Esigodini, originally known as Essexvale, is a town in the

Matabeleland South Province 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 es ...

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 the administrative centre for Umzingwane District, one of the seven administrative districts in Matabeleland South. It was originally an estate of

Frederick Selous Frederick Courteney Selous, Distinguished Service Order, DSO (; 31 December 1851 – 4 January 1917) was a British people, British explorer, army British Army, officer, professional hunter, and conservation movement, conservationist, famous for ...

, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

explorer,

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professional hunter A professional hunter (less frequently referred to as market or commercial hunter and regionally, especially in Britain and Ireland, as professional stalker or gamekeeper) is a person who Hunting, hunts and/or manages Game (hunting), game by profe ...

, and conservationist.

Location

Esigodini is situated approximately , by Gwanda road, southeast 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 ...

, the nearest large city and largest urban centre in the province. The town sits along the Bulawayo–Beitbridge Road, approximately northwest of the town of Gwanda. The geographical coordinates of the town are:20°17'33.0"S, 28°56'17.0"E (Latitude:-20.292500; Longitude:28.938056). Esigodini is located at an average elevation of , above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

Overview

Esigodini is the district capital of Umzingwane Rural District Council, which is responsible for running the affairs of the district as a whole. The trading centre is surrounded by ranches and mixed farms. The surrounding communities also host

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

and

tungsten Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...

mines. The area has many rivers, although it suffers from long dry season and drought is common in this area. Average annual rainfall is approximately .

Population

According to the 1982 population census, Esigodini had a population of 1,492. The 2012 national population census and household survey enumerated 2,228 inhabitants in the town.

History

The town was officially known as Essexvale until 1982, when the name changed to Esigodini. It was founded in 1894. Prior to the coming of European settlers, the surrounding area was settled by ''Rozi Moyo people'', who had moved here from the area near Gwanda.

Schools

Nearby schools include Falcon College, a renowned secondary school for boys and Mzingwane High School, Mvuthu High School, Esikhoveni Secondary, Mawabeni Secondary, Longfied Secondary, and Mlomotsha while primary schools are Bayethe, Bezha, Bonjeni, Carlisle, Dobi, Doyana, Dula, Esigodini, Glen Grey, Godlwayo Annex, How Mine, Impu, Inyankuni, Irisvale, Isotsha, Kumbudzi, Longfield, Malungwane, Nsezi, Shale, Bezha, Zhilo, Swazi, Matshetshe, Mawabeni, Mbalabala, Mbizingwe, Mzinyathini, Mlomoliwoto, Mpisini, Mpofini, Mtshede, Munkula, Mvuthu,. Also nearby, is the Roman Catholic mission school known as ''Sacred Heart Girls School'', a boarding secondary school. This school was founded in 2014 and is run by the Sisters Of The Precious Blood who fall under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bulawayo, and came mainly from Germany shortly after the Second World War.

References

External links

Zanu-PF Heads Meet In Esigodini
As of 15 October 2018. {{Matabeleland South Province Umzingwane District Populated places in Matabeleland South Province