A residential suburb in the south of Harare. The neighbourhoods within Waterfalls are Derbyshire, Grobbie Park, Houghton Park, Induna Park, Midlands, Mainway Meadows, Malvern (named after Sir Godfrey Huggins, who later became Lord Malvern), Parktown, Uplands and Shortstone. The suburb was named after the rapids on the Mukuvisi River which flows through the Houghton Park-Parktown areas.

The origins of the name “Mabvuku” are not very certain. Possibly from the Shona “bvuku”, ideophone for “emerging”, to denote the water sprouting out of the numerous swamps in the area. Ma (“place of”) + bvuku (“emerging waters”) is a plausible etymology. Mabvuku was the home of the VaShawasha people before colonization. The Shawasha people of the Soko Mbire clan settled in this area about 300 years ago. Mabvuku, as opposed to the present day site of Chishawasha, is the native home of these people. The present site of Chishawasha village became prominent with the establishment of the oldest Catholic Mission Church there. The ancestors of the Shawasha people are commemorated in the street and road names of Old Mabvuku, namely, Tingini, Godzonga, Marembo, Chauruka, Nyamare, Nyahuni, Chatezwi, Nzvere and Shambare.

The second-oldest high-density suburb (“township”) in Harare, established c. 1930. It was established for black settlement during the colonial Rhodesia era. Highfield was primarily set up by the white settler colonial government to provide labour to the Southerton and Workington industrial areas that border it; this was in a similar fashion to how Harari (Mbare) had been set up to provide labor to Workington and Graniteside.

A north-western suburb of Harare, named so because of either (A) the green color of the hill due to the large number of trees or (B) a possible Irish connection – many of the roads in the suburb have Irish names.

A suburb of Harare located about 2 miles north of Harare city center. It is the earliest suburb established in Harare, having been laid out in 1903. Prior to becoming a suburb, Avondale was a dairy farm. It was named after Avondale, County Wicklow, Ireland – the home of 19th-century Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell. Avondale was incorporated into the Salisbury Municipality in 1934. The first official marriage ceremony in colonial Rhodesia took place on Avondale farm in 1894.

Some exciting tit-bits on some of Harare’s suburbs

A low-density, leafy residential suburb in the north of Harare. The suburb was originally set-up after WWII. The government of the time promised servicemen plots of half-acre land once the war was over, and Alex Park was one of the suburbs in which this land was allocated. Many of the street names reflect significant places or people involved in WWII such as Churchill Avenue, Dunkirk Drive or Normandy Road.

After independence, names of some streets in Harare were changed to suit the new dispensation. Below are some of the street name changes...

OLD NAME                                        NEW NAME
North Avenue....................................Josiah Tongogara Avenue
Gordon Avenue.................................George Silundika Avenue
Rhodes Avenue.................................Herbert Chitepo Avenue
Stanley Avenue ................................Jason Moyo Avenue
Manica West/Manica Road/Umtali ......Robert Mugabe Avenue
Gaul Avenue ....................................Bishop Gaul Avenue
Kingsway Crescent ...........................Julius Nyerere way
Sinoia Street.....................................Chinhoyi Street
Victoria Street...................................Mbuya Nehanda
Moffat Street ....................................Leopold Takawira
Pioneer Street...................................Kaguvi Street
Widdecombe Road ...........................Chiremba Road
Baker Avenue ..................................Nelson Mandela
Queensway North/South ..................Joshua Nkomo/Airport Rd
Salisbury Drive ................................Harare Drive
Salisbury Way .................................Harare Way
Golden Stairs Road ..........................Second Street Extension
Montagu Avenue .............................Josiah Chinamano
Hatfield/Prince Edward Dan Road .....Seke Road
Mackenzie/Mainway/Mcneilage Rd.....Masotcha Ndlovu Way
Harari Road South............................Mbare Road
Jameson Avenue..............................Samora Machel.
Forbes Road ...................................Robson Manyika
Sir James Macdonald Avenue ...........Rekai Tangwena Avenue
Beatrice/Stuart Chandler way ..........Simon Mazorodze Avenue
Railway avenue ..............................Kenneth Kaunda

In 1892 Edward Walter Kermode claimed a farm and registered it as “Spring Valley Range”. He arrived in the country from the Isle of Man with the pioneer column as a personal servant of Archibald Calqhoun, the country’s first administrator. Shortly after registering the farm, in 1895, Kermode returned to the Isle of Man where he married. Mabelreign was named after Miss Mabel Mann, who was a fiancee of a surveyor named Swatheral. Miss Mann laid claim to the land despite the fact that the title was already held, and apparently she got away with it.

Kermode went back to the Isle of Man never to return but in 1929 his son came out and subdivided the farm into Meyrick (his mother maiden name) Monavale (derived from Mona Isle), Sentosa (a Malayan word meaning 'peaceful') and Greencroft.

Milton Park was named after Sir William Milton, the much respected Administrator from 1898-1914, who was known as the “Father of the Civil Service”. The street names in the suburb are all former mayors. Strathaven is named after the area where the Meikles come from in Scotland.

The BSA Co Reserve is now Pomona, Vainona and part of Mt Pleasant. It was necessary for the company to keep the grazing area for its transport cattle outside of the Municipal Area. In 1923, a Mr McLaurin took over a portion of the farm and called it Pomona after the largest Island in the Orkney group. Later divisions were Pendennis, owned by John Dennis, and Vainona.

Hatfield is named after the ancestral home of the Marquess of Salisbury. It was first settled by Robert Snodgrass and David Mitchell, two transport riders who made a lot of money selling whisky to the settlers in 1891, the partnership broke up shortly after another property, a sub-division of the farm Willowvale, which was given the name of Ardbennie, had been acquired.

William Webb was granted title to Prospect in 1984 although a little is known of his activities.

Is it a subdivision of Rietfontein, and was formed by the Jenkinsons. The name means “overflowing spring”, which is shown as an exaggerated fountain on the school badge. Robert Ballantyne grew potatoes on his Ballantyne Park farm and was MP for Highlands from 1948-1953. He died while debating on the floor of the House of Assembly.

This was Salisbury’s first high-density suburb (“township”) and was established in 1907. At the time, it was located near the city sewage works, cemetery and abattoir. Its original name was Harare (Hariri) Township, but the suburb’s name was changed to Mbare when the city of Salisbury was re-named Harare at Zimbabwe independence in 1980. Harare is a corruption of Haarari, which means “One who never sleeps”, and was the name of the Zezuru Chief of this north-eastern part of the country, a Chief Harawa who had his base at the Harare Kopje, a walking distance from Mbare.

When Cecil John Rhodes’ Pioneers first settled around the Kopje and called their settlement Salisbury (now Harare), they wanted to build a “White” City. There was no space for the Indigenous Africans.

But their wives wanted “Cook Boys” and “Nannies” and the men wanted messengers and office orderlies (tea boys, factory workers and agricultural labourers). At first, African workers settled all over the place. That was considered dangerous.

So the “White City” decided to create a place for the local people after all. That was the beginning of Harari Township, as it was first called around 1900. Workers yes, but not their families. This was supposed to be a bachelors’ settlement. It was built close to the shops and offices in what is now the southern part of the Central Business District. Even today Mbare – as Harari Township is now called – is a popular address to have because it is close to town, where people work.

These allegedly ‘single men’ were housed in hostels, which are still a striking feature in Mbare to the right and left of Cripps Road. There was a long battle about allowing wives and families to join their husbands in ‘married quarters’ in what is now called ‘National’ in the southern part of Mbare.
While Harari Township was under colonial administration, families had to vacate their houses once the bread winner had died or lost employment. Widows were expected to move back to the rural areas, where they and their unborn children were strangers.

It was in Mbare that the workers first organised themselves in trade unions- even today, street names remind us of some of those brave early leaders like Charles Mzingeli- and eventually even in political movements. Being represented only on the official Advisory Councils did not achieve anything in the eyes of most residents. Harari (and Highfield Township) became the birthplace of nationalism.

The old Roman Catholic Church in Mbare (near Rufaro Stadium) was one of the first to open in 1910. – Father Wermter

The picture collage shows the design and activity at the City of Harare stand during the ZITF 2016 exhibition in which the City came first in category 16 for Local Authorities

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The major highlight this week was a visit by the City of Munich Officials and Councillors.

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The major highlight of the week was the Inter-Cities Sports Festival held at Belgravia Sports Club on 17 October 2015 which attracted 10 Local Authorities.

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The picture collage shows Carnival Reception at Harare House; Internal Customer Care Training at Town House in the Council Chamber and the Election of Cllr Mbanga as the Deputy Mayor.

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The picture collage shows Harare Mayor's visit to the Harare Agricultural Show.

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The newly installed vending booths at the Fourth Street Parking Lot. 300 vendors will be accommodated in the booths. The booths have enough storage space which allows the vendors to keep their goods overnight in safety.

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Harare Mayor Cllr Bernard Manyenyeni tours some Township Tourism sites in Mbare. Among the sites he visited are the Pioneer Cemetery, Mai Musodzi Hall, and an Centre near Harare High School.

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This part of the road at corner Jason Moyo and Sam Nujoma Avenue gave in today. The City of Harare is attending to the matter. Full details of what caused the road to collapse will be availed.

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