Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Zvishavane District

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Zvishavane District

Zvishavane District is one of the eight districts in Midlands Province of Zimbabwe.

Contents

Map of Zvishavane, Zimbabwe

It has Mberengwa District to the south and Shurugwi District to the north.

Its capital is Zvishavane town.

Background

Zvishavane derives its name from its sister town Mashava. Mashava is a ChiShona word describing the hills in that place as reddish. The name Mashava formerly Mashaba origins is stated in the Rhodesian Lore and Legend: SOUTHERN RHODESIA PLACE NAMES published by The Chief Information Officer, Information Services Branch. Division of Native Affairs, Salisbury September, 1960

Some claim that the name Shabanie derives from the isiNdebele Shavani which means "finger millet", or "trading together. This is very unlikely for the matter that the English pronounced it as Shabanie.

  • "va" in ChiShona is pronounced as the isiNdebele "ba".
  • The word baba in isiNdebele rhymes with Vava in ChiShona and they are pronounced the same.

    • However the isiNdebele syllable va rhymes with vha in ChiShona.

  • If Shavani was a isiNdebele word the ChiShona would have pronounced it as Shavhani. The English men would pronounce it as Sharvanie not Shabanie.
  • If Shavani was a ChiShona word the isiNdebele would pronounce it Shabani, and so the English would pronounce it as Shabanie.

    • For this fact Shabanie derives from the ChiShona word Shavane or Shavani.

    All the same finger millet colour is off-reddish, maybe tan in colour. That's Zviyo zvishavani or zvipfunde zvishavani (tan corn or tan millet) in ChiShona. Either way, the name derives from tan hills or tan coloured millet.

    Economy

    Zvishavane District is home of Zvishavane Town which developed from an abestos mine compound into a town. See Shabanie Mashaba Mine.

    It is also home to Murowa Diamond Mine located in Mazvihwa, 40 km from Zvishavane Town.

    Local government

    Zvishavane District is run by two local government organs, the rural district council and the urban council.

    For the rural district authority see Runde Rural District Council.

    The Zvishavane Town Council, established in terms of the Zimbabwe Urban Councils Act, Chapter 29.15, administers the urban district.

    2013 - 2018 Council

    Source: Zimbabwe Electoral Commission

    2008 - 2013 Town Council

    Source: Kubatana Aechive

    References

    Zvishavane District Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA