Mwenezi, originally known as Nuanetsi, is a small district situated in southern

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 bisected by the

Mwenezi River The Mwenezi River, originally known as the Nuanetsi River, is a major tributary of the Limpopo River. The Mwenezi River starts up in south central Zimbabwe and flows south-east along what is known as the Mwenezi River Valley that bisects the distr ...

and the A4 highway, the main thoroughfare that connects the town of

Beitbridge Beitbridge is a border town in the province of Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. The name also refers to the border post and bridge spanning the Limpopo River, which forms the political border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. The border on the S ...

, on the border with

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, to

Masvingo Masvingo, known as Fort Victoria during the colonial period, is a city in southeastern Zimbabwe and the capital of Masvingo Province. The city lies close to Great Zimbabwe, the national monument from which the country takes its name and clos ...

Background

Mwenezi derives its name from the Mwenezi River, which provides

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

water to the

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s in and around the

Rutenga Business Center Rutenga, is an important village in the province of Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe. It is the de facto capital of Mwenezi (District). There are unverified claims that the name “Rutenga” is derived from corruption by local natives of what th ...

. Although the

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

is located along the highway, the main administrative offices are located at the Neshuro Business Center. The weather is hot and dry throughout the year, except during the summer when rain is frequent. In 2002, the population of the drought-prone district was estimated to be 126,000, up by 25,000 from 1992, the year of the drought. Mwenezi lies in natural regions four and five. The district is prone to droughts and experiences low mean annual rainfall. The majority of households in Mwenezi depend on agricultural production, like livestock rearing. The small amounts of rainfall have created a desire amongst households in Mwenezi to shift more towards livestock farming, especially cattle and goats, although the majority of households indicate that they have not been able to restock since the drought of 1992.

Education

As in other rural parts of the country, the schools in Mwenezi are government run, although some have historical links with

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct Religion, religious body within Christianity that comprises all Church (congregation), church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadersh ...

s. There is one boarding school, Lundi Secondary School (run by the Free Methodist Church). The fact that all the secondary schools (other than Lundi) were established after independence, is testimony to the marginalization of the district and the "catching up" it needs to do. Though Zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, in some Mwenezi communities, such as Maranda, a former designated native reserve before independence in 1980, the rate being as low as 50 percent.

Secondary and primary schools

Notable schools in Mwenezi include Lundi Secondary School, situated along the Masvingo- Beitbridge Road, Masuture secondary school situated along Masvingo-Beitbridge Road just 60 km away from Lundi Christian high school, Mabhare Secondary School, north of the Mwenezi River but close to Manyuchi Dam, Dengenya Primary School, between Mwenezi and the Mushawe River, Kuwirirana Secondary School, Guiding Star Secondary School. Masogwe Baptist Secondary that was established in 2004 by Pst Nhamo Chigohi on the Neshuro Rd, Maranda High, Hlezana Secondary, Mwenezi Government School, Budirirai Secondary School, Rufaro Secondary School, Masuture Secondary School, Makawire Primary School, Shazhaume Primary School, Pambe Primary School, Zvirikure Primary School, Sarahuro Primary School, Masongwe Primary School, Hebron High School, Neshuro Secondary School, Neshuro Primary School, Rutenga Primary School, Gegare Primary School, Matibi Primary School. However, not all villages have secondary schools. Some students, especially those from villages along the Mwenezi River, below the main wall of the Manyuchi Dam, have to walk long distances to school, about fifteen to twenty kilometers. This state of affairs discourages students from going to school, instead opting to cross the border and go to

Economy

The district's main employers are sugarcane plantations in

Rutenga Rutenga, is an important village in the province of Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe. It is the de facto capital of Mwenezi (District). There are unverified claims that the name “Rutenga” is derived from corruption by local natives of what t ...

, Triangle and

Chiredzi Chiredzi is a town in Masvingo province in south-east Zimbabwe. It is located near the Runde River, which has a tributary called the ' Chiredzi'. As the administrative center for Chiredzi District, it is where both the rural and district coun ...

all connected by a railway line from

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 cattle ranchers, before the influx of commercial farms in 2000, used to employ many people. As in most rural districts in the country, many people are also employed in the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

mainly as teachers and nurses. The people in the district had always trekked to the mines of

. However, the number of migrant workers has increased in recent times due to the economic

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...

that Zimbabwe has been going through. Few young people remain in the villages across the district, preferring to take their chances in

working one menial contract job after the next. The

on the border with South Africa makes their trek easier. In the early 2010's, fish farming projects were introduced in several major dams as a way to combat poverty in the district caused by the drought induced decline in agriculture.

Tourism

In the past, the district generated some revenue from tourism, with large numbers of tourists visiting the private game parks in the district and the nearby Manyuchi Dam.

Business centers

The district has many service and business centres of varying sizes and economic vibrancy. Among these, Neshuro, Sarahuru, Sengejira, Maranda and Chaoma are noteworthy. The withdrawal of government-funded grain collection and distribution facilities as part of

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

reforms in the 1990s and the recent (1998–2008) economic woes of the country led to the decline of these centers. However, some, like Neshuro, have continued to grow, with water and poor roads the major deterrents to investment.

Government and politics

Akin to other districts in

Masvingo Province Masvingo, previously named Victoria, is a province in southeastern Zimbabwe. It has a population of 1.638 million as of the 2022 census, ranking fifth out of Zimbabwe's ten provinces. Established by the British South Africa Company, it was one o ...

, the ZANU-PF party dominates politics. Ever since the country's independence, the constituency has been represented by a ZANU-PF party member in the parliament of Zimbabwe. Isaiah Shumba was the representative for Mwenezi, winning both the 2000 and 2005 elections on the ZANU-PF ticket.

General elections 2008

The district now sends two members to Zimbabwe's new

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

. Each of the wards in the district has an elected official who works in the rural district council. The district has been a stronghold of ZANU-PF since independence in 1980, a trend that didn't change in the 2008 elections. The district was divided into two parts, namely Mwenezi West and Mwenezi East, for the general elections of 2008. Candidates from both the

Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai The Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left political party and was the main opposition party in the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe ahead of the 2018 elections. After the split of the origin ...

party and ZANU-PF competed for the two constituency seats. The winners will represent the district in the

in the parliament of Zimbabwe. Mwenezi, together with Chivi (District), will elect a member to the new Zimbabwe Senate.

Political violence

Ever since 2000, there have been sporadic reports of violence in the district, mostly perpetrated by ZANU-PF supporters and war veterans on their perceived enemies. Isiah Shumba, the former MP for Mwenezi constituency, was arrested with twelve other ZANU-PF supporters for political violence and intimidation in the run-up to the harmonized elections of 2008. He took a violent path after he had lost in the ZANU-PF primary election. He had run for the Mwenezi East seat and had lost to Kudakwashe Bhasikiti (2,793 votes) and Cletos Muchara (214 votes). Shumba was a distant third, garnering only 48 votes.

Mwenezi East

Eight wards comprise this part of the district, which includes the land north of the

: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, and 18. Bhasikiti Kudakwashe (Zanu-PF), Murambwi Ananias (

MDC Tsvangirai MDC may refer to: Arts * Macau Design Centre, an art center in Macau * MDC (band) (Millions of Dead Cops), an American rock band *'' M.D.C. - Maschera di cera'', a 1997 Italian horror film * Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the protagonist of Miraculous: ...

), and Chidyamakono Tavengwa (Independent) ran for the Mewnezi East House of Assembly seat with Bhasikiti winning with 9696 to Murambwi's 2477.

Mwenezi West

There are nine wards in the district: 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Mwenezi West comprises the area that is south of the

, including Manyuchi Dam. Masukume Pilot ( Zanu-PF) and Tedious Douglas (MDC Tsvangirai) battled for the Mwenezi West constituency. Pilot won the contest with a landslide of 12,636 to Tedeous's 1,577.

Infrastructure development

Road network

The district is serviced by a network of mostly

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

roads. Apart from the shoulder-less A1 highway, all other roads in the district are of

macadam Macadam is a type of road construction pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam , in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the original mat ...

ized gravel roads. During the rainy season, despite the best efforts of DDF, they get washed away. Most places are accessible only by four-wheel-drive vehicles. Some of the vital bridges destroyed during Cyclone Eline in 2000 have yet to be repaired. The primary mode of transport is by donkey cart, and phone lines connect most of the business centers with the outside world.

Health care

Public health care is delivered at four levels meant to function as a referral chain. The entry level includes rural health centers, rural hospitals, and urban clinics (whose services do not require an attending physician). District hospitals exist at the first referral level, provincial and general hospitals at the second referral level. The third referral level includes central and special hospitals. Most health care facilities in the district are owned and run by the government's Ministry of Health & Child Welfare, although local communities are involved in the management of some clinics. The main referral hospital is Mwenezi District Hospital at Neshuro. Previously the Neshuro clinic, it was upgraded by the Chinese to a rural hospital in the late 1980s. The Catholic-run Matibi Mission hospital to the northwest (bordering the Mberengwa District) also acts as another referral hospital. Several poly-clinics are scattered across the district offering primary health care. In recent years, as the economy of

has declined, shortage of drugs and equipment at hospitals emerged, although staffing levels by the end of 2010 had improved. Communities also rely heavily on traditional medicine. The major diseases that affect the people in the district include TB and

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. Owing to the low rates of

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

, especially in Mwenezi West, TB remains a threat to the district as the affected usually don't finish their treatment regimes.

HIV/AIDS

The remoteness of the district from other areas has spared it from the scourge of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. However, cases of the malady have been reported to be on the increase in recent years as the highly mobile youth that venture to

in search of jobs gets exposed to the virus and bring it back.

General

The area south of the Mwenezi River, beyond the Maranda communal lands, is dominated by some of the country's largest ranches. Nuanesti Ranch, reputed to be the largest freestanding ranch in the province, if not the whole country, is found in the district along the A1 highway between

and

.Satellite pictur

accessed 2008-02-28) These ranches provide basic infrastructure, from schools and clinics to roads and dip-tanks. Since the farm invasions of early 2000, peasant farmers from the communal lands of both Matibi, north of the Mwenezi River, and those from the Maranda communal lands south of the river, invaded some of the arid ranches found in the district, changing the land use map.

Famous People

Paul Matavire, the singer who sang in the Paul Matavire and the Jairos Jiri Band, created many songs before his untimely death in 2005.

References

{{coord, 21, 30, S, 31, 00, E, display=title, region:ZW_type:adm2nd_source:GNS-enwiki Mwenezi Districts of Masvingo Province