school and a hospital in the village. Antelope Mine is, like several other mining areas in Zimbabwe, a centre of settlement for members of the
Chewa people The Chewa are a Bantu ethnic group primarily found in Malawi and Zambia, with few populations in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The Chewa are closely related to people in surrounding regions such as the Tumbuka. As with the Nsenga and Tumbuka, a sm ...
. They migrated to the then British colony of
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...
in the 1950s from
Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...
(the present-day
Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
) and
Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. After ...
(now
Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...
) to work as migrant labourers in the mineral extraction and agricultural industries. During the Zimbabwean government's ''
Gukurahundi The ''Gukurahundi'' was a series of mass killings and genocide in Zimbabwe which were committed from 1983 until the Unity Accord in 1987. The name derives from a Shona language term which loosely translates to "the early rain which washes a ...
'' campaign against the
Ndebele Ndebele may refer to: *Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa *Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe * Sumayela Ndebele (Northern Transvaal Ndebele), located in South Africa Languages *Southern Ndebele language, the language of ...
population of southern Zimbabwe in the 1980s, the disused mine workings at Antelope Mine were the site of a concentration camp run by the Fifth Brigade of the Zimbabwean Army. Many prisoners were reported to have been killed and their bodies thrown down the mineshaft. On two instances, in 1996 and 1999, skeletal remains believed to be of executed
ZAPU The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) is a Zimbabwean political party. It is a militant communist organization and political party that campaigned for majority rule in Rhodesia, from its founding in 1961 until 1980. In 1987, it merged with ...
prisoners were discovered in the abandoned mineshaft.


References

{{Matabeleland South Province Kezi District Populated places in Matabeleland South Province 1913 establishments in the British Empire