Mazabuka is a town in the Southern Province of Zambia. It is the capital of Mazabuka District, one of the thirteen administrative units in the Southern Province. The name Mazabuka originates from a Tonga local language word "kuzabuka" which means "To cross over the river". The name should have been "mwazabuka" which translates to "you have crossed". However, due assimilation, the name became "Mazabuka" which nonetheless translates to "you have crossed".It is believed that the name was coined after the Tonga people crossed the '' Kafue River'' near a place called Nanga during their migrations.

Location

The town is located in Mazabuka District, in Zambia's Southern Province. The town lies on the south east edge of the Kafue Flats wetland, along the Lusaka–Livingstone Road. It is approximately , by road, southwest of

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

, the national capital and largest city. The geographical coordinates of Mazabuka are:15°50'48.0"S, 27°44'51.0"E (Latitude:-15.846667; Longitude:27.747500). Mazabuka sits at an average elevation of above mean sea level.

Overview

The town has grown around sugar cane plantations, and currently it hosts the headquarters of Zambia Sugar, the largest sugar-manufacturing company in Zambia, with annual output in excess of of crystalline sugar annually.

Population

In 1990, the city had 24,596 people. In 2000, the town's population was 47,148 people. During the 2010 national census and household population survey, the city had 71,700 inhabitants. The table below illustrates the same data in tabular format.

Transport

While being on the Lusaka–Livingstone Road, Mazabuka is also connected to

in the north-east and

Livingstone Livingstone may refer to: * Livingstone (name), a Scottish surname and a given name. **David Livingstone (1813–1873), Scottish physician, missionary and explorer, after whom many other Livingstones are named Places *Livingstone Falls, on the Con ...

in the south-west by the

Zambia Railways Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway company of Zambia, one of the two major railway organisations in Zambia. The other system is the binational TAZARA Railway (TAZARA) that interconnects with the ZR at Kapiri Mposhi and provides a link to ...

line.

Education

Mazabuka is home to two well known day schools, among others,in the province. Both are grant aided schools run by the Roman Catholic missionaries. These are St Edmunds Secondary School and Mazabuka Girls Secondary School. The two have the highest enrollment of grade eights(G8) from all the primary schools. Musikili Primary School is a private boarding school for children between 5 and 13 years old. ''Flamboyant School'', is a school for children with disabilities and is located on the outskirts of the town. It is operated by the Mazabuka Association for the Disabled.

Healthcare

Mazabuka is home to (a) Mazabuka Sugar Hospital for the management and staff of Zambia Sugar Plc and (b) Mazabuka General Hospital for the general public.

Notable people

* Mizinga Melu, the Zambian businesswoman and bank chief executive who serves as the managing director and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Absa Bank Zambia Plc Absa Bank Zambia Plc, formerly Barclays Bank of Zambia, is a commercial bank in Zambia. It is licensed by the Bank of Zambia, the central bank and national banking regulator. Location The headquarters and main branch of Absa Bank of Zambia ar ...

, was born in Mazabuka.

Munali Nickel Mine

In September 2006 following a positive feasibility study, Albidon Limited of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

obtained permits and approvals to mine Nickel in Mazabuka. The initial project development required more than U$180 million, which was funded by

debt financing Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The de ...

from Barclays Capital and the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...

and

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

from Albidon Limited
JINCHUAN mining group
of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and ZCCM Investment Holdings . In April 2007, then Zambian President, Levy Mwanawasa launched the Munali Nickel Project at a ground breaking ceremony. The mine would be built and operated under the venture's special purpose vehicle Albidon Zambia Limited (AZL). AZL commenced mining and production of nickel concentrates in April 2008. Operations were suspended in 2009 because of poor market conditions. From the peak of the Financial crisis of 2007 - 2008 the Mine would struggle for many years. It was briefly owned and run b
JINCHUAN mining group
of

from 2010. JINCHUAN would invest U$ 37 million and employ about 350 workers. However, the mine was shut down again in 2011 due to cashflow problems. A joint venture Mabiza Resources betwee
Consolidated Nickel Mines Plc
of the United kingdom and
CE Mining
took ownership in 2014 but delayed capital injection which led the government of Zambia at the time to threaten repossession of the asset. From 2015 the JV has placed in U$ 50 million investment to reboot operations at the Munali Nickel Mine. The Mine recommenced operations in 2019. The mine is managed by an all-Zambian management team and currently has a workforce of 380 people, of which 10% are women. Munali currently exports over 10% high quality Nickel concentrate. The mine is expected to generate 3,300t of Ni in 2020, which is anticipated to reach 4,000t in 2021. Although it is billed as a nickel project, Munali also contains commercial quantities of copper, cobalt and platinum group metals (PGMs). ''See Also'':

Mining in Zambia The mining landscape in Zambia covers production of multiple mineral raw materials, including copper, cobalt, gold, nickel, manganese, emeralds, beryllium, myriad gemstones, sulfur, zinc, coal, iron ore, steel, limestone, uranium and other p ...

References

External links

Website of Assumption Parish Mazabuka

Website of Musikili Primary School

As at 2 February 1998. {{Authority control Mazabuka District Populated places in Southern Province, Zambia Kafue River