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This article is about the city. For the district, see Gweru District.
Gweru
Flag of Gweru
Flag
Motto: Progress
Gweru (Zimbabwe)
Gweru
Coordinates: 19°25′S 29°50′E / -19.417, 29.833
Country Zimbabwe
Province Midlands
Founded 1894
Population
 - Total 300,000
  estimated
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+1)

Gweru (formerly Gwelo) is a city near the centre of Zimbabwe at 19°25′S, 29°50′E. A motto (from the Italian word motto, meaning witticism sentence is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group Wikipedia talkFeatured lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list of countries, arranged alphabetically See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election |||} Zimbabwe is divided into 8 Provinces and 2 cities with provincial status Bulawayo (city Harare (city Manicaland Central European Time ( CET) is one of the names of the Time zone that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. UTC+1 is used in the following locations Central European Time West Africa Time Western European Summer Time Daylight saving time ( DST Central European Summer Time ( CEST) is one of the names of UTC+2 Time zone, 2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. UTC+1 is used in the following locations Central European Time West Africa Time Western European Summer Time Geographical renaming is the act of changing the name of a geographical feature or area See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election It has a population of about 137,000 (2002), making it the third largest city in the nation. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. Gweru is the capital of Midlands province. Gweru was founded in 1894 by Dr. Year 1894 ( MDCCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Leander Starr Jameson. Sir Leander Starr Jameson 1st Baronet, KCMG, CB, ( February 9, 1853 &ndash November 26, 1917) also known as " It became a municipality in 1914 and achieved city status in 1971. Year 1914 ( MCMXIV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. The name changed from Gwelo to Gweru in 1982.

It is also home to Thornhill Air Base, an airforce garrison, the Zimbabwe Military Museum and the Antelope Game Park. The Nalatale and Danangombe archaeological enclosures lie nearby, the first known for its patterned brickwork, the second for its Portuguese remains. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula.

In 1928 Gweru resident and pioneer widow Mrs Jean Boggie erected a memorial clock tower in memory of her late husband. Year 1928 ( MCMXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there often to colonize the area A clock tower is a Tower built with one or more (often four Clock faces. The Boggie Clock Tower has become a landmark in Gweru.

Contents

Industry

Industries include Zimbabwe Alloys, a chrome smelting plant, and Bata Shoe Company (established in 1939). Bata Shoes ( Baťa or Baťovy závody) is a large family owned shoe company Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Both are leading employers in Gweru. Gweru is situated in one of Zimbabwe's finest cattle rearing areas and surrounding agricultural activity revolves around the cattle industry (both beef and dairy). Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family Bata have their own tanning plant for cattle hides and the Cold Storage Commission CSC have an abattoir in Gweru. Tanning is the process of converting Putrescible skin into non-putrescible Leather, usually with Tannin, an Acidic Chemical compound Leather is a material created through the Tanning of hides and Skins of Animals primarily Cattlehide The Tanning process A slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (from the French verb abattre, "to strike down" or freezing works ( New Zealand Flowers are also grown in the area for the export market and Zimbabwe's largest distiller, Afdis, have extensive vineyards in Gweru for the production of wine. Distillation is a method of separating Mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture A vineyard is a Plantation of Grape -bearing Vines grown mainly for Winemaking, but also Raisins Table grapes and non-alcoholic Mining is also prevalent, mainly chromite ore from rich deposits along the Great Dyke to the East of Gweru. Mining is the extraction of valuable Minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually (but not always from an Ore body Chromite is iron magnesium chromium oxide (Fe MgCr2O4 It is an Oxide Mineral belonging to the Spinel group The Great Dyke is a linear geological feature that trends nearly north-south through the center of Zimbabwe passing just to the west of the capital Harare.

Transportation

Railway

The National Railways of Zimbabwe have the country's largest marshalling yard, Dabuka, on the South side of Gweru. The National Railways of Zimbabwe ( NRZ) is the Parastatal railway of Zimbabwe. Dabuka plays a pivotal role in rail movement in the country as it is the central hub of the rail links to Mozambique in the East, South Africa in the South and Botswana and Namibia in the South West, lying on the Bulawayo - Harare Line.

Road

As a central city (hub), it has direct links to all the other cities and the towns of Zimbabwe.

Roads linking Gweru

Road names used are by destination only, for example the Harare - Gweru Road. There are only mainroads, no highways or freeways. [1]

Politics

Like other urban areas of Zimbabwe, the majority supports the MDC. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election

International relations

Gweru shares an international relationship with the town of Basildon, (Essex, United Kingdom). Basildon (ˈbæzɪldən is a New Town located in south Essex, England at. Essex is a county in the East of England. The County town is Chelmsford, and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located [2]


Population

The urban population of Gweru is thought to be around 300,000 people, but could well be more than that as most urban Zimbabweans maintain a rural home as well. Because it falls between the Shona and Ndebele regions a sizeable percentage can speak both of the major local languages although Shona is spoken by the majority with approximately 30% speaking Ndebele. Shona (ˈʃoʊnə is the name collectively given to several groups of people in Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique. This article relates to the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe For other uses of the term please see Ndebele. Shona (or chiShona is a Bantu language, native to the Shona people of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia; the term is also used to identify peoples The Northern Ndebele language, or isiNdebele, or Sindebele, is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken

Residential areas

Like all other cities in Zimbabwe, Gweru is divided into high, medium and low density residential areas. During the apartheid era cities were also segregated according to race with the Black Africans living only in the high density areas. Coloureds (those of mixed heritage) lived in separate medium density area while the Whites (Europeans) occupied most of the medium and all of the low density areas. Although now racially integrated the dermacation between low, medium and high density still remain.

The biggest original "black" suburb in Gweru is Mkoba and is divided into sections. Mkoba started as a village so it still maintains village 1, village 2 up to village 26. It is the only suburban area in Zimbabwe to have the village suffix. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election Mtapa, Senga, Mambo are some of the high density suburbs around Gweru. Southdowns, Northlea, Lundi Park, Riverside etc are among the "middle class" residential areas of Gweru.

Harben park, St Annes drive, Kopje, Brackenhurst, Windsor Park are some of the "elite" residential areas of Gweru.

Education

The primary and secondary system of education has not changed much in structure for several decades. Schools in Gweru subscribe to the same British system of education as the rest of the nation. Students spend seven years in primary education and four (Ordinary Level) or six (Advanced Level) years in secondary depending on the level of education they choose to reach. Primary education is the first stage of Compulsory education. Australia See also Education Until the 1990s 'O' and 'A' level exams were administered by two major British examination bodies, i. e. Associated Examination Body (AEB) and Cambridge University. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the These are now being examined locally by the Zimbabwe Education Board.

Prior to 1980 schools were divided into two groups. Group A schools are the former all-white or mixed race schools and Group B schools are the former black schools. The difference lay mainly in the curriculum and facilities available. In formal education a curriculum (plural curricula) is the set of courses and their content offered at a School or University. Group A schools generally had more facilities, particularly in the non-core teaching areas such as art, music and sport. Of particular emphasis is the sporting area in which former Group B schools taught mainly athletics, football and netball whilst the Group A schools had a wider range of sporting activities including athletics, tennis, swimming, diving, gymnastics, hockey, rugby, cricket, netball, basketball and cross-country. There has not been much change in this provision since independence. See also Great Zimbabwe National Monument. For information about the March and June 2008 presidential elections see Zimbabwean presidential election

Nursery Schools
Primary Schools

Group A

Group B

Secondary Schools

Group A

Group B


Church/Mission Schools

Commercial Colleges

Commercial education was not easily available to the majority of Gweru residents especially before independence. A nursery school is a school for children between the ages of three and five staffed by qualified teachers and other professionals who encourage and supervise educational play rather than See also Primary education A primary school (from French école primaire) is an institution where children receive the first stage of Compulsory St Paul's School is the name of many schools with St Paul's School in London, (founded 1509 being the oldest Matongo Primary School is a public school in the township of Senga Zimbabwe. Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational Institution where the final stage of compulsory schooling known as Secondary education, takes Ian Douglas Smith GCLM ID ( 8 April 1919 &ndash 20 November 2007) served as the Prime Minister of the British Gweru, Zimbabwe.Position = 19o 28' S and 29o 45' EAltitude = 1400 mTerrain = Flat apart (From Gweru Kopjie which rises to about 1480 mActivities in area = Mixed Midlands State University is a University in Zimbabwe offering different courses mainly in the commercial and arts sector There was a surge of new colleges after 1980 when Zimbabwe gained independence and also when commercial courses became a popular requirement in industry.

Midlands College of Commerce - The first black commercial college was founded in the early 1970s by Wilbert H. Shumba. It provided courses in most commercial and practical subjects popular during that era for example, typing, bookkeeping, dress-making and shorthand. These were examined by the UK-based Pitman examination institute. This college stopped operating in the mid-1990s following the death of W. H Shumba in 1994.

After 1980 other colleges were soon established:

Correspondence / Distance Education Colleges

Tertiary Education

Hotels

The Midlands Hotel was opened in 1927 by the Meikles brothers. Year 1927 ( MCMXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Meikles is the popular name given to Meikles Hotel in central Harare Zimbabwe, Meikles' Department stores in Zimbabwe and Meikles Africa Limited It was about to demolished but after much protest, it was spared. Chitukuko hotel (formerly known as the Cecil Hotel) is another local hotel located in the city centre area. Both hotels are now owned by Patrick Kombayi, a prominent Gweru business, ex-mayor, and politician known for his highly publicised criticism of the current government. Patrick Kombayi is a Gweru businessman former mayor of Gweru and recently an active member of the Movement for Democratic Change -Tsvangirai faction in Fairmile Motel is just a mile from the city centre on Bulawayo road. Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, after the capital Harare, with a population of 676000 (UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator Zimbabwe 2005 now estimated

References

  1. ^ The Automobile Association of Zimbabwe
  2. ^ Local Government International Bureau (LGIB) Database of "Twinning Towns"

2. Munyaradzi B. Munochiveyi, "An Economic History of Industrialization in Zimbabwe: The Case of Gwelo Town, 1890-1979", B. A. (Honours) Thesis, University of Zimbabwe, 2001.

External links

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