Gokwe South District is one of the eight administrative districts of the MidlandsProvince of Zimbabwe. The district administrative seat is located in Gokwe Town also known as Gokwe Centre and the District Administrator is the focal person in terms of all district administrative matters. The district is divided into two administrative entities under the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, which are Gokwe South Rural District Council and Gokwe Town Council. The two district administrative entities were legally setup under the Urban Councils Act of 2015 [Chapter 29:15][2] and Rural District Councils Act [Chapter 29:13] under the constitution of Zimbabwe. The district is further subdivided into 01 senatorial constituency, 05 parliamentary constituencies and 33 council wards. These constituencies and wards are shared between these two administrative entities of Gokwe South District. According to the 2012 ZIMSTAT National Census Statistics the population of the district was at 330 036 people. Gokwe district is in the north-western part of Zimbabwe its average temperature vacillates at 40 degrees Celsius. Gokwe South District shares its boundaries with 06 districts, namely Binga District, Nkayi District, Kwekwe District, Kadoma District, Lupane District and Gokwe North District.
Background
Gokwe South District was created from the division of Gokwe District and had initially been established in 1898. As a result of the introduction of Land Apportionment Act (LAA) of 1930 by the colonial masters, displacement of a number of people from different places to Gokwe began in the 1950s when the Native Land Husbandry Act (NLHA) was put across and marked the implementation of the LAA. As a result of these people migratings to Gokwe, population increased thus leading to the division of Gokwe District to Gokwe North and Gokwe South Districts. The Rural District Councils Act of 1988, which was implemented from July 1993 is the piece of legislation which Gokwe South District came into existence as a result of. This Act is known as the “amalgamation” act, because its main aim was to amalgamate the local authorities responsible for “commercial” and “communal” farming areas within each district. However, it also resulted in some changes to district boundaries and in Gokwe District, where there were no large-scale commercial farms, its main impact was the division of the district into two.
Economic activities
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Governance structure
Gokwe South District has 01 senatorial constituency, 05 parliamentary constituencies, 33 council wards. Constituencies are led by an elected member of parliament and the wards are elected by an elected Councillor.
Senatorial constituency
Gokwe South District has one senatorial constituency and is led by an elected member of the Senate or Upper House of the Zimbabwe Parliament.[3]
Parliamentary constituencies
The district has 05 parliamentary constituencies and are led by an elected member of the Lower House or National Assembly Zimbabwe Parliament.
SER
NAME OF CONSTITUENCY
CLASSIFICATION
01
Gokwe Central Constituency
URBAN
02
Gokwe Sesame Constituency
RURAL
03
Gokwe Kana Constituency
RURAL
04
Gokwe Mapfungautsi Constituency
RURAL
05
Gokwe Sengwa
RURAL
Local council wards
Local council wards are grouped into either urban wards or rural wards. Urban wards being under Town Councils or cities whereas rural wards being under Rural District Councils.
WARD NUMBER
NAME OF WARD OR AREA
CLASSIFICATION
01
URBAN
02
URBAN
03
URBAN
04
URBAN
05
URBAN
06
URBAN
07
RURAL
08
RURAL
09
RURAL
10
RURAL
11
RURAL
12
RURAL
13
RURAL
14
RURAL
15
RURAL
16
RURAL
17
RURAL
18
RURAL
19
RURAL
20
RURAL
21
RURAL
22
RURAL
23
RURAL
24
RURAL
25
RURAL
26
RURAL
27
RURAL
28
RURAL
29
RURAL
30
RURAL
31
RURAL
32
RURAL
33
RURAL
Traditional leadership
Gokwe South District like other districts with are classified as being rural is subdivided into different areas of jurisdiction under various chiefs. The chief is the highest ranking traditional leader for those jurisdictions in Gokwe South District and there are 05 chiefs. Each chief has headmen and village heads under their jurisdiction. Chief Jahana and an estimated 8 000 of his people returned to Matabeleland South from Gokwe and were resettled at Gwamanyenga area.[4] The Jahana chieftainship was relocated back to Fort Rixon, Matabeleland South Province area after they successfully claimed back their ancestral land during Zimbabwe's land reform period. The area was officially which was previously under his jurisdiction reverted to Chief Njelele's jurisdiction and some people may still casually refer to it as Chief Jahana area.
Nyambara, Pius Shungudzapera (2001) "The Politics of Land Acquisition and Struggles over Land in the 'Communal' Areas of Zimbabwe: The Gokwe Region in the 1980s and 1990s" Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 71(2): pp. 253–285
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