Wedza (or Hwedza) is a district in the province of Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe. It is located about 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Marondera, and 127 kilometres (79 mi) south of Harare. The Mbire people of the Soko Clan were the early inhabitants who mined iron in the Hwedza hills which means "a place of wealth". A village was established in 1910. Gold, beryl, nickel and tungsten was mined in the hills around the village but deposits small to make any mining viable.
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The word Wedza literally translates to "The lighting of the sun", and myth has it that the word is derived from the location of the ancient town, which was found on the other side of a deep forest.
Hwedza is well connected to other towns by tarred roads. Rusunzwe and Gandamasungo, the famous Wedza mountain range, are some of the most outstanding geographical features in Wedza. Hwedza is between and its boundaries are the Save River on the west and Ruzave (Ruzawi) river on the east. Other rivers include Nyamidzi, Mhare, Nyamhembe and Chineyi. Hwedza is climatically divided into two halves, upper Hwedza from St Barnabas Chisasike to Hwedza center onwards which is cooler and has average to high rainfall; and lower Hwedza which is from Mukamba through Goneso and Zviyambe East and West small scale farming area (formerly known as purchase areas) which experiences warmer to hot temperatures and lower rainfall. Even the crops grown in the two parts differ significantly, cotton and sorghum/millet do better in lower Hwedza, while in upper Hwedza the same crops would not yield much.
Hwedza is also famous for mazhanje/mashuku (a wild fruit thats juicy and filling - harvested between late October into early December).
Wedza is accessible by road from Harare but the roads have depreciated in quality and as a result, bus companies have stopped services the remote parts such as the areas of Chigondo, St Leoba, and Zana Resettlement. However, daily services are run by several minibus operators to the city of Harare and Marondera, usually terminating at Murambinda.
The service centre (growth point) consists of a Spar supermarket, a post office, a filling station, several drinking places and is served by reliable bus services by Chawasarira, Manica, Matemba, Mushandira/Matemai as well as several minibus operators. An airstrip capable of landing small aircraft is also present.
There is a clinic as well as a Hospital at Mt St Marys. Hwedza is also on the national electricity grid. The main crop grown is maize for both subsistence and sale.
The core business was farming with services aligned to the core business also of importance. However retailing had overtaken all else until government pricing policy which was introduced with Operation Dzikisai Mutengo in 2007. It has rendered the majority of business people bankrupt and those still afloat have been failing to find adequate stocks due to the economic woes.
As a result of Wedza's unique location entails a vast array of agricultural products. Areas along Watershed Road leading into Wedza from Harare were known for tobacco, maize and paprika production during the warm wet season (October to March). The more southerly part of the district encompassing areas of Makarara, Zviyambe and leading into Dorowa were once a bastion of cotton farming and cattle ranching. The more central part of the district has a history of erratic rain and as such, villages located in this part of the district are often in need of food aid as they often fail to reap meaningful harvests with the unpredictable rainfall patterns.
The Second Chimurenga and its aftermath has for years inclined the popular vote from the district towards Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF. However, the socio-economic recession that has been part and parcel of Zimbabwe's fabric has been steadily tilting the people toward's the opposition MDC, as witnessed by Mugabe's defeat in the March 29 Presidential election. However, ZANU PF has regained both Wedza North and Wedza South parliamentary seats (Wedza was one constituency before being split into two).
Domineering names from Wedza include General Constantine Chiwenga, commander in chief of the army; Aeneas Chigwedere, former Minister of Education and recently appointed Mashonaland East governor; Solomon Tawengwa, ex Harare Mayor, and the late Edmund Garwe, former Education minister.
Notable schools from the Wedza area are St Annes Goto (Anglican), Mt St Marys (Catholic), Chemhanza (Methodist) and Hwedza High School (government). Other institutions include Matsine, Chigwedere, Gumbonzvanda, St Margaret's Chigondo, Nhumwa, St Leoba's, Holy Spirit Ruzane, St Anderson Mutiweshiri, Makanda, Barnabas and Rambanapasito name but a few.
Several schools are found within the district:
The location of Imire Game Park within the district makes it a somehow good location for a safari trip. The game park has for years taken part in the Rhinoceros breeding programme. However of late poachers have killed several of the animals including breeding cows.[1]
Several people of prominence in civil society and government have emerged from Wedza. These include former Warriors coach Sunday Chidzambwa, Zifa Chairman Wellington Nyatanga, army general Constantine Chiwenga, Shona sculpture gallery owner and art collector Rex Mhiripiri, radio personalities Eunice Goto and Dr Zobha and journalists Tarzzen Mandizvidza and Asel Gwekwerere.
Emerging figures include Zimbabwe footballer Tapuwa Kapini.
Michael Masanga, owner of Zimwaves radio (http://www.zimwavesradio.net) became the first African to make an automatic forex trading robot ( http://www.forex.netbrowse.net). Masanga hails from St Barnabas Ushe but his parents resettled at Chigwedere near the growth point. He also runs Africa's largest search engine http://www.netbrowse.net which offers free e-mail, adwords type advertisement etc.
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