Mwenezi District

Mwenezi derives its name from the Mwenezi River, which provides irrigation water to the sugarcane plantations in and around the Rutenga Business Center.[2] Although the police station is located along the highway, the main administrative offices are located at the Neshuro Business Center. The weather is hot and dry throughout the year, except during the summer when rain is frequent. In 2002, the population of the drought-prone district was estimated to be 126,000, up by 25,000 from 1992, the year of the drought.[3]

Mwenezi lies in natural regions four and five. The district is prone to droughts and experiences low mean annual rainfall. The majority of households in Mwenezi depend on agricultural production, like livestock rearing. The small amounts of rainfall have created a desire amongst households in Mwenezi to shift more towards livestock farming, especially cattle and goats, although the majority of households indicate that they have not been able to restock since the drought of 1992.

As in other rural parts of the country, the schools in Mwenezi are government run, although some have historical links with missionary Christian denominations. There is one boarding school, Lundi Secondary School (run by the Free Methodist Church). The fact that all the secondary schools (other than Lundi) were established after independence, is testimony to the marginalization of the district and the "catching up" it needs to do. Though Zimbabwe has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, in some Mwenezi communities, such as Maranda, a former designated native reserve before independence in 1980, the rate is as low as 50 percent.

The district's main employers are sugarcane plantations in Rutenga, Triangle and Chiredzi all connected by a railway line from Bulawayo. The cattle ranchers, before the influx of commercial farms in 2000, used to employ many people. As in most rural districts in the country, many people are also employed in the civil service mainly as teachers and nurses.

The people in the district had always trekked to the mines of South Africa. However, the number of migrant workers has increased in recent times due to the economic recession that Zimbabwe has been going through. Few young people remain in the villages across the district, preferring to take their chances in South Africa working one menial contract job after the next. The Beitbridge on the border with South Africa makes their trek easier.

Business centers

A scene at Rutenga, along the highway between Masvingo and Beitbridge, 2006

The district has many service and business centres of varying sizes and economic vibrancy. Among these, Neshuro, Sarahuru, Sengejira, Maranda and Chaoma are noteworthy. The withdrawal of government-funded grain collection and distribution facilities as part of neoliberal reforms in the 1990s and the recent (1998–2008) economic woes of the country led to the decline of these centers. However, some, like Neshuro, have continued to grow, with water and poor roads the major deterrents to investment.

Akin to other districts in Masvingo Province, the ZANU-PF party dominates politics. Ever since the country's independence, the constituency has been represented by a ZANU-PF party member in the parliament of Zimbabwe. Isaiah Shumba was the representative for Mwenezi, winning both the 2000 and 2005 elections on the ZANU-PF ticket.

Mwenezi West

Election percentages.

There are nine wards in the district: 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17. Mwenezi West comprises the area that is south of the Mwenezi River, including Manyuchi Dam. Masukume Pilot (Zanu-PF) and Tedious Douglas (MDC Tsvangirai) battled for the Mwenezi West constituency.[10] Pilot won the contest with a landslide of 12,636 to Tedeous's 1,577.

Public health care is delivered at four levels meant to function as a referral chain. The entry level includes rural health centers, rural hospitals, and urban clinics (whose services do not require an attending physician). District hospitals exist at the first referral level, provincial and general hospitals at the second referral level. The third referral level includes central and special hospitals.

Most health care facilities in the district are owned and run by the government's Ministry of Health & Child Welfare, although local communities are involved in the management of some clinics. The main referral hospital is Mwenezi District Hospital at Neshuro. Previously the Neshuro clinic, it was upgraded by the Chinese to a rural hospital in the late 1980s. The Catholic-run Matibi Mission hospital to the northwest (bordering the Mberengwa District) also acts as another referral hospital. Several poly-clinics are scattered across the district offering primary health care. In recent years, as the economy of Zimbabwe has declined, shortage of drugs and equipment at hospitals emerged, although staffing levels by the end of 2010 had improved. Communities also rely heavily on traditional medicine.

The major diseases that affect the people in the district include TB and malaria. Owing to the low rates of literacy, especially in Mwenezi West, TB remains a threat to the district as the affected usually don't finish their treatment regimes.

The area south of the Mwenezi River, beyond the Maranda communal lands, is dominated by some of the country's largest ranches. Nuanesti Ranch, reputed to be the largest freestanding ranch in the province, if not the whole country, is found in the district along the A1 highway between Masvingo and Beitbridge.[12][13][14] These ranches provide basic infrastructure, from schools and clinics to roads and dip-tanks.

Since the farm invasions of early 2000, peasant farmers from the communal lands of both Matibi, north of the Mwenezi River, and those from the Maranda communal lands south of the river, invaded some of the arid ranches found in the district, changing the land use map.

Paul Matavire, the singer who sang in the Paul Matavire and the Jairos Jiri Band, created many songs before his untimely death in 2005.

• Masvingo
• Manyuchi Dam
• Masvingo Province