Shurugwi town: Ghost about to come to life

08 Mar, 2015 - 00:03 0 Views

The Sunday News

Tinomuda Chakanyuka Sunday News Reporter
SEVENTY SIX-YEAR-OLD Mr Mavuto Mwale shelters under a big avocado tree just outside Makusha Big Bar where he sits to drink his favourite opaque brew, deep in the heart of Shurugwi’s oldest high density suburb, Makusha. That afternoon, Mr Mwale is one of the few patrons at the council-run watering hole.

One does not really need the shade of a tree on a cold Shurugwi afternoon, especially considering the low temperatures that swept across the country for the greater part of last week.

But Mr Mwale chose the spot for an interview with Sunday News, as it evokes in him nostalgic memories of the good but long gone days when the place used to be his “chill spot” together with his fellow employees at Zimasco.

They would lounge there to cool off on wise waters, after a long day’s work at the chrome-mining company, which then was not only the biggest employer in the mineral rich town, but the employer of choice in Shurugwi and beyond.

Mr Mwale takes out his chimonera/ugwini (hand rolled cigarette), lights it up and takes a long deep pull before he is suddenly engulfed in a thick white cloud of smoke, coming from both his mouth and nose.

He takes a passionate sip of his opaque beers, sighs and licks his lip in apparent show of satisfaction; before he starts narrating the journey he has witnessed Shurugwi town travel over the years.

Mr Mwale, who came to Shurugwi in 1965 to work for Zimasco, appeared overwhelmed with emotion as he explained how he has witnessed the town slowly move from being a vibrant metropolis in the Midlands province to the ghost town it now resembles.

He has vivid memories of how Shurugwi town used to be a marvel to many passersby owing to its healthy climate, eye catching mountains wrapped in a luxurious scenery and spreading green thick forests.

“This town used to attract tourists who would come to enjoy the scenery. Some would explore the Boterekwa escarpment as well as the Dan Raven falls just below Boterekwa. We would see them with cameras, back packs and camping regalia. They (tourists) were a common feature in this town.

“It’s actually saddening to note that all that has gone away. The town’s beauty now belongs to the past. Things really started turning bad when Zimasco scaled down operations. Most people were left jobless and were forced to turn to informal means of surviving.

“Long back we knew that our children would be guaranteed of employment at Zimasco once they completed school, but now it’s a different story my son. Our children are turning to illegal gold mining and other illegal means of earning money because the company (Zimasco) can’t employ them anymore. Actually the mine is retrenching,” a dejected Mr Mwale told Sunday News.

Shurugwi Town lies about 350 km south of Harare, 33 kilometres south east of Gweru, and has a population of about 20 000 people.

The town, established in 1899, is located on the mineral-rich belt – the Great Dyke – and is endowed with a number of minerals among them chromite, gold and nickel.

The town is actually one of the country’s largest producers of chromite and is also located on one of the most beautiful places in the country, the Boterekwa escarpment.

Boterekwa is a name derived from the winding and meandering nature of the road as it negotiates its way up, between and down the mountains on the way to Masvingo.

This brief profile of the town would somehow paint a picture of a town with a thriving economy, where infrastructure is in good shape and social services are efficient.

One is pardoned for thinking that Shurugwi, endowed with such a diversity of mineral resources, meets the standards of a modern day town.

Yet on the contrary the town is on the brink of turning into a ghost town, that is if it has not already turned into one.
The demise of giant chromite mining concern Zimasco, the biggest employer in Shurugwi and the mainstay of the town’s economy, almost two decades ago saw Shurugwi now representing a pale shadow of its former self.

Dilapidated amenities, illegal gold mining activities, prostitution among other illicit activities now typify the town that was once famed for a healthy climate and scenic location.

To illustrate the extent the town’s economy has tumbled over the years and infrastructure in the town has consequently suffered, the only hotel in the town – The Grand Hotel – now operates as a bar, with other rooms at the facilities now being rented out as office space.

A drive around Shurugwi guarantees one of the bumpiest rides as pothole infested roads are the order of the day, dilapidated and old houses in most residential areas especially Railway Block, Iron Sides, Makusha and Peak Mine.

Shurugwi Town Council, which used to rely heavily on levying Zimasco for its revenue, now has to deal with paltry collections from residents, most of whom were left unemployed and unable to service bills after Zimasco scaled down operations.

Smaller mining firms such as NewDawn’s Golden Quarry also formed an integral part of the town’s economy and contributed significantly to the local authority’s revenue base through levies and taxes.

Golden Quarry has also scaled down operations owing to fluctuating metal prices on the world market and at some point its parent company threatened to close shop.

The demise of some of the mining companies which used to be the mainstay of the town’s economy has left the local authority financially inept and incapacitated to maintain roads and other infrastructure because of low revenue collections.

Mr Mwale and many of his generation who lived in the old and new Shurugwi and have survived to witness the town’s gradual dilapidation into a ghost town, can only shed tears of despair.

While the sentiment shared among most residents of the town is that of despair and hopelessness, authorities in the town are optimistic that Shurugwi is on a path to accelerated growth and will soon claim its place among the country’s top metropolises.
The emergence of giant platinum mining concern Unki Mines in 2011 has provided a glimmer of hope that the town may restore its past luminosity.

With other mining concerns such as Todal Mining lurking on the horizons waiting to be commissioned into a fully-fledged mine, Shurugwi’s optimism for restoration is further vindicated.

Shurugwi Town Council secretary Mr Solomon Siziba said Shurugwi’s restoration was hinged on investments by Unki Mine particularly the $80 million housing project at Impali Source Farm which he said would spur growth in the next five years.
Unki Mines has completed the first phase of its housing project at Impali Source farm in Shurugwi which saw the construction of over 900 state-of-the-art housing units for the mine’s employees. The last two phases of the housing project which are expected to be complete in the next two years will see an additional 3 000 houses being constructed in the mining town.

Local insurance company Old Mutual is also reported to be planning to build about 3 000 housing units in Shurugwi in the next few years.

Mr Siziba forecasts that infrastructure in the town would grow by about 50 percent in the next five years courtesy of investors who are now eyeing the town owing to its mineral wealth.

“I am quite optimistic that the coming in of Unki will help us restore our old self.
“If you look at it Unki is building almost 1 000 houses at Impali and we already have about 4 000 houses that we are managing as a local authority. Other players are also proposing to build houses. So I can safely predict that infrastructural development in Shurugwi will increase by about 50 or so percent in the next five years, just looking at activities by Unki Mines only.

“There are other mines such as Todal who are yet to start production. We are positive that once Todal starts production we will enjoy the downstream benefits as a local authority. When you then consider all these other players that have proposed various projects, the growth might even be bigger,” he said.

Unki Mines has also set up massive infrastructure at Impali Source farm, which includes roads, water and sewer reticulation systems, street lights among other amenities at a total cost of $35 million.

Mr Colin Chibafa, Unki Mine’s chief financial manager revealed, during a recent visit to the housing project site, that the infrastructure would be handed over to the local authority upon completion of the housing project.

Mr Siziba revealed that the local authority last year clinched a deal with a local construction firm, Inducto-Serve, for the construction of a three storey state-of-the-art shopping mall at a cost of about $2,5 million.

He described the construction of the shopping mall, which is already under way, as one of the downstream benefits of Unki Mine’s investment in Shurugwi, predicting that more downstream benefits would be realised when other mining firms in the district start operating at full throttle.

Mr Siziba also revealed that several other investors, including banks, supermarkets and other retail outlets were courting the local authority with the view of investing in the town.

With revelations that large deposits of platinum ore have been discovered between Shurugwi and Zvishavane and a foreign company is expected to invest in the extraction of the mineral, Shurugwi’s mineral wealth is undisputed; so is its potential to rise from the dust.

One can look to the future with a smile as brighter days are surely beckoning for the town.
Zvishavane town which almost turned into a ghost town after the closure of asbestos mining firm Shabanie Mine, has sprung to life with the emergence of Mimosa Mine and the town has become one of the country’s fastest growing towns.
Optimism is high that Shurugwi will follow the same path.

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