Buhera District is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Manicaland Province Manicaland is a province in eastern Zimbabwe. After Harare Province, it is the country's second-most populous province, with a population of 2.037 million, as of the 2022 census. After Harare and Bulawayo provinces, it is Zimbabwe's third-most de ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Geography

The district is located in

, in southeastern

. It is bordered by

Chikomba District Chikomba is a district of Zimbabwe. It was previously part of Midlands Province, but was delimited to fall under Mashonaland East Province in the 1990s. Notable people * Chenjerai Hunzvi, politician and war veterans leader *Solomon Mujuru, ar ...

and

Wedza District Wedza (or Hwedza) is a district in the province of Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe. It is located about south of Marondera, and south of Harare. The area was sparsely inhabited by the Mbire people of the Soko Clan as early inhabitants who mined iron i ...

to the north, both in

Mashonaland East Province Mashonaland East, informally Mash East, is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of 32,230 km2 and a population of approximately 1.35 million (2012). Marondera is the capital of the province. Geography Districts Mashonaland East i ...

. To the northeast lies

Makoni District Makoni District is a district in Zimbabwe. The name also refers to a parliamentary constituency with coterminous borders. Location The district is located in Manicaland Province, in northeastern Zimbabwe. Its main town, Rusape, with an estimate ...

and

Mutare District Mutare District is a district in Manicaland Province of eastern Zimbabwe. The district headquarters is the city of Mutare. Geography The district has a rural area of 5,523 km², and an urban area of 191 km². It is bounded on the east ...

lies to the east.

Chimanimani District Chimanimani District (part of which was known as Melsetter 1895–1982) is a mountainous district in Manicaland Province of eastern Zimbabwe. The district headquarters is the town of Chimanimani. Geography The district has an area of 3,450. ...

and

Chipinge District Chipinge District is a district in Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe. The administrative headquarters is Chipinge. Geography Chipinge District is the southernmost district in Manicaland province. It is bounded on the north by Chimanimani Distri ...

lie to the southeast.

Gutu District Gutu is the third largest district in Masvingo Province, southern Zimbabwe, after Chiredzi and Mwenezi. It is the northernmost district in the province. The name "Gutu" is historically reported to have emerged from "Chinomukutu wemiseve" – meani ...

Masvingo Province Masvingo is a province in southeastern Zimbabwe. It has a population of 1.485 million as of the 2012 census, ranking fifth out of Zimbabwe's ten provinces. Established as Victoria Province by the British South Africa Company, it was one of the ...

lies to the south and west of Buhera District. The district's main town,

Buhera Buhera is a village in Zimbabwe. Location Buhera District is in Manicaland Province, in eastern Zimbabwe. It is about , by road, southwest of Mutare, the location of the provincial headquarters. This location is approximately , southeast of ...

, is located approximately , by road, southwest of

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 area, urban population of 224,802 and approximately 260,567 ...

, the location of the provincial headquarters. Key towns include Buhera (district capital), Murambinda, Nyashanu and Dorowa. The Save River forms the eastern and northeastern boundary of the district with Chipinge, Chimanimani, and Mutasa districts. The Devuli River, a tributary of the Save, forms the southeastern boundary.

Overview

Buhera District is a rural district. The local economy depends mainly on

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. The main crops are:

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets al ...

(mhunga), roundnuts (nyimo) and groundnuts (nzungu). Cattle

ranching A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

is also practiced in the district. Although the rains are not very reliable, the area is fertile with several irrigation schemes for the populace to supplement their meager harvests. However the schemes are now in sorry state due to government neglect. The ranching and wildlife make life enjoyable and fruitful. The largest employer in the district is Dorowa Minerals, a

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

mine, which employs about 300 people. The highest mountain in Buhera is Maremare near Mutiusinazita in Buhera South.

Administration

The district is divided into 33 administrative wards. Buhera is divided into four

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

parliamentary constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Buhera Central Buhera is a village in Zimbabwe. Location Buhera District is in Manicaland Province, in eastern Zimbabwe. It is about , by road, southwest of Mutare, the location of the provincial headquarters. This location is approximately , southeast of ...

Buhera North Buhera is a village in Zimbabwe. Location Buhera District is in Manicaland Province, in eastern Zimbabwe. It is about , by road, southwest of Mutare, the location of the provincial headquarters. This location is approximately , southeast of C ...

Buhera South Buhera South is a constituency represented in the National Assembly of the Parliament of Zimbabwe. Created for the 1985 election, its territory consists of the southern portion of Buhera District, in Manicaland Province in eastern Zimbabwe. Its ...

, and Buhera West. The district is a single

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

constituency.

History

The name Buhera is a Nguninised, then

Anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

version of the name uHera. uHera means ''territory of the Hera'' and is reference to the fact that the Hera ethnic group of the

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people * Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today Shona may also refer to: * ''Shona'' (album), 1994 album by New Zealand singer Shona Laing * Shona (given name) * S ...

lived in the area and in neighbouring

. The vaHera of the Museyamwa totem occupy most of the Buhera territory (under Chief Nyashanu) and much of neighbouring Chikomba (under chief Mutekedza). The Va Hera are of the Shona tribe and claim that they came from ''Guruuswa'', which has been identified as an area north of the

Zambezi River The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

, perhaps around

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

Chiurwi Mountain
was a major staging point for

ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), a militant African nationalist organisation that participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule of Rhode ...

liberation forces, during the Second Chimurenga War (1966 - 1979).

Population

During the 2012 district census, the population of the district was estimated at 245,878. The majority of the district residents are subsistence farmers, through a communal land system administered by the local chiefs. There are two designated

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

s in the district, namely;

Murambinda Murambinda is a town in Zimbabwe. Location It is located in Buhera District, Manicaland Province, in eastern Zimbabwe. Its location is approximately , by road, southwest of Mutare, the location of the provincial headquarters. The village of ...

and Birchenough Bridge.

Education

The district has a total of 140 primary schools and 55 secondary schools in 2004.Manicaland Regional Education Office, 2004 Some of the notable schools in the area include: ''Nyashanu High School'' and ''Makumbe High School'', both named after chiefs.

Notable people

The notable people associated with the district include the following: *

Morgan Tsvangirai Morgan Richard Tsvangirai (; ; 10 March 1952 – 14 February 2018) was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was President of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democratic ...

– The former

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

of Zimbabwe, MDC Leader has roots in Buhera District. *

Joseph Chinotimba Joseph Chinotimba (born 23 March 1958) is a Zimbabwean political figure. He rose to prominence during the invasions of white-owned commercial farms that started after the 2000 constitutional referendum in Zimbabwe. He is widely regarded as a mi ...

– current

ZANU–PF The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) is a political organisation which has been the ruling party of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was led for many years under Robert Mugabe, first as prime ministe ...

Member of Parliament for Buhera *

Gideon Gono Gideon Gono (born 29 November 1959) is a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), serving from 2003 to 2013, and is the former CEO of the CBZ Bank Limited. Gono became known internationally due to his connection to the hyperin ...

– Governor of the

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is the central bank of Zimbabwe and is headquartered in the capital city Harare. History The bank traces its history to the Reserve Bank of Rhodesia, founded on 22 May 1964, but which succeeded the Bank of Rhodesia ...

is a native of Buhera District. * Paul Madzore – The member of parliament for Glen Norah, on the MDC-T ticket, comes from ''Usavi Village'', in Buhera district * Kumbirai Kangai – A politician of the Zanu-PF political party is a native of Buhera District *

's aide Tichaona Chiminya and his companion Talent Mabika were killed when their car was petrol bombed in Buhera District. * Solomon Madzore, younger brother to Paul Madzore and also member of parliament for Dzivarasekwa and former MDC-T youth leader comes from Usavi village in Buhera. *

George Charamba George Charamba is the Deputy Chief Secretary-Presidential Communications in the Office of the President of Zimbabwe and former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services (Zimbabwe), Ministry of Informa ...

, President Mugabe's spokesperson and Permanent Secretary of Media and Information is also from Buhera. *The former Governor of

Manicaland Manicaland is a Provinces of Zimbabwe, province in eastern Zimbabwe. After Harare Province, it is the country's second-most populous province, with a population of 2.037 million, as of the 2012 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census. After Harare and Bulawa ...

province Kenneth Manyonda also hails from Buhera. *The late political activist and University Professor

John Makumbe John Mudiwa Washe Makumbe (May 6, 1949—January 27, 2013), often published as John Mw Makumbe, was a Zimbabwean political scientist, political philosopher and activist. He was a professor at the University of Zimbabwe for more than 25 years, and ...

hailed from Marenga in Buhera. * Eric Taurai Matinenga: lawyer and member of parliament for Buhera West, hails from Murambinda, Buhera

References

External links

Buhera District - One of The Poorest In Zimbabwe
{{Authority control Districts of Manicaland Province