Tsholotsho
|
Tsholotsho Zhwane |
|
|---|---|
| administrative district | |
| Motto: Sisebenzela iTsholotsho eluhlaza | |
 Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North Province |
|
| Coordinates: 19°46′S 27°45′E / 19.767°S 27.750°ECoordinates: 19°46′S 27°45′E / 19.767°S 27.750°E | |
| Country | Zimbabwe |
| Province | Matabeleland North |
| Government | |
| • Member of Parliament | Jonathan Moyo |
| • Chief | Gampu Sithole |
| • Chief | Ngqoya Hadebe |
| • Chief | Siphoso Dlodlo |
| • Chief | Tategulu Moyo |
| Area | |
| • Total | 7,844 km2 (3,029 sq mi) |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Total | 119,681 |
| • Density | 16/km2 (40/sq mi) |
| Time zone | SAST (UTC+2) |
Tsholotsho District is an administrative district in Matabeleland North Province, Zimbabwe. Its administrative centre is the business service centre of Tsholotsho which is located about 65 km north-west of Nyamandhlovu and 98 km north-west of Bulawayo as the bird flies, in the Tsholotsho communal land. Districts around Tsholotsho include Lupane, Hwange, Umguza, and Bulilimamangwe District (formerly Plumtree District).
Before the Mfecane of the 1800s, the area was occupied by the San with the name "Tsholotsho" (old spelling "Tjolotjo") being derived from the San word "Tsoro o tso" meaning the head of an elephant. The area was a favourite of the elephant herds and had attracted early ivory hunters. When the Matabele arrived in 1838 the area held mostly Masarwa/Abathwa bushmen, who were not true bushmen but a mixture of the San and others, and elephants were still to be found in abundance. The name "Tsholotsho" was adopted by Mzilikazi and his people as they entered what then became Matabeleland from the north in search of new pastures and lands and fleeing the tsetse fly of the lowlands.
The settlement of Tsholotsho is situated about 65 kilometres west of Nyamandlovu in the former Gwaai Tribal Trust land. It has been an administrative centre for the trust land for many years and fell under the jurisdiction of the Native Commissioner for Nyamandhlovu who first assumed responsibility in 1909. Prior to this date the area fell under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent of Natives at Bulawayo.
The District Service Centre is linked to Bulawayo and Lupane by tarred roads and Plumtree by a gravel road and other roads lead through very heavy Kalahari sands (itshebetshebe) into the Gwaai Tribal Trust areas and beyond into the forest reserves. The soils around the precincts of the village are regosols derived from Kalahari sands and shallow rocky basalt-derived pockets are to be found in the district. There is a belt of alluvium along the Gwaai river which has led numerous prospectors in the search of minerals and precious and semi-precious stones. An industrial school was founded at Mavela (Tjolotjo) in 1921 by H. S. Keigwin, who also had a hand in establishing a similar institution at Domboshawa in Mashonaland the following year. The original course was designed by E. D. Alvord, who was then an agricultural missionary at Mount Selinda, where he had started instructing African students on similar lines in 1920. The school was moved to Essexvale (Esigodini) between the years 1941 and 1944 and renamed 'Esikhoveni Agricultural Institute'. It is fitting that Mr. Alvord's son D. L. Alvord should have been appointed the principal of the college.
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