Zvishavane District

Zvishavane District is one of the eight districts in Midlands Province of Zimbabwe.

This article is about the district. For the town, see Zvishavane.
Midlands Districts
Shava means Eland in ChiShona. The eland colour is called shava in ChiShona.
Reddish Hills of Mashava at King Mine
Shava is the name of the eland in ChiShona. The colour of these common elands is lighter than that of the giant elend above; so the colour is shavane or Shavani hence Zvishavane.

It has Mberengwa District to the south and Shurugwi District to the north.

Its capital is Zvishavane town.

Background

Zvishavane derives its name from its sister town Mashava. Mashava is a ChiShona word describing the hills in that place as reddish. The name Mashava formerly Mashaba origins is stated in the Rhodesian Lore and Legend: SOUTHERN RHODESIA PLACE NAMES published by The Chief Information Officer, Information Services Branch. Division of Native Affairs, Salisbury September, 1960[1]

Shona
word		English
meaning		Explanation
ShavaReddishShava is the Shona name of an Eland derived from the colour of the animal.
ChishavaSomething reddishit is a description of a single thing reddish in colour.
MashavaReddishit describes particular reddish things. Here it describes reddish hills.
Zvishavareddish thingsit describes many things reddish in colour.
Zvishavanesemi reddishit describes things not as reddish as the earlier. Here it describes the many surrounding low hills that are characterised by lighter red soil than those hills in Mashava

Some claim that the name Shabanie derives from the isiNdebele Shavani which means "finger millet", or "trading together.[2] This is very unlikely for the matter that the English pronounced it as Shabanie.

  • "va" in ChiShona is pronounced as the isiNdebele "ba".
  • The word baba in isiNdebele rhymes with Vava in ChiShona and they are pronounced the same.

However the isiNdebele syllable va rhymes with vha in ChiShona.

  • If Shavani was an isiNdebele word the ChiShona would have pronounced it as Shavhani. The English men would pronounce it as Sharvanie not Shabanie.
  • If Shavani was a ChiShona word the isiNdebele would pronounce it Shabani, and so the English would pronounce it as Shabanie.

For this fact Shabanie derives from the ChiShona word Shavane or Shavani.

All the same finger millet colour is off-reddish, maybe tan in colour. That's Zviyo zvishavani or zvipfunde zvishavani (tan corn or tan millet) in ChiShona. Either way, the name derives from tan hills or tan coloured millet.

Finger millet
Finger millet "the colour is Shava in ChiShona but lighter just like the common elands above. That's off-shava in colour_"Zviyo zvishavani"

Economy

Zvishavane District is home of Zvishavane Town which developed from an abestos mine compound into a town.[3] See Shabanie Mashaba Mine.

It is also home to Murowa Diamond Mine located in Mazvihwa, 40 km from Zvishavane Town.

Local government

Zvishavane District is run by two local government organs, the rural district council and the urban council.

For the rural district authority see Runde Rural District Council.

The Zvishavane Town Council, established in terms of the Zimbabwe Urban Councils Act, Chapter 29.15,[4] administers the urban district.

2013 - 2018 Council

Source: Zimbabwe Electoral Commission[5]

WardCouncillorPartyConstituency
01Phiri ArusahZANU-PF
02Mudekwa IsaiahZANU-PF
03Phiri FatumaMDC-T
03Utonga AndrewZANU-PF
04Majama CharityMDC-T
05Mago TinasheZANU-PF
06Ferreira Jose ManuelZANU-PF
06Chitototo JosiphatiMDC-T
07Dube Esau GwatipedzaMDC-T
08Pasira ItaiMDC-T
09Chikandiwa AndrewMDC-T
10Gadziwa SamuelMDC-T

2008 - 2013 Town Council

Source: Kubatana Aechive[6]

WardCouncillorIPartyRemarks
01Chimedza SamMDC-T
02Taruvinga PatsonMDC-T
03Murombedzi FrancisMDC-T
04Muvenge Francis MashokoMDC-T
05Dube Nyika Jastin BerebendeMDC-T
06Matondo LondonMDC-T
07Pamire GodfreyMDC-T
08Zhou AlluwisMDC-TChairman
09Moyo Mordikai MasochaMDC-T
10Mushipe PardonMDC-T

See also

References
  1. Lore and Legend: SOUTHERN RHODESIA PLACE NAMES: | A village and neighbourhood where many of the hills are reddish in colour. The name is derived from ChiShona mavu mashava (red soils), only the word mashava (red) having been retained in a slightly corrupted form. Another explanation is that the BaVenda, during their trek diagonally across Southern Rhodesia, used these hills as a beacon from the Selukwe range (Selukwe derives from the Venda word Chirugwe – " a stone pig pen". They said – "we must make for there – the Red Hills" – Makomo Mashaba. Mashaba as a name persisted. rhodesianheritage.blogspot|Retrieved 2 March 2016
  2. Isibindi Colourful Place Names of RhodesiaShabani rhodesia.me.uk|Retrieved 3 March 2016
  3. Faith Zaba|7 June 2013 Zvishavane: A tale of two different worlds The Zimbabwe Independent|News|Retrieved 2 March 2016
  4. Ministries of Local Government International |Chapter 29:15 Urban Councils Act|Zimbabwe Urban_Councils Act mlgi.org.za|Retrieved 2 March 2016
  5. Notice Board ZEC Local Authority Results-Midlands-Zvishavane Town Council Zec.gov.zw|Retrieved 2 March 2016
  6. The Herald (zw) candidates -'Harmonised' elections 29 March 2008: Local Government - Midlands Archived February 15, 2016, at the Wayback Machine kubatana.net|archive|Retrieved 2 March 2016
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