Chikomba District

Chikomba District
second-level administrative subdivision
Country	Zimbabwe
Province	Mashonaland East
Area
• Total	6,503 km2 (2,511 sq mi)
Population  (2022 census) [1]
• Total	123,932
• Density	19/km2 (49/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (CEST)

Chikomba is a district of Zimbabwe. It was previously part of Midlands Province, but was delimited to fall under Mashonaland East Province in the 1990s. ^[2]

Notable people

• Chenjerai Hunzvi, politician and war veterans leader
• Solomon Mujuru, ^[3] army general and politician
• Tichaona Jokonya, politician
• Charles Mungoshi, writer
• Grace Mugabe (nee Marufu), politician and former First Lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe
• Charles Utete, former Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet in the Zimbabwean government under Robert Mugabe.
• Mike Bimha, politician and former Cabinet Minister in the Zimbabwean government under Robert Mugabe.
• Antony Itayi Jongwe, academic, writer, religious, entrepreneur, and philanthropist
• James Chimombe, Musician
• Tadios Kudzedzereka, politician, former Member of Parliament for Chikomba Constituency. Born Tadios Kudzedzereka to Thomas Mhondiwa Nhira Kudzedzereka and Theresa Muchavhaira in Chivhu, then Charter District, in 1940, Cde Kudzedzereka attended his primary school in Bulawayo and Chideme Secondary School in Chikomba until standard six. So strong was his will to liberate his country that his political activism saw him being arrested at the age of 16 after he and a group of boys bombed factories in Willowvale and Southerton light industries. He was detained at Salisbury Maximum Prison, in detention he was chosen to work at one of the prison warden's house as a gardener. On trial at the High Court, he survived a possible death sentence because he was underage at that time. Most of his colleagues who were older were sentenced to death that day and were hanged. He was then released into the custody of his parents. Later, he with a group of other young cadres decided to cross into Zambia for training to join the liberation struggle before they were apprehended by Rhodesian Forces in Kariba a few minutes before crossing into Zambia. This led him to detention at Gonakudzingwa Restriction Camp in Gonarezhou National Park near Sango Border Post in Chiredzi District. He was later transferred to Hwahwa Prison in Gweru where he spent 7 years in Prison, this is where he met former President of Zimbabwe Robert Gabriel Mugabe and other cadres who were incarcerated for similar charges of sabotage and political activism. After being released he started working as an orderly at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo under heavy surveillance by the British Government because of his political background. They went on to fire him as they suspected that he might sabotage the system again by ill-treating patients. After being retrenched he remained in political activism and went back to Harare where he got arrested once again in 1971 and eventually transferred to Kariba. After his release, he started working for Zesa in Gweru but was later fired again for sabotage and joined the liberation war which was now in full force. One day on a visit to his inlaws in Muzhanje Village in Njanja he rescued a certain soldier who was being chased by a Rhodesian RF helicopter from Charter estates. The soldier had a bullet wound on his left leg and was ducking the helicopter using trees as cover for many kilometers. With the helicopter in hot pursuit, Cde Kudzedzereka managed to help the soldier escape to a base near Tsvisi mountain in the eastern parts of our village. There with the help of other comrades namely Sparks, Gudo, Nzou, Mutizanemhepo among others, they attacked the helicopter with mighty force until it disappeared into oblivion. After Independence in 1980 he became a Councilor for Chikomba Ward 20 and later he was voted as the council chairperson for Chikomba Rural District Council. In 1989 he contested in the ZANU PF primary elections against Simon Mujuru, Stephen Chiurayi among others, and won resoundingly. In March 1990 he represented #ZanuPF and won the parliamentary elections with a landslide victory against Osward Ndanga of Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) and became Member of Parliament for Chikomba District. Among his notable achievements is the construction of roads, bridges, and clinics around Chikomba, he was also at the forefront of the teacher and soldier recruitment to Cuba for training. He assisted in the resettlement of war veterans around the country. Cde Kudzedzereka breathed his last in the afternoon of September 11 1994 after a short battle with prostate cancer just a few months before the 1995 general elections where the late Retired General Solomon Mujuru became his successor.

References

1. "Zimbabwe: Administrative Division (Provinces and Districts) - Population Statistics, Charts and Map". www.citypopulation.de. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
2. 1994 Delimitation Commission. Zimbabwe Delimitation Commission. 2000. p. 105.
3. Tendi, Blessing-Miles (2020). The Army and Politics in Zimbabwe: Mujuru, the Liberation Fighter and Kingmaker. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108561600. ISBN   978-1-108-47289-0. S2CID   243675045.

18°53′S31°06′E / 18.883°S 31.100°E / -18.883; 31.100