Gokwe

Location:

Gokwe Town or Gwoke Center is the trade and administrative center for the Gokwe Region in the northwestern part of Zimbabwe in the Midlands Province. It consists of the land in the area around Gokwe Center and is broken up into Gokwe South District and Gokwe North District.

Background:

Gokwe was originally a government station. It housed a district commissioner, police, hospital, veterinary services and other government rural agencies. Primarily for the administration of the district, it was also the base for the control of the tsetse fly and its associated lethal disease trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness).

Historical Achievements:

Growth Point Status:

The place was proclaimed a Growth Point in 1980 under the government’s growth points policy.

Gokwe town is a success case of the government’s growth point policy whose results in July 2007 culminated in the proclamation by the state that it becomes a town.

Town Status

Gokwe Growth Point then run by the Gokwe South Rural District Council rapidly turned into a town skipping the Rural Service Center status because of its rapid developmental rate courtesy of the Kwekwe-Gokwe Highway which brought a much needed connectivity to all parts of Zimbabwe through its Kwekwe end link into to the A5 Harare to Bulawayo highway.

Caretaker Commission

The step to establish the administrative machinery of the town included the putting in place of a commission appointed by the minister for local government in terms of the urban councils act Chapter 29.15.9.2(b). This appointed commission was to run office until the coming in of elected councilors.

Town Council
Initial Committee 2008
The delimitation team divided Gokwe Center into 6 wards for the 2008 harmonized elections. Consequently, six councilors were elected, and as required two special interest councilors were appointed by the minister in terms of the urban councils act to form the first ever Gokwe Town Council.
Subsequent Committees
From the 2013 harmonized elections Gokwe Town Council is set in place and run according to the Urban Councils Act Chapter 29:15.

Gokwe Town Council is affiliated to the Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe and Councilor Esther Senga of Ward 3 (Green Valley) is a committee member of the Presidential Committee of UCAZ.

2008 to 2013 Elected Councillors

2008 Local Government Election Results: MIDLANDS PROVINCE: Gokwe Town

1 Tangwara Onias ____ MDC Tsvangirai

2 Sibanda Sithabiso___ MDC Tsvangirai

3 Mashizha Elizabeth_____ MDC Tsvangirai

4 Mudondo Darlington_______ MDC Tsvangirai

5 Mutegwe Lisias ______ MDC Tsvangirai

6 Chipfuko Vengesai_____ MDC Tsvangirai

2013-2018 Councillors

(Ward, name and Political Party)

1 Taruvinga Davis Zanu-PF

2 Nyamukasa Duncan (Zanu-PF)

3 Senga Esther (female) (Zanu-PF)

4 Mapfunde Fastimo (Zanu-PF)

5 Mlanga Jameson MDC-T

6 Mafa Manuel (Zanu-PF)

Operations:

Service Delivery

• The town council has built a $300,000 administration block as part of its service delivery.
• Gokwe Town Council also owns a restaurant and beer gardens to supplement its revenue base.
• Refuse collection is done on regular bases and the council has engaged voluntary organizations such as religious groups, churches and women’s clubs for litter monitoring, on the Keep Gokwe Clean campaign.

Commerce and Industry:
Industry in Gokwe is dominated by small scale formal and informal Entrepreneurs. However a number of standard industrial organizations are increasingly filtering in.

Gokwe Town apart from scores of smaller retail shops five major indigenous supermarkets and wholesalers of international standards; Spar, Metro Peach, Nyaningwe, Eden Supermarket and Agro Foods are the pride of Gokwe. There are also modern night spots, the Chicago Sports Club, Junior Sports Bar, Gokwe Hotel and Pumba Lodge.

Banks and other financial houses are also in town, the Agricultural Bank of Zimbabwe Ltd (Agribank) topping the list.

Residential Areas:

Gokwe town has six suburban settlements that include the low density, medium density and the high density.

Low density

Green Valley

Sasame

Medium Density

Cheziya

Nyaradza

High density

Njelele

Mapfungautsi

Population:

On estimation there are just less than 30 000 inhabitants in Gokwe town.

In 2012 according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), the town had 6 524 households, housing 10 914 male and 13 140 female mixed lingua residents.
Total population was 24 054, males being 45.4% of the total while female residents were the majority at (54.6%).

By the look of these statistics Gokwe has become bigger than some towns which got town status before Gokwe was even well known business center.

Statistical comparison of Gokwe and other towns (2012 census)
Shurugwi which was established in 1899 by the BSAC had 21 905 residents and 5 879 households.

Gwanda which is the provincial capital of Matabeleland South Province had 20 227 residents and 5 765 households.

Plumtree had 11626 residents and just 3354 households.

Government Departments:

There are various government departments in Gokwe town that include the

• Social Welfare
• Ministry of Youth
• Justice Ministry represented by Magistrate Court
• Ministry of Education
• Home Affairs
• The District Administrator’s office for the Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development
• Ministry of Transport that oversees the Kwekwe-Gokwe Highway and other roads and road traffic related matters.
• Ministry of Agriculture represented by AGRTEX official and the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services.
• Water Resources Ministry represented by Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) is one other ministry working flat out because all the water that the town needs for both domestic and industrial needs is borehole water. There are no nearby dams to supply the town with cheap water.

Parastatals:
Parastatal organizations at the center are the

• Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco)
• Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company. (ZETDC)
• Grain Marketing Board
• Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA)
• Public Service Commission

Education:
There are three primary schools and two secondary schools town.

Public Service:

• The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)
• The Magistrate’s Court
• The Zimbabwe Prison Services
• Gokwe Hospital

Communications:

• TelOne for telecommunications
• ZimPost for postal services
• Econet- Cellular network provider
• Telecel-Cellular network provider
• NetOne-Cellular network provider.

Transportation:

• An aerodrome for small private planes which is popularly called Gokwe Airport
• Bus station: Built up; with toilets, loading bays, refreshment kiosks and all-weather shelters.