The Sunday News
Allan Foti
SHURUGWI is a quaint little town nestled on the mountain ranges through which the scenic Boterekwa Pass cuts. Established in 1899 on the Selukwe goldfield, which was discovered in the early 1890s following the arrival of the colonial Pioneer Column, the town’s claim to fame has always been its seemingly endless deposits of gold and chrome that has attracted all and sundry from far and wide.
Over the years, Shurugwi has earned a reputation as being a place of unlimited “golden opportunities”, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It has also earned itself the unwanted tag of being arguably one of the most violent towns in the country due to the flocks of artisanal miners that arrive every other day.
But to a rising number of its new arrivals, log settled migrants and original locals it is more than just a pile of gold. To this growing population of the town’s dwellers, Shurugwi is quietly developing into a modern town.
The discovery of platinum deposits thought to be among the largest reserves in Zimbabwe precipitated the arrival of the Anglo American-owned Unki Mine which reportedly produces around 64,000 oz of platinum/year.
With Unki came more than a bus-load of workers who initially resided in Gweru before their employer began building houses for them in the town.
For its $120 million housing development, Unki acquired the 1 105 hectare Impali Source Farm 5km Southwest of Shurugwi and initially built 350 of its targeted 950 houses. For Shurugwi, this represented a major change on its landscape and contributed to the growth spurt that has begun with the establishment of several indigenous mining companies.
The growth patterns were also a result of gains by the artisanal miners who began to invest their gold profits in acquisition of housing stands from the town council.
No longer did the “gwejas” of Shurugwi spend their mostly ill-gotten gold profits on beer drinking binges or ladies of the night (a favoured pastime for some of them).
Suddenly, one or two began to look ahead and made positive choices to move out of the run down Makusha Township where many of the home grown locals grew up and where the new arrivals first settled. Suddenly, they begun to see the wisdom of owning homes and not just blowing their loot on pleasures and car buying sprees.
Today the Shurugwi landscape is showing signs of evolving into a town that may soon begin to rival Gweru which is a city, but has been unable to grow or develop over the last few years due to the redundancy of its once vibrant industry that included Bata Factory, Zimglass and ZimAlloys. In fact for the longest time, Gweru was a major employer of a sizable number of the Shurugwi populace who commuted daily between the two centres.
The emergence of Shurugwi from Gweru’s shadow and the increase in residents living in the town for reasons varying from hopes of a quick buck in the golden mountains to chrome claims to business opportunities, has also resulted the town’s Central Business District beginning to show some modicum of development. A business complex is currently under construction in the town as well as a modern service station to service both its residents and travellers passing through the town to Zvishavane and beyond via the Boterekwa pass.
Local businesses have begun to benefit from this surge in development in the town and are enjoying sustained contracts. One local contractor, Mr Admire Hapazari said his company has even increased the number of employees to cater for the new business they are getting.
“Shurugwi is growing at a phenomenal rate that has helped our business to enjoy an increase in contracts to build houses. Local artisanal miners are now buildings homes and they constitute the majority of our new business,” said Mr Hapazari whose company, Chemhere brothers Investments is also contracted to build a service station in the town.
Mr Hapazari said the new growth spurt in the town has also seen an increase in shops being built both in the CBD and the townships. This has boosted the number of employment opportunities for locals who are not involved in mining.
Registered miners are also playing their part in Shurugwi’s development. Miners such as recently promoted Zifa Central Region Division One side, Nichrut Football Club president, Mr Nicholas Gara have invested heavily in the town. Mr Gara is currently in the process of expanding his business that now includes a lodge to take advantage of the new growth.
Downstream companies like mining equipment suppliers and hardware shops are also profiting, making Shurugwi a budding business centre.
While chrome giants, Zimasco is struggling to return to profitability, recent developments have ensured that Shurugwi is no longer just another mining town but a place of positive growth in the country while larger and better developed urban centres across the nation are struggling to attract direct investment.
Local residents are happy with this newly-found urbanisation of their town and ready to welcome more business people to invest in the once sleepy town. Mr Akim Banda a resident of Makusha Township said many home grown locals were happy that more and more opportunities for employment and diversification are being realized. The 67-year-old “born-born” said in his lifetime, he had never seen Shurugwi develop at the pace at which it is nowadays.
“I was born and bred in Shurugwi. I have lived all my life in this town, but never did I imagine or even think that it was possible for it to grow like it is now. We even have a set of robots in our town. Our children can now aspire to be more than just artisanal miners and may even own houses in better townships than Makusha,” he said.
While gold mining or panning is still very much part of the Shurugwi DNA, there is now a visible change and hope for a time when it will be more than just about the gold that glitters in the green mountain sides of Shurugwi, a time when residents will not need to travel to Gweru to shop or to access banking facilities. Even the levels of violence in the once feared town have lowered in recent times affording arriving residents a fearless transition into the community.
@AllanFoti
