Gweru, originally known as Gwelo, is a city in central

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 on the centre of

Midlands Province Midlands is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of and a population of 1,811,905 (2022). 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 ...

. Originally an area known to the

Ndebele Ndebele may refer to: *Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa *Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe * Sumayela Ndebele (Northern Transvaal Ndebele), located in South Africa Languages *Southern Ndebele language, the language of ...

as "The Steep Place" because of the

Gweru River Gweru River (known as Gwelo River until 1982) is a river in Midlands (Zimbabwe), Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. Background The name Gweru is a further distortion of the name Gwelo which was a distortion of the name Ikwelo meaning a very steep pl ...

's high

banks A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. As banks ...

, in 1894 it became the site of a military outpost established by

Leander Starr Jameson Sir Leander Starr Jameson, 1st Baronet, (9 February 1853 – 26 November 1917), also known as Starr Jameson, was a British colonial politician, who was best known for his involvement in the ill-fated Jameson Raid. Early life and family He w ...

. 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 gov ...

status, and in 1971 it became a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

. 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 Midlands State University is a government owned university in Zimbabwe. The university has 9 faculties (Agriculture, Arts, Commerce, Education, Engineering, Law, Science, Social Sciences and Medicine) offering a wide variety of courses and many ...

and Mkoba Teachers College. 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

. 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 city, capital and largest city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of , a population of 1,849,600 as of the 2022 Zimbabwe census, 2022 census and an estimated 2,487,209 people in its metrop ...

and

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 ...

and near the rail spur to

Maputo Maputo () 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 population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, 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. The airbase is home to air force fighter squadrons and the Pilot Training School. According to ''Janes Defence We ...

. 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 and

Danamombe Danamombe is a Zimbabwean archaeological site, about eighty kilometres from Gweru, in the direction of Bulawayo and about 35 kilometres south of the highway. It is not often visited due to the poor quality roads in the area. The remains on the sit ...

archaeological sites lie approximately 70 and 85 km to the southwest, the known for their patterned stonework. 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 As of 2025, TelOne play in the Zimbabwe Premier League Soccer League (ZPSL) at the Bata Stadium. Chapungu F.C was nicknamed Waru Waru and previously played in the ZPSL. Its home was the

Ascot Stadium Ascot Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Gweru, Zimbabwe. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goa ...

. There is also Gweru Sports club which has grounds for rugby, bowling and cricket.

Government and politics

Education

Primary education

Group A *Cecil John Rhodes School *Lundi Park School *Riverside School *Stanley School *Bata Primary School *Anderson Adventist Primary School (private) *Lingfield Academy (private) * Midlands Christian School (private) Group B *Airforce Thornhill Primary 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 *

Chaplin High School Chaplin High School is situated in Gweru, Zimbabwe, and was started in October 1902. It was started in a building of the Trinity Church, Gwelo and first named as the Trinity Church School (1). The school caters for boys and girls from form 1–6 ...

*Guinea Fowl High School *Nashville Secondary School *

Thornhill High School Thornhill High School opened on the air force base in Gwelo, Rhodesia (now Gweru, Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southe ...

*Anderson Adventist High School (private) *

Lingfield Christian Academy Lingfield Christian Academy is an independent, boarding and day school for boys and girls in Gweru, Zimbabwe. Academics Lingfield Christian Academy offers programs developed and examined by Cambridge International Examinations, such as the Camb ...

(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 * Herentals College *

International Correspondence Schools Penn Foster Career School is a U.S. for-profit, regionally and nationally-accredited distance education school offering career diploma programs and certificate programs. It was founded in 1890 as International Correspondence Schools, or ICS. Penn ...

* Kaguvi National Technical College * Mkoba Teachers College * Midlands Christian Training Centre *

* Rapid Results College * Senka Technical Training Centre * Solars College * TopFlight Secretarial College * Zimbabwe Distance Education College *

Zimbabwe Open University Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) is an open distance education university in Zimbabwe. Established in 1999, ZOU is the only distance education university in the country that offers an opportunity for students to earn as they learn. Student enrol ...

*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

Gweru was famous for housing big companies that are no longer operating, and which left thousands of employees jobless. There is hope that future big SME companies will make up for the loss in economic activity created by this situation. These big companies were previously housed in and around Gweru. Below is the list of these companies grouped according to size and type of the industry. The companies that previously flourished in Gweru were 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. Today most of their previous premises are derelict and are a painful reminder of a vibrant industrial city that Gweru once was. However,

is a recent feature of Gweru which has pushed the city to seek positive recognition as an education centre.

Transportation

Railway

Railways arrived in Gwelo (Gweru) in 1902.

National Railways of Zimbabwe The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways (RR), is a Bulawayo headquartered state-owned enterprise that operates the country's national railway system. It was established in 1893 and is governed by an Act of Parliament ...

have the country's largest marshalling yard, Dabuka, 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 Beira-Bulawayo railway, also called Machipanda railway, Beira-Harare-Bulawayo railway and Beira railway, is a railway that connects the city of Beira, Mozambique, Beira, Mozambique, to the city of Bulawayo, in Zimbabwe. It is 850 km long, in a 3 ...

. 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.

Notable people

* Brendan Ashby, Olympic swimmer * Patient Charumbira, cricketer *

Shimmer Chinodya Shimmer Chinodya (born 1957 Gwelo, then Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) is a Zimbabwean novelist. Chinodya studied at Mambo Primary School. He was expelled from Goromonzi after demonstrating against Ian Smith's government. He graduated fro ...

, writer * Edmore Chirambadare, footballer * Gerald B. Clarke,

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

n politician * Malcolm Grainger, cricketer * Gregg Haakonsen, cricketer * Mandy Loots, Olympic swimmer * Orlando Lourenco, tennis player * Paddington Mhondoro, cricketer * Energy Murambadoro, footballer * Kudakwashe Musharu, footballer * Luther Mutyambizi, cricketer * Christopher Muzvuru,

Irish Guards The Irish Guards (IG) is one of the Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army and is part of the Guards Division. Together with the Royal Irish Regiment (1992), Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish infant ...

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 Ci ...

, politician *

Rudolf Nyandoro Rudolf Nyandoro (born 11 October 1968) is a Zimbabwean Roman Catholic prelate is the Bishop of Gweru, Zimbabwe since September 2020. Before that from January 2017 until September 2020, he was the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gokwe, ...

, Roman Catholic bishop * David Pocock, Australia international rugby union player and politician *

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 Alexander Douglas Smith (known as Alec Smith; 25 May 1949 – 19 January 2006) was a Zimbabwe National Army chaplain and son of Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith. Early life and education Smith grew up on the family farm in Selukwe (now ...

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 Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 191920 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He w ...

* Thomas Sweswe, footballer * Gary Teichmann,

South Africa international The South Africa International is an international badminton tournament held in South Africa organised by Badminton South Africa, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF) and Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA). Since 2018, this tourna ...

rugby union player

Sister cities

Basildon Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159. ...

, England, United Kingdom *

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, United States *

Tsumeb Tsumeb (; ) is a city of around 35,000 inhabitants and the largest town in the Oshikoto Region, Oshikoto region in northern Namibia. Tsumeb, since its founding in 1905, has been primarily a mining town. The town is the site of a deep mine (the ...

, Namibia

References

{{Authority control Gweru District Populated places in Midlands Province Provincial capitals in Zimbabwe Populated places established in 1894