Zhombe Joel

Coordinates: 18°40′38″S 29°20′57″E / 18.677197°S 29.34916°E / -18.677197; 29.34916


This article is about the town . For the district, see Zhombe.


Zhombe Joel
Township
Nickname(s): Joel Business Center
Country Zimbabwe
Province Midlands
District Kwekwe District
Municipality Zibagwe Rural District Council


Joel Business Centre is where Zhombe district administrative offices, parliamentally advisory offices, the post office and police station are situated in Zhombe. It is 64 km northwest of Kwekwe and 77 km southeast of Gokwe Center. This small rural town center is the hub of both Zhombe Communal Land and Zhombe Central Ward.

Name Origins

Zhombe Central ward center is at Joel Business Center, so called in honour of one of the pioneer businessmen at the center way back 1960s, Joel Tessa.

Joel was one of the first shop owners at Zhombe Center, also known as Zhombe Growth Point or Zhombe Joel.

Joel Tessa is thought to have met up with the wrath of the Rhodesian bush war sometime in the late-1960s.

War Collaboration

There was a was a restriction or detention camp for suspected and proven influental political activists called Sikombela north of Zhombe centre which had been established in June 1965.[1] It was mainly a detention camp for cadres alligned to Zanu. This camp is now a national monument.[2] Joel Tessa is known to have collaborated with the Sikombela inmates and served as a transporter of top secret errands-staff. Edson Muzite refers to him as Jewel, a Rhodesia Bush War collaborator; a mujibha as they were so called.[3] Edison Mzite is one of the less prominent ex-detainees of Sikombela Restriction Camp[4] Muzite credits Joel Tessa as a comrade in arms as far as top secrecy is concerned.[5]

Local people say war collaborators like Joel were not easily detected by the then security forces because Sikombela Restriction Camp was deep in Mapfungautsi State Forest where predators were rife and no one would dare visit the camp at will.[6] War collaborators took advantage of the less restrictive weakness on the security forces part and they worked well with the inmates at Sikombela. The spirit of the liberation war had gotten into locals that they visited the restriction camp regularly, the authorities seemily allowing frequent interaction at first[7]

It was however not long before the authorities suspected foul play and stiffened conditions. Joel must have been caught up by the Rhodesian Intelligence when they suspected something fishy going on at Sikombela Restriction Camp[8]

Many war collaborators during the bush war dissappeared from the public and many had no trace even to this day. Eddison Sithole[9] and his secretary Miriam Mhlanga[10] were some person whose whereanouts are not known until now. Their deaths is only an assumption. Joel Tessa, a less prominent figure in politics then, is assumed to have met up with the same fate for he has not been heard of since the days of the Sikombela Declaration Dossier.

Municipality

Zibagwe Rural District Council runs this center. It is represented by a male (Ward 10) councillor on a Zanu-PF ticket. In council books Joel Business Center is named Zhombe and classified as a district service center.

Schools

Transportation

Transport is solely by road, and there is a good road network linking Zhombe to the surrounding major towns Gweru, Kwekwe, Gokwe and Kadoma the main carriageway being the Kwekwe-Gokwe Highway.

Communication

All the three major cellphone operators namely Econet, [12] Telecel[13] and NetOne [14] have base stations in the town.


Other Service Delivery Facilities

Various service delivery facilities serving all Zhombe including Council offices, District Development Fund Workshops, Zimbabwe National Water Authority workshops, Zhombe Police Station, The Grain Marketing Board, Registrar General Sub-Offices and Post Office are located here.

References

  1. ↑ Vincent Gono | 12 April 2015 Gonakudzingwa hearth of defiance and war strategy - The oppressive white regime established three major centres of detention at Wha Wha in Gweru’s Midlands Province in February 1964, Gonakudzingwa in Chiredzi district of Masvingo Province in April of the same year and Sikombela in Gokwe South district in Midlands Province in June 1965. Sikombela served mainly as a Zanu detention camp. It is where nationalist leaders such as President Mugabe, the late Cde Simon Muzenda, Cde Enos Nkala, Cde Eddison Zvobgo, Cde Edgar Tekere and many others were detained at the height of nationalist revolts while most of those from the Zapu side were detained at Wha Wha and Gonakudzingwa. Sunday News | News | Retrieved 25 January 2016
  2. ↑ Takunda Maodza | August 28, 2013 Sikombela declared national monument__THE Sikombela Restriction Camp, where President Mugabe and other founding Zanu officials were detained during the liberation war, has been declared a national monument. Other senior Zanu officials detained at the camp in 1964 were Cdes Simon Muzenda, Edgar Tekere, Enos Nkala, Eddison Zvobgo and Ndabaningi Sithole. It is at this restriction camp where the Sikombela Declaration — a dossier outlining war strategy — was drafted by senior Zanu officials. The camp is located about 5km from the Kwekwe-Gokwe Road in the Midlands province. The Herald | Local News | Retrieved 25 January 2016
  3. ↑ Kuda Bwititi | 12 July 2015 HEROES DAY: The seed planted at Sikombela__ I kept praying to my ancestors to guide me and ensure I would not fail. And, indeed, I pulled off the mission with Jewel’s assistance. The Sunday Mail | News | Retrieved 26 January 2016
  4. ↑ Takunda Maodza | August 28, 2013 Sikombela declared national monument__Some surviving Sikombela Restriction Camp ex-detainees that included Cdes Solomon Marembo, Samson Maphosa, Thomas Ziki, Solomon Gwitira and Edison Mzite, toured the camp.... The Herald | Local News | Retrieved 25 January 2016
  5. ↑ Kuda Bwititi | 12 July 2015 HEROES DAY: The seed planted at Sikombela__The major hurdle was overcoming the long distance. It would be difficult to walk, so I devised a plan with a shop-owner in the area who we called Jewel.
  6. ↑ Elliot Siamonga | 15 May 2015 Political detainees and the liberation struggle: Part Three …a look at Sikombela and Wha Wha detention centres__ Like Gonakudzingwa, at Sikombela there was initially minimal surveillance of detainees. Informants recall that prior to November 1965, Rhodesian police only visited the detention camp once or twice a week to deliver food rations and perform roll-calls. There was less need for constant supervision because, like Gonakudzingwa, no detainee would dare to escape via the jungle with angerous animals. The Patriot | Old Posts | Retrieved 26 January 2026
  7. ↑ Jocelyn Alexambder | pp4 Nationalism and Self-Government in Rhodesian Detention Gonakudzingwa 1964-1974....pp4: At both Gonakudzingwa and Sikombela, detainees at first freely interacted with local people, went to beer drinks and dances agrarianstudies.macmillan.yale.edu | 04alexander.pdf | Retrieved 25 January 2016
  8. ↑ Kuda Bwititi | 12 July 2015 However, it was not long before the Rhodesians sensed that something was going on. They had noticed that the mood among the detainees had changed. They then conducted searches, starting at 4am, as they suspected that something was brewing. The Sunday Mail | News | Retrieved 25 January 2016
  9. ↑ Sifelani Tsiko | 20 March 2015 Unisa honours Edison Sithole...“I felt a deep sense of contentment that for once my great father Dr Edison Sithole’s legacy would not be reduced to that Zimbabwean fire brand nationalist who suddenly vanished from the streets of colonial Salisbury. (Edson Sithole Jnr.) The Herald | Crime & Courts | Retrieved 26 January 2016
  10. ↑ Info Edson Sithole Pindula | Retrieved 26 January 2016
  11. ↑ Parlzim Zhombe Constituency 2006. pp12. Diagram1. Rio Tinto High Yumpu.com | Retrieved 26 January 2016
  12. ↑ Econet Welcome to Econet__ Econet is a privately held diversified telecommunications group with operations and investments in Africa, Europe, South America, North America and the East Asia Pacific Rim, offering products and services in the core areas of mobile and fixed telephony services, broadband, internet, satellite and fibre optic networks. Econet Wireless | Home | Retrieved 26 January 2016
  13. ↑ Telecel Zimbabwe Welcome__Telecel Zimbabwe is currently the second largest mobile phone network in Zimbabwe, with more than 2 500 000 active subscribers. Telecel | Home | Retrieved 26 January 2016
  14. ↑ NetOne NetOne is the first cellular network operator in Zimbabwe based on Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).
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