Gokwe centre

Gokwe Centre is a rural town in the Midlands province in Zimbabwe. The town is usually referred to as "Gokwe Centre" because the larger region is called Gokwe.

Gokwe is seen in popular Zimbabwean culture and media as a place that is backwards or undereducated. A lot of memes usually make reference to the phrase "Gokwe yazviita zvakare", which translates to "Gokwe has done it again." Gokwe is basically the Zimbabwean equivalent of the USA's Ohio

Background
Gokwe was originally a government station. It housed a district commissioner, police, hospital, veterinary services and other government rural agencies. Primarily for the administration of the district, it was also the base for the control of the tsetse fly and its associated lethal disease trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness).

Growth Point Status
The place was proclaimed a Growth Point in 1982 under the government's growth points policy.

Gokwe town is a success case of the government's growth point policy whose results in July 2006 culminated in the proclamation by the state that it becomes a town.

Town Status
Gokwe Growth Point then run by the Gokwe South Rural District Council rapidly turned into a town skipping the Rural Service Center status because of its rapid developmental rate courtesy of the Kwekwe-Gokwe Highway which brought a much needed connectivity to all parts of Zimbabwe through its Kwekwe end link into the A5 Harare to Bulawayo highway.

Caretaker Commission
The step to establish the administrative machinery of the town included the putting in place of a commission appointed by the minister for local government in terms of the urban councils act Chapter 29.15.9.2(b). This appointed commission was to run office until the coming in of elected councilors.

Initial Committee 2008
The delimitation team divided Gokwe Center into 6 wards for the 2008 harmonized elections. Consequently, six councilors were elected, and as required two special interest councilors were appointed by the minister in terms of the urban councils act to form the first ever Gokwe Town Council.

Subsequent Committees
From the 2013 harmonized elections Gokwe Town Council is set in place and run according to the Urban Councils Act Chapter 29:15.

Gokwe Town Council is affiliated to the Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe and Councilor Esther Senga of Ward 3 (Green Valley) is a committee member of the Presidential Committee of UCAZ.

Service Delivery
Gokwe Town Council has Four Department, namely 1. HR and Admin 2. Finance 3. Engineering (Works and Services) and 4. Housing, Health and Community Services.

The town council has built a $300,000 administration block as part of its service delivery.

Refuse collection is done on regular bases and the council has engaged voluntary organizations such as religious groups, churches and women's clubs for litter monitoring, on the Keep Gokwe Clean campaign.

Cheziya High School is the most known institution which offers A'level courses.

Commerce and Industry
Industry in Gokwe is dominated by small scale formal and informal Entrepreneurs. However a number of standard industrial organizations are increasingly filtering in.

Gokwe Town apart from scores of smaller retail shops six major indigenous supermarkets and wholesalers of international standards. Banks like Barclays bank, CBZ, POSB and other financial houses are also in town, with the Agricultural Bank of Zimbabwe Ltd. (Agribank) topping the list.

Residential Areas
Gokwe town has six suburban settlements that include the low density, medium density and the high density.

Low density

 * Green Valley
 * Sasame

Medium Density

 * Cheziya
 * Nyaradza

High density
Currently under MDC supervision
 * Njelele
 * Mapfungautsi

Plots

 * Njelele Agro-plots

Population
On estimation there are just less than 30 000 inhabitants in Gokwe town.

In 2012 according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), the town had 6 524 households, housing 10 914 male and 13 140 female mixed lingua residents.

Total population was 24 054, males being 45.4% of the total while female residents were the majority at 54.6%. The growth rate is 2.2%.

By the look of these statistics Gokwe has become bigger than some towns which got town status before Gokwe was even well known business center.

In 2012
 * Shurugwi which was established in 1899 by the BSAC had 21 905 residents and 5 879 households.
 * Gwanda which is the provincial capital of Matabeleland South Province had 20 227 residents and 5 765 households.
 * Plumtree had 11626 residents and just 3354 households.

Government Departments
There are various government departments in Gokwe town that include the


 * Social Welfare
 * Ministry of Youth,
 * Justice Ministry represented by Magistrate Court,
 * Ministry of Education,
 * Home Affairs,
 * The District Administrator’s office for the Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development,
 * Ministry of Transport that oversees the Kwekwe-Gokwe Highway and other roads and road traffic related matters.
 * Ministry of Agriculture represented by AGRTEX official and the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services.
 * Water Resources Ministry represented by Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) is one other ministry working flat out because all the water that the town needs for both domestic and industrial needs is borehole water. There are no nearby dams to supply the town with cheap water.

Parastatals
Parastatal organizations at the center are the
 * Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco),
 * Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission Distribution Company. (ZETDC),
 * Grain Marketing Board,
 * Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA)
 * Public Service Commission
 * Forestry Commission

to name a few.

Schools
There are Four Primary Schools and Four Secondary Schools in Gokwe Town. Primary Schools 1. St Paul's Primary School 2. Mapfungautsi Council Primary School 3. CZM Primary School 4. Gokwe Town St Agness Primary School

Secondary Schools 1. Cheziya Council High School 2. St Paul's High School 3. Njelele Government High School 4. LOGOS Empowerment Girls High School

Public Service

 * The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP),
 * The Magistrate’s Court
 * The Zimbabwe Prison Services.
 * Gokwe Hospital

Communications

 * TelOne for telecommunications.
 * ZimPost for postal services.
 * Econet Celluer network provider.
 * Telecel Celluer network provider.
 * NetOne Celluer network provider.

Transportation

 * An aerodrome for small private planes which is popularly called Gokwe Airport.
 * Bus station: Built up; with toilets, loading bays