Chitungwiza is the third populous urban centre in Zimbabwe and town of

Harare Province Harare Metropolitan Province () is a province in northeastern Zimbabwe that comprises Harare, the country's capital and largest city, and three other municipalities, Chitungwiza, Epworth and Ruwa. At independence in 1980, it was originally p ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. It is located on the outskirts of

Harare Harare ( ), formerly Salisbury, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

History

As of the 2022 census, Chitungwiza had a population of 371,244. There are two main highways which connect the city to

namely Seke road and Chitungwiza road. The Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex, built in 1995 for the All Africa Games, is no longer functional, and serves as a music and church venue. Tonderai Kasu

Informal settlements

Following the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, the area experienced rapid Rural-urban migration. Chitungwiza grew rapidly and the

squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

area of Chirambahuyo alone had a population of 30,000 in 1979. Chirambahuyo was demolished by the authorities in 1982 and the inhabitants squatted elsewhere in the city in areas such as Mayambara. Slum areas in Chitungwiza were destroyed by

Operation Murambatsvina Operation Murambatsvina (''Move the Rubbish''), also officially known as Operation Restore Order, was a large-scale Zimbabwean government campaign to forcibly clear slum areas across the country. The campaign started in 2005 and, according to U ...

in 2005. By the mid-2010s, the number of people squatting in

informal settlements Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement (or lack thereof) which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. As such, the info ...

was growing. In 2020, the local authorities abandoned their plans to demolish squatter homes in Nyatsime, Seke, St Mary’s and Zengeza, after a court order was requested.

Notable people

Prominent lawyer, Liveours Mundieta comes from Chitungwiza. The musician Maskiri comes from Chitungwiza. The town clerk in 2016 was Dr George Makunde. In 2019 and 2020, Dr.

Tonderai Kasu Tonderai Kasu is a community and corporate leader in Zimbabwe. A medical doctor by training, he was the substantive Director of Health and Environmental Services for Chitungwiza, and has been the Acting Town Clerk or Acting Chief Executive, of ...

served as the acting town clerk. Emmanuel Makandiwa and

Alick Macheso Alick Macheso (born 10 June 1968), is a Zimbabwean Demographic features of the population of Zimbabwe include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of t ...

are from Chitungwiza. Current mayor: Lovemore Maiko

References

{{authority control Populated places in Harare Province Populated places established in 1978 1978 establishments in Africa Squats Squatting in Zimbabwe