Gweru is a city in central
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 ...
. Near the geographical centre of the country. It is on the centre of
Midlands Province
Midlands is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of and a population of 1,614,941 (2012). It is home to various peoples. Located at a central point in the country, it contains speakers of Shona, Ndebele, Tswana, Sotho and Chewa, as well as of ...
. Originally an area known to the
Ndebele
Ndebele may refer to:
*Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa
*Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe and Botswana
Languages
*Southern Ndebele language, the language of the South Ndebele
*Northern Ndebele language, the language o ...
as "The Steep Place" because of the
Gweru River's high
banks, in 1894 it became the site of a military outpost established by
Leander Starr Jameson.
In 1914 it attained
municipal
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
status, and in 1971 it became a
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
.
The city has a population of 158,200 as of the 2022 census. Gweru is known for farming activities in beef cattle, crop farming, and commercial gardening of crops for the export market.
It is also home to a number of colleges and universities, most prominently
Midlands State University and
Mkoba Teachers College
Mkoba Teachers College is a Zimbabwean Teachersbr>Collegelocated in Gweru, Midlands Province.
Mkoba Teachers College is one of the oldest teacher's colleges in Zimbabwe. It was officially opened on 10 June 1978. The college offers teacher train ...
.
The city was nicknamed City of Progress.
History
Gweru used to be named Gwelo. Matabele settlement was named iKwelo (“The Steep Place”), after the river’s high banks. The modern town, founded in 1894 as a military outpost, developed as an agricultural centre and became a municipality in 1914.
Geography
The geographical coordinates for Gweru Urban are 19° 27
' 0'' South and 29° 49' 0'' East. This places Gweru at the centre of
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 ...
. The area coverage is almost 46 166 km². The city is built alongside Bulawayo-Harare railway and the road near the railway spur to Mabuto.
Climate
Demographics
Nature and wildlife
In and around Gweru there are attractive places, some are man-made and some are natural. There is:
* Antelope Park
* White Waters
* Insukamini Ruins
Economy
Situated along the road and railway between
Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the 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 metropolitan ...
(formerly Salisbury) and
Bulawayo and near the rail spur to
Maputo
Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...
,
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
, Gweru has become a busy trade centre with modest industrial development. Its products include ferrochromium, textiles, dairy foods, leather, and building materials. The surrounding area, with its rich deposits of gold, chrome, iron, asbestos, and limestone, supports a number of mines. The training section of Zimbabwe’s air force is in Gweru at the
Gweru-Thornhill Air Base
Gweru-Thornhill Air Base is one of the two main air bases of the Air Force of Zimbabwe located near the central city of Gweru,
Thornhill Air Base is home to air force fighter squadrons and the Pilot Training School. According to ''Janes Defen ...
.
The city is also known for vibrant farming activities in cattle ranching, and farming including, commercial gardening of crops for the export market. The country`s oldest shoe manufacturer, the Bata Shoe Company and the Military and Aviation Museums are also some key features for which Gweru is well known.
Culture
The Boggie clock tower, located at the intersection of Main Street and Robert Mugabe Way, was built in 1928 in memory of Major William James Boggie. The clock tower is one of the city's most famous landmarks.
The
Nalatale
Naletale (or Nalatale) are ruins located about 25 kilometres east of Shangani in Matabeleland north, Zimbabwe and just north of the Dhlo Dhlo ruins.
The ruins are attributed to the Kalanga Kalanga may refer to:
* BaKalanga people
* Kalanga la ...
and
Danangombe archaeological sites lie nearby, the former known for its patterned brickwork, the latter for its Portuguese remains. The remains at these sites date back to as early as the Torwa state during the 17th century, the most substantial being a four hundred-year-old stone wall decorated with motifs known to the tradition of stone-building in Zimbabwe. The surrounding area has rich deposits of gold, chrome, iron, asbestos and platinum and supports several mines.
Tourism
The main hotel in the city is the Midlands Hotel, which was opened in 1927 by the Meikles brothers. This hotel was to be demolished but after many protests by the population it was saved. Another important hotel is the Chitukuko (formerly the Hotel Cecil), located in the downtown area of the city. Both hotels were owned by
Patrick Kombayi, a former mayor. The Fairmile Motel is just one mile from the city center on the Bulawayo highway .
Sports and stadia
Soccer
* Chapungu Football Club
Chapungu F.C team was nicknamed Waru Waru and the team is currently playing in
Zimbabwe Premier League Soccer League. Its home is
Ascot Stadium.
There is also Gweru Sports club which has playgrounds for rugby, bowling and cricket.
Government and politics
Education
Primary education
Group A
*Cecil John Rhodes School
*Lundi Park School
*Riverside School
*Stanley School
*Anderson Adventist Primary School (private)
*Lingfield Academy (private)
*
Midlands Christian School (private)
Group B
*Airforce Thornhill Primary School
*Bata School
*Bumburwi School
*Chikumbiro School
*Matongo School
*Mkoba 4 Primary School
*Mpumelelo Primary School
*Muwunga School
*Sandara School
*Senga Primary School
*Takunda Primary School
*Takwirira Primary School
*St. Michael's Primary School (Catholic)
*St. Paul's School (Catholic)
Secondary education
Group A
* Sacred Heart College (private)https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0zDJPziisMko3YLRSNagwtDQ2sTQ0NTZOMUg1S7NIsTKoME2xMEkxTkxKNEhKMjBLTvaSKk5MLkpNUchITSwqUUjOz8lJTU9VSC9PLSoFANDxGX8&q=sacred+heart+college+gweru&oq=sacred&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j69i59j46j0l3j69i61l2.5111j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
*
Chaplin High School
*Guinea Fowl High School
*Nashville Secondary School
*
Thornhill High School
*Anderson Adventist High School (private)
*
Lingfield Christian Academy (private)
*
Midlands Christian College (private)
Group B
* Ascot Secondary School
*
Fletcher High School
* Mambo High School
* Matinunura High school
* Mkoba 1 High School
* Mkoba 3 High School
* Senka Secondary School
Tertiary education
* Ambassador College
* Central Africa Correspondence College
* Commercial Studies Centre
* Educare College
*
Gweru Polytechnic Institute
Gweru Polytechnic College is a technical college located in the Midlands Province, Zimbabwe, providing over 60 courses in five divisions. The college is located 1.5 km north of Gweru
Gweru is a city in central Zimbabwe. Near the geograph ...
*
Herentals College
Herentals F.C. are a football club from Harare, Zimbabwe currently playing in the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League
Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League is the top professional division of the Zimbabwe Football Association. It was founded in 1980, a ...
*
International Correspondence Schools
ICS Learn, also known as International Correspondence Schools Ltd, is a provider of online learning courses in the UK. It was founded in 1889 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The UK branch was set up in 1904, and it now serves around 25,000 current stu ...
* Kaguvi National Technical College
*
Mkoba Teachers College
Mkoba Teachers College is a Zimbabwean Teachersbr>Collegelocated in Gweru, Midlands Province.
Mkoba Teachers College is one of the oldest teacher's colleges in Zimbabwe. It was officially opened on 10 June 1978. The college offers teacher train ...
* Midlands Christian Training Centre
*
Midlands State University
* Rapid Results College
* Senka Technical Training Centre
* Solars College
* TopFlight Secretarial College
* Zimbabwe Distance Education College
*
Zimbabwe Open University
*Mount Hermon Theological Seminary
Defunct colleges and universities
* Midlands College of Commerce (closed 1994)
Media
Gweru's local newspaper, ''The Gweru Times'', once ceased publishing in 2015 but now operational.
Industry
In Gweru there are big companies that are still operating and are still capable of employing hundreds of employees. Not forgetting future big companies which are SMEs are also listed. These companies are in and around Gweru. Below are the list of companies grouped according to size and type of the industry. Some of the companies in Gweru are
Bata Shoe Company, ZimGlass, ZimCast, ZimAlloys,
Delta Corporation
The Delta Corporation is a beer and soft drink company of Zimbabwe. The company is headquartered in Harare and is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and its stock index, the Zimbabwe Industrial Index.
Operations
Delta's brand names include:
* ...
, Anchor Yeast, and
Midlands State University.
Transportation
Railway
Railways arrived in Gwelo (Gweru) in 1902.
National Railways of Zimbabwe have the country's largest marshalling yard,
Dabuka
Dabuka is a major railway marshalling yard in central Zimbabwe. It is near Gweru.
See also
* List of rail yards This article is a list of important rail yards in geographical order. These listed may be termed Classification, Freight, Marshalli ...
, on the south side of Gweru. Dabuka plays a pivotal role in rail movement in the country as it is the central hub of the rail links to Mozambique in the east, South Africa in the south and Botswana and Namibia in the south west, lying on the
Beira–Bulawayo railway.
Gwelo was once home to the
Gwelo & District Light Railway, a
2 ft gauge steam for pleasure railway.
Roads
As a central city (hub), it has direct links to all the other cities and towns of Zimbabwe. It is 164 km from Bulawayo, 183 km from Masvingo, 471 km from Beitbridge, and 275 km from Harare.
Road names used are by destination only, for example the Harare-Bulawayo Road. There are only mainroads, no highways or freeways.
[The Automobile Association of Zimbabwe]
Notable people
*
Brendan Ashby
Brendan Ashby (born June 30, 1980) is a Zimbabwean former swimmer, who specialized in backstroke events. Since 2004, Ashby currently holds two Zimbabwean records in the 100 and 200 m backstroke from the World championships and U.S. invitational ...
, Olympic swimmer
*
Prince (Oskid) Tapfuma, Music Producer
*
Tamuka (Dj Tamuka) Muponda-Makuluni, Music Producer
*
Itai (Madiz) Madzikura, Musician
* Clifford (Mr Chiks muShurugwi) Chikerema, Civil Engineer, Music Producer
*
Patient Charumbira, cricketer
*
Shimmer Chinodya
Shimmer Chinodya (born 1957 Gwelo, then Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) is a Zimbabwean novelist.
He studied at Mambo Primary School. He was expelled from Goromonzi after demonstrating against Ian Smith's government. He graduated from the ...
, writer
*
Edmore Chirambadare
Edmore Chirambadare (born 24 January 1992 in Gweru, Zimbabwe) is a left-footed Zimbabwean professional footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Winger, winger for Real Kings F.C., Real Kings. Nicknamed "Spanner" by his teammates, ...
, footballer
*
Gerald B. Clarke
Gerald Bryan Sheil O'Cleary Clarke (1 November 1909) was a Rhodesian politician. He was born in Gwelo as the son of Irish-Rhodesian parents, Francis Joseph Sheil O'Cleary Clarke and Margaret Shiel. His father arrived in Rhodesia in 1896 followi ...
,
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
n politician
*
Malcolm Grainger, cricketer
*
Gregg Haakonsen
Gregg Haakonsen (born 10 May 1980) is a Zimbabwean cricketer. He played four first-class matches for CFX Academy cricket team
The CFX Academy cricket team was a first-class cricket team representing the Zimbabwe's cricket academy in the count ...
, cricketer
*
Mandy Loots
Amanda Toni "Mandy" Loots (born 3 August 1978 in Gwelo, Rhodesia) is an Olympic and national-record-holding swimmer from South Africa.
Swimming career
Loots swam for South Africa at the 1996, 2000 and 2008 Olympics.
Despite being of South A ...
, Olympic swimmer
*
Orlando Lourenco
Orlando Lourenco (born 15 September 1964 in Gwelo) is a former tennis player from Zimbabwe.
Lourenco represented his native country at the Tennis at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's singles, 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where he was ...
, tennis player
*
Paddington Mhondoro
Paddington Mhondoro (27 September 1986 – 13 March 2015) was a Zimbabwean cricketer who played a single limited overs match for Mid West Rhinos during the 2013–14 season.
Born in Gweru, in Zimbabwe's Midlands Province, Mhondoro attended Chip ...
, cricketer
*
Energy Murambadoro, footballer
*
Kudakwashe Musharu
Kudakwashe Musharu (born 8 January 1987) is a Zimbabwean footballer who plays as a forward for Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League side Harare City and the Zimbabwe national team.
Career Club
Musharu began his senior footballing career with Underh ...
, footballer
*
Luther Mutyambizi
Luther Mutyambizi (born 26 June 1980) is a Zimbabwean cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails ...
, cricketer
*
Christopher Muzvuru
Piper Christopher "Muz" Muzvuru was the first black piper in the Irish Guards.
Muzvuru was born in Gweru, Zimbabwe and joined the Irish Guards in 2001. He was killed by sniper fire, along with fellow Irish Guardsman Ian Malone, while serving in I ...
,
Irish Guards piper
*
Welshman Ncube
Welshman Ncube (born 7 July 1961) is a Zimbabwean lawyer, businessman and politician. He is the founding MDC leader and former President of Zimbabwean political party Movement for Democratic Change – Ncube. He currently serves within the Cit ...
, politician
*
Rudolf Nyandoro
Rudolf Nyandoro (born 11 October 1968) is a Zimbabwean Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Gokwe since 2017. He was appointed the new Bishop of Gweru in September 2020. A Gweru native, he previously served a parish priest, semina ...
, Roman Catholic bishop
*
David Pocock,
Australia international rugby union player
*
Ray Reed
Raymond William Reed (30 April 1932 – 8 May 1970) was a Rhodesian racing driver born in Gwelo, Southern Rhodesia. He was entered in the 1965 South African Grand Prix in his self-built RE (automobile), RE-Alfa Romeo in Formula One, Alfa Romeo, b ...
, racing driver
*
Nkululeko Mkastos Sibanda, politician
*
Alec Smith,
Rhodesian Army
The Rhodesian Security Forces were the military forces of the Rhodesian government. The Rhodesian Security Forces consisted of a ground force (the Rhodesian Army), the Rhodesian Air Force, the British South Africa Police, and various personnel ...
chaplain, son of
Ian Smith
*
Thomas Sweswe, footballer
*
Gary Teichmann
Gary Hamilton Teichmann (born 9 January 1967) is a retired South African professional rugby union player. He played number eight and captained the South African national team, the Springboks, between 1995 and 1999.
Teichmann stands 1.95 metres ...
,
South Africa international The South Africa International is an international badminton tournament held in South Africa organised by Badminton South Africa
Badminton South Africa is the national governing body that oversees and manages affairs related to the sport of badm ...
rugby union player
Sister cities
*
Basildon, England, United Kingdom
*
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, United States
*
Tsumeb, Namibia
See also
*
List of cities and towns in Zimbabwe
References
{{Authority control
Gweru District
Populated places in Midlands Province
Provincial capitals in Zimbabwe
Populated places established in 1894