Mbare is a suburb in the south of

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its ...

, Zimbabwe. Founded in 1907 as a township, it includes an informal settlement. Mbare Musika is the largest farm produce market in Zimbabwe.

History

Mbare was the first township, now known as a high density area, established in 1907. It was originally called Harari and much of it was constructed after 1950. Before the 1980s the government built the Matapi flats. A total of fourteen blocks of apartments were built to house bachelors who came to Harare (then Salisbury) to find employment. Since the 1980s the apartments have become multifamily, with the rooms divided by curtains or boxes. The population of the flats has grown from 3,000 to an estimated 28,000 to 30,000. For Independence Day in 1980 Bob Marley was personally invited by Edgar Tekere, and played a concert in Rufaro Stadium. In 2001, over 500,000 people were displaced from their Mbare homes when the council demolished 145,000 homes they declared were illegal. Significant portions of Mbare, including the Mupedzanhamo Flea Market, were destroyed by police and military forces during

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 Unit ...

in May 2005, when President Robert Mugabe described the inhabitants as "people without totems".

Economy and markets

Mbare has Mbare Musika, the largest farm produce market in Zimbabwe. Farmers deliver their fresh crops every morning and some travel from far away places like

Mutare Mutare (formerly Umtali) is the most populous city in the province of Manicaland, and the third most populous city in Zimbabwe, having surpassed Gweru in the 2012 census, with an urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 in the s ...

, Masvingo and Kariba to sell their produce. This area has fallen into disrepair in recent years. When

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, Queen of the United Kingdom, visited Zimbabwe in 1991 as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, she expressed a desire to see Mbare Musika. The government therefore launched a court case to evict squatters she might see on her journey. In "The City of Harare v Tichaona Mudzingwa and 193 others", the High Court stated the government had no reason to evict the squatters, then the government simply forcibly resettled them on a farm 30 kilometres outside Harare.

Notable residents

* Thomas Mapfumo *

Leonard Mapfumo Leonard Mapfumo (born January 30, 1983) is an urban grooves/hip-hop artist from Harare, Zimbabwe. Active on the national hip-hop scene since 2000, he has gained recognition as one of the fathers of Zimbabwean urban sounds, with four number one ...

References

External links

Labourhistory.net
{{Authority control Suburbs of Harare 1907 establishments in Southern Rhodesia Populated places established in 1907 Squatting in Zimbabwe