Tsholotsho District

Before the Mfecane of the 1800s, the area was occupied by the San with the name "Tsholotsho" (old spelling "Tjolotjo") being derived from the San word "Tsoro o tso" meaning the head of an elephant. The area was a favourite of the elephant herds and had attracted early ivory hunters. When the Matabele arrived in 1838 the area held mostly Masarwa/Abathwa bushmen, who were not true bushmen but a mixture of the San and others, and elephants were still to be found in abundance. The name "Tsholotsho" was adopted by Mzilikazi and his people as they entered what then became Matabeleland from the north in search of new pastures and lands and fleeing the tsetse fly of the lowlands.

The settlement of Tsholotsho is situated about 65 kilometres west of Nyamandlovu in the former Gwaai Tribal Trust land. It has been an administrative centre for the trust land for many years and fell under the jurisdiction of the Native Commissioner for Nyamandhlovu who first assumed responsibility in 1909. Prior to this date the area fell under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent of Natives at Bulawayo.

The District Service Centre is linked to Bulawayo and Lupane by tarred roads and Plumtree by a gravel road and other roads lead through very heavy Kalahari sands (itshebetshebe) into the Gwaai Tribal Trust areas and beyond into the forest reserves. The soils around the precincts of the village are regosols derived from Kalahari sands and shallow rocky basalt-derived pockets are to be found in the district. There is a belt of alluvium along the Gwaai river which has led numerous prospectors in the search of minerals and precious and semi-precious stones. An industrial school was founded at Mavela (Tjolotjo) in 1921 by H. S. Keigwin, who also had a hand in establishing a similar institution at Domboshawa in Mashonaland the following year. The original course was designed by E. D. Alvord, who was then an agricultural missionary at Mount Selinda, where he had started instructing African students on similar lines in 1920. The school was moved to Essexvale (Esigodini) between the years 1941 and 1944 and renamed 'Esikhoveni Agricultural Institute'. It is fitting that Mr. Alvord's son D. L. Alvord should have been appointed the principal of the college.

After the college was transferred to Essexvale, the vacated land was used as an experimental substation of the Matopos Research station, where the work is primarily concerned with the breeding of indigenous Nkone or 'Nguni' cattle. These animals which originally came from Swaziland and Zululand, were brought by the Matabele during their northward migrations during the first half of the 19th century. These cattle are believed to have originated from a shorthorn-sanga cross. The name sanga was applied to the giant horned cattle of Abyssinia. The head and horns form the principal conformational features by which the breed is identified; their most characteristic feature when mature, being the lyre-shape.

Tsholotsho is home to three ethnic groups, these being the Ndebele, Kalanga (along the Manzamnyama river) and the San (closer to the Hwange national park.The principal language is Ndebele which is spoken and understood by practically everyone in the district.

The main economic activity in Tsholotsho is farming. The soils are bad for cultivation except the black clay soils along Gwayi river. The Kalahari sands are surprisingly good for cattle rearing though they need massive investment in terms of reliable water provision and disease prevention. For those who cannot embark on either of the two economic activities the gold mines and farms of South Africa are the only solution hence the massive migration to South Africa in this district. An industrial school was founded here in 1921 but was relocated to Esigodini in 1941 and the old buildings taken over by the Matopos Research Station where cattle breeding is researched.

Tsholotsho District has a relatively expensive road network system. Most of the roads are however unusable due to the extensive Kalahari sands covering the district. The road from Bulawayo to Tsholotsho District's main business centre is a tarred strip road for 103 km of its 117 km length. Upon reaching the Business Centre it branches into three main branches which further subdivide into smaller roads. Of note is the main road from the Business Centre to the Bulawayo - Victoria Falls highway which is now a tarred double lane road. The road passes through Nembe, Jimila, Tshino, Mcetshwa, Sipepa Business Centre, Gwayi Siding all the way to the Bulawayo - Victoria Falls highway. This road branches at Nembe; with a dirt road branching to the north-west later joining the main road at Sipepa business centre. The distance from Tsholotsho Business Centre to Sipepa Business centre is 113 km by this road as compared to 72 km when using the main road.

Another road leaves the Tsholotsho Business Centre in a westerly direction later branching about four times. The first branch is a road to Plumtree passing through Ehampeni, Mhlahlo, Emlotheni, Dinyane, Mbamba, Bubude, Matshangane and other villages. Another branch heads as far as Korodziba passing through Somlotha, Chief Mswigana, Dhlamini, Mazibisa and other notable villages.

Yet another branch goes beyond Butabubili, passing through Mgodi Masili and having a turnoff to the Seventh-day-Adventist-run Nemani Mission. Most of these roads link in places forming a surprisingly sophisticated web for a district generally regarded as poor.

Tsholotsho is a well known "battle ground" of Zimbabwean politics with the latest event being the so-called Tsholotsho Declaration of 2005 involving leading ZANU-PF members and Jonathan Moyo, in which they were accused of mooting a boardroom removal of President Mugabe. It was the location of a mass killing in 1983, as part of Robert Mugabe's "Gukurahundi". Jonathan Moyo, who twice served as lnformation Minister in the ZANU-PF government, was elected as an Independent MP for Tsholotsho in 2005. The first MP of the area between 1980 and 1985 was John Nkomo who represented one part of the district that was combined with Bulawayo's Luveve Constituency while David Kwidini represented another part that was combined with the neighbouring Wankie District. Between 1985 and 1990 the district was represented by Amos Mkwananzi. Cain Mathema was the last Zanu PF MP before the advent of the MDC from 1990 to 2000. Cain Mathema lost the seatbto MDC's Mtoliki Sibanda in 2000 who later lost to Jonathan Moyo who stood as an independent in the 2005. The District was then divided into two constituencies of Tsholotsho South and North with Jonathan Moyo (independent) narrowly retaining the latter while Maxwell Dube of the MDC winning the former in the 2008 harmonised elections. In 2013 Rosemary Sipepa Nkomo of MDC beat Jonathan Moyo to become the new MP for Tsholotsho North only lose it two years later when the MDC suffered a split. Tsholotsho South went Madodana Sibanda of Zanu PF while Jonathan Moyo bounced back as Tsholotsho North MP (this time as a Zanu PF candidate) in a by election boycotted by all major parties in 2015.

• John Nkomo - late former Vice President of Zimbabwe and ZAPU stalwart
• Jonathan Moyo- former MP and Minister of Information and Education.
• Fanyana Dube - the later popular Zimbabwean musician.
• Ernest Ndlovu - popular actor in South Africa on shows such as Generations and Isibaya. Acted on Amakorokoza in Zimbabwe.
• Joel Luphahla - former Zimbabwe international player. Also played for many top football teams such as Highlanders FC, Supersport United, Platinum Stars, Tsholotsho FC
• Cain Mathema - former MP for Tsholotsho and current Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage.
• Mkhululi Chimoio - the popular journalist from Mvundlana village who was falsely accused (together with Mxolisi Ncube) of being the brains behind a faceless social media whistle-blower, "Baba Jukwa" who exposed corruption by Zanu PF bigwigs, other politicians and people in the private and civil society sector. He was also charged with treason, insurgency, banditry, terrorism, sabotage, undermining authority of President Robert Mugabe. He was later acquitted of those charges after it was discovered that the intelligence operation was run by then Minister of Information and Education, Prof Jonathan Moyo and his blue-eyed boy Edmund Kudzayi.