Masvingo Province

Coordinates: 21°00′S 31°00′E / 21.000°S 31.000°E / -21.000; 31.000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Masvingo Province
Victoria Province
UTC+2 (CEST)
HDI (2021)0.588[1]
medium · 4th of 10

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 of the five original provinces of Southern Rhodesia. In 1982, two years after Zimbabwean independence, it was renamed Masvingo Province. The province is divided into seven districts, including Masvingo District, which contains the provincial capital Masvingo City.

Masvingo Province is bordered by

Shangani in the southeast and Ndebele in the west. Its economy is largely centred around agriculture and tourism. Masvingo Province is home to the Great Zimbabwe ruins, a World Heritage Site
and major tourist attraction.

History

The town of Fort Victoria was founded in 1890 and was the first large settlement to be established by the Pioneer Column of the British South Africa Company which makes it the oldest town in Zimbabwe. It was named in honour of Queen Victoria.

The province is largely populated by members of the

Lake Mutirikwi
), and communal areas where subsistence farming is carried out. With the land reforms of the early 21st century large scale cattle and mixed farms are being redistributed to small farmers.

Geography

Scenery along the A1 highway between Beitbridge & Masvingo, 2006

Kopjes
, grey and bald in the hot sun, dot the countryside. Mopane trees, drought tolerant and sturdy, are found throughout the province.

Climate

Masvingo province has a tropical savannah climate and is located in the low veld of the country where rainfall is minimal and uncertain. A large part of the southern area of the province is drought prone, set as region 5 in the country's climatic regions. Most parts of the province, therefore, are generally unfit for agriculture, apart from cattle ranching

Lake Kyle
for irrigation.

Demographics

Despite the aridness, the residents of the province are proud tillers of the earth and like most Bantu tribes in Southern Africa they practise animal husbandry to supplement their diets.

Masvingo has an area of 56,566 km2 and a population of approximately 1.3 million (2002). The

Shangani people while those of the Ndebele are found on the western edge of the province. To the north-east, are found the Ndau
. The white population has declined since independence, especially during the invasions of commercial farms in 2000. In fact, the first farm invasion occurred in Masvingo Province and the rest of the country followed suit.

Census Population[5]
2002 1,320,438
2012 1,485,090
2022 1,638,528

Government

The province's leader is a Minister for Provincial Affairs appointed by the country's president for a five-year term of office. The current Minister is Ezra Chadzamira appointed in 2018. The province also sends six elected members to the

House of Assembly
.

Districts of Masvingo

Districts

The districts are run by the rural district councils, which are composed of members elected from the wards in the district. Masvingo is divided into seven administrative districts, although these can be further divided by the

Chiredzi in the south and east respectively. All these seven districts have business centres known as growth points except for Mpandawana (recently granted town status), and they are as follows with estimation of distance from Masvingo city centre: Masvingo- Nemanwa (30 km), Bikita- Nyika (82 km), Zaka- Jerera (96 km), Gutu- Mupandawana
(94 km).

Elections

Masvingo was generally regarded as a stronghold of

ZANU-PF, the ruling party. In the parliamentary elections of 2005, ZANU-PF won all but one district of the fourteen seats up for grabs.[6] For the election of March, 2008 the seven districts were redistributed into twenty-six constituencies.[7]

Economy

Tourism is a major contributor to the province's

.

Mining

Transportation

A1 highway connects the major centers of Masvingo and Beitbridge
.

Sports

Education

Masvingo has 2 Universities namely Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) and Reformed Church University. The Province also has Masvingo Politechnical College.

Masvingo Povince also has Margaretha Hugo School for the Blind (Copota) which is the first school for the visually impaired to be established in Zimbabwe.

Tourism

The province has a number of attractions. In the east of the province along the

.

Notable people

The province has produced a number of notable figures in the history of Zimbabwe. These include

Edson Zvobgo, Oxford-trained lawyer, Pearson Nherere, Paul Tangi Mhova Mkondo, businessman, Crispen Mandizvidza, ambassador Stan Mudenge and Alois Chidoda; Member of Parliament Shuvai Mahova; Chief Air-Marshall Josiah Tungamirai; Governor Josiah Hungwe.[9] The singer, Paul Matavire,was from Mwenezi, while Gen. Vitalis Zvinavashe, the second supreme commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, is from Gutu
. The first President of the Senate in Zimbabwe, Nolan Chipo Makombe is also from the province.

Image gallery

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  2. ^ However the low veld has a thriving sugar industry which is fed by Mutirkwi and Tugwi-Mukosi river systems. Sugar produces in this area satisfies local demand and is exported to neighboring countries. Millions in need of food aid [1](accessed 17 February 2008)
  3. ^ Experiment success [2](accessed 17 February 2008)
  4. ^ Harsh Times [3] (accessed 17 February 2008)
  5. ^ "Zimbabwe: Administrative Division (Provinces and Districts) - Population Statistics, Charts and Map". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Results for Parliamentary Elections March 31, 2005". Zimbabwe Election Commission. April 2005. Archived from the original on 31 July 2007.
  7. ^ "Mbeki meets Zim's political leaders". BuaNews. 17 January 2008. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  8. ^ Shaw, Angus (20 September 2003). "Frail Zimbabwe Vice President Dies at 80". Archived from the original on 12 April 2014.
  9. ^ Mangwende, Brian (2 October 2003). "Zimbabwe: Zanu PF Split Over Zvobgo". The Financial Gazette. Harare, Zimbabwe. Archived from the original on 8 October 2003.(accessed 17 February 2008)

External links

21°00′S 31°00′E / 21.000°S 31.000°E / -21.000; 31.000