Zhombe Joel
| Zhombe Joel | |
|---|---|
| Township | |
| Nickname(s): Joel Business Center | |
| Country | Zimbabwe |
| Province | Midlands |
| District | Kwekwe District |
| Municipality | Zibagwe Rural District Council |
Coordinates: 18°40′38″S 29°20′57″E / 18.677197°S 29.34916°E
Joel Business Centre is the location of district administrative offices, parliamentary advisory offices, the post office and police station in the town of Zhombe, Zimbabwe. It is 64 km northwest of Kwekwe and 77 km southeast of Gokwe Centre. This small rural town center is the hub of both Zhombe Communal Land and Zhombe Central Ward.
Joel Business Centre, in Zhombe Central ward, is named in honour of Joel Tessa, one of the pioneer businessmen at the centre during the 1960s. Tessa was one of the first shop owners at Zhombe Centre, also known as Zhombe Growth Point or Zhombe Joel. He is thought to have died during the Rhodesian bush war in the late 1960s.
There was a restriction or detention camp for suspected and proven influential political activists called Sikombela, north of Zhombe centre, which had been established in June 1965. It was mainly a detention camp for cadres aligned to ZANU. This camp is now a national monument. Joel Tessa is known to have collaborated with the Sikombela inmates and served as a courier of top secret errands. Edson Muzite refers to him as "Jewel", a Rhodesia Bush War collaborator; a mujibha as they were called. Edison Mzite is one of the less prominent ex-detainees of Sikombela Restriction Camp Muzite credits Joel Tessa as a comrade in arms as far as top secrecy is concerned.
Local people say war collaborators like Joel Tessa were not easily detected by the then security forces because Sikombela Restriction Camp was deep in Mapfungautsi State Forest where predators were rife and no one would dare visit the camp at will. War collaborators took advantage of the weakness of the security forces in this area and they worked well with the inmates at Sikombela. Local people supporting the liberation war visited the restriction camp regularly, the authorities seemingly allowing frequent interaction at first.
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