Rusape is a town in the province of Manicaland

Manicaland

Manicaland is a province of Zimbabwe. It has an area of and a population of approximately 1.6 million . Mutare is the capital of the province. -Background:...

, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

 with a population of around 20,000 , situated on the Harare

Harare

Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...

-Mutare

Mutare

Mutare is the fourth largest city in Zimbabwe, with a population of around 170,000. It is the capital of Manicaland province.-History:...

 main road, approximately 170 km south east of Harare and 93 km north west of Mutare. Rusape is a large, sprawling town that has not quite reached city status. The name Ruape was derived from the word 'rusapwe' which means 'never dries out', with reference to the ever flowing waters of the Rusape River close to which the town was built.

Background

As is typical of Zimbabwean towns, Rusape has areas of low and high density population. The main high density area close to the town is Vengere township. Other suburbs have also been built since the independence in 1980. Mabvazuva to the East of the town, and Tsanzaguru further out. Mabvazuva literally translates to where the sun rises (the East). There is also a new fast growing medium density suburb far east sprawling into the farm lands which is called Magamba Township. Its name stemmed from the nearby MAKONI DISTRICT HEROES ACRE. Tsanzaguru when translated to English means big concrete pebble, this name derived from the highly mountainous region in which Rusape is situated. According to the 1982 Population Census, the town had a population of 8,216. This rose to 13,920 in 1992. Presently, the population has increased to about 30,000 residents thus the expansion of the Vengere high density area southward and the development of Silverbow low density area in the north-western area of the town. Typically noticeable in the surrounding region are the kopjes, msasa

Msasa

Brachystegia spiciformis Benth., commonly known as Msasa, is a medium-sized African tree having compound leaves and racemes of small fragrant green flowers. The tree is broad and has a distinctive amber and wine red colour when the young leaves sprout during spring...

 trees, occasional tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 farms and the sometimes densely crowded rural resettlement villages. The settlement began in 1894 with the establishment of a British South Africa Company

British South Africa Company

The British South Africa Company was established by Cecil Rhodes through the amalgamation of the Central Search Association and the Exploring Company Ltd., receiving a royal charter in 1889...

 post on the Rusape River. A village grew around the post and during the First Chimurenga

Chimurenga

Chimurenga is a Shona word for 'revolutionary struggle'. The word's modern interpretation has been extended to describe a struggle for human rights, political dignity and social justice, specifically used for the African insurrections against British colonial rule 1896–1897 and the guerrilla war...

 the village was attacked by Chief Mangwende. At Gwindingwi during the early days of the first Chimurenga Chief MAKONI was beheaded in front of his subjects and his head was taken to BRITAIN. There is also a ceremonial painting of the rock paintings at Diana's Vow.

Former Zimbabwean Cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

er Kevin Curran hails from Rusape.

Rusape's main piped water supply is from the purpose built Rusape Dam, which was built on the Rusape River. The river runs in a North-West - South-East direction on the town outskirts .

Education

• Primary schools in Rusape
  • John Cowie Junior School
  • St Joseph's Primary School
  • Vengere Primary School
  • Rujeko Primary School
  • Highveld Primary School
  • Mabvazuva Primary School
  • Manda Primary School
• Secondary schools in Rusape
  • Vengere High
  • St Joseph's Secondary School
  • Tsanzaguru Secondary School
  • Tsindi Secondary School
  • ST Faith's high
  • Kriste Mambo High School
  • St Killians High School

• Colleges in Rusape
  • Clemag
  • Quick Academy