Mount Pleasant, Harare

Mount Pleasant was originally a farm, also named Mount Pleasant, until it was developed for residential housing beginning in 1902.

Mount Pleasant is located in the northern part of Harare, and is bordered by the Vainona, Pomona, Emerald Hill, Belgravia, and Marlborough suburbs. From the postwar era to the 1980s, generations of wealthy residents built dozens of stately homes in the area in various styles, including Beaux-Arts architecture, Edwardian, Cape Dutch and post-war modern styles.[2] Along with their homes, the university added much to the vibrancy of the neighbourhood, with bookstores, cafes, restaurants and other amenities creating a bohemian, academic atmosphere, distinguishing it from the quieter suburban enclaves of wealthy families to its North East and the gritty CBD.[3] Other than the homes, landmarks include the Arundel Village and the campus of the University of Zimbabwe. The Mount Pleasant branch of the Harare Library serves the greater area.[4]

The neighborhood is well preserved and maintained, however some of the historic homes have been torn down, renovated into businesses, or transferred to institutional use. The northern part of the neighborhood is dominated by the University of Zimbabwe. In the post-war years the area was home to affluent Anglo-African families evidenced by churches such as All Souls Anglican Church on Westcott Rd and Northside Community Church on Edinburgh Ave.[5] Today the population is more diverse, albeit with a plurality of upper middle class Shona people, as the wealthiest former inhabitants moved further eastward to Glen Lorne and Borrowdale or emigrated entirely. Left behind were mostly middle-class white Zimbabweans, and a mix of incoming Shona and Indian Zimbabweans along with a transient expatriate population. Today, upper middle-income black Zimbabweans of various ethnicities form a majority of the population.[6]

Mount Pleasant also contains a number of office parks and shopping centres, notably Arundel Office Park, Arundel Village Shopping Centre, The Bridge Shopping Centre, Bond Shopping Centre and Pendennis Shopping Centre. The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council is also headquartered in Mount Pleasant. It also houses the Agriculture and Research Trust (ART) Farm, which engages in research and development of agricultural practices. Mount Pleasant Business Park is home to a number of businesses, including the headquarters of the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe.[7]

Mount Pleasant School, Mount Pleasant's public secondary school.

Mount Pleasant is home to three universities, three secondary schools, and five primary schools, including both public and private educational institutions. Mount Pleasant's public schools are within the North Central District of Harare Province.[8] Mount Pleasant has two public primary schools, North Park Primary School and Groombridge Primary School.[9] The private schools in Mount Pleasant are Correspondence School, Goldbrook Junior College, and Northwood Adventist Primary School, a Seventh-day Adventist Church-affiliated school.[9] Northwood, which opened in 2014 with 273 students,[10] was ranked one of the top 100 grade 7 schools in Zimbabwe in 2014.[11]

Mount Pleasant is served by one public high school, Mount Pleasant School. There are two private secondary schools in Mount Pleasant: Arundel School, a boarding and day school for girls ages 12–18, and Harare International School, a coeducational day school for students grades Pre-K–12; both schools have enrollments of around 500 students. All three of Mount Pleasant's high schools were included in a 2014 ranking of Africa's top 100 secondary schools.[12] Arundel was ranked 48th, Harare International at 54th, and Mount Pleasant School placed at 65th.[12]

The main campus of the University of Zimbabwe, the oldest and top-ranked university in Zimbabwe, is located at the southern edge of the suburb. Zimbabwe Open University, a distance education institution and the largest university by enrollment in Zimbabwe, is based in Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant is also home to Arrupe Jesuit University, one of two Catholic universities in Zimbabwe and one of only two Jesuit universities in Africa.[13]

Mount Pleasant does not have its own police station and relies on the police station in the Marlborough suburb.[14] Irregular city garbage collection and littering are problems in Mount Pleasant.[14]

The following are notable people who have lived in Mount Pleasant:

• Jonas Christian Andersen, Rhodesian politician
• Tendai Biti, politician, owns property in Mount Pleasant[15]
• Victoria Chitepo, politician and activist
• Jack Howman, Rhodesian politician
• Desmond Lardner-Burke, Rhodesian politician
• Fadzayi Mahere, lawyer and politician
• Elton Mangoma, businessman and politician[16]
• Mark Manolios, sports administrator[17]
• Evan Mawarire, pastor and democratic activist[18]
• Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister and later President of Zimbabwe; settled in Mount Pleasant after independence in 1980[19][20]
• Ngoni Sengwe, diplomat and ambassador[21]