Beitbridge District (Beitbridge District)
Beitbridge is a district in Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe Situated 18 kilometers north of Musina and 548 kilometers north of Johannesburg. Beitbridge district is located in the Lowveld area. The town lies 6 km ESE of the confluence of the Bubye River and the Limpopo on the border with South Africa. It was established in 1929. The town has a population of approximately 43,000 and serves a district of 100,000 people. An estimated 60 percent of Beitbridge's population is female, reflecting extensive male migration to South Africa.
Beitbridge has an estimated 2,570 houses in formal settlements (primarily for government officials and mid-level private sector staff) and 3,000 in informal settlements. Formal-settlement dwellings are mainly two- to three-room brick houses, while those in the informal settlements were among the worst mud houses in Zimbabwe. The informal settlement houses have since been destroyed by the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina (Move the Rubbish), a large-scale Zimbabwean government campaign to forcibly clear slum areas across the country. New houses have since been built using the Mfelandawonye cooperative system. Average house occupancy in the low-income and informal settlements varies considerably, as many people do not bring their families to Beitbridge, but includes at least four people. Recreational facilities are limited in low-income areas, consisting largely of bars and soccer pitches.
Beitbridge has an estimated 2,570 houses in formal settlements (primarily for government officials and mid-level private sector staff) and 3,000 in informal settlements. Formal-settlement dwellings are mainly two- to three-room brick houses, while those in the informal settlements were among the worst mud houses in Zimbabwe. The informal settlement houses have since been destroyed by the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina (Move the Rubbish), a large-scale Zimbabwean government campaign to forcibly clear slum areas across the country. New houses have since been built using the Mfelandawonye cooperative system. Average house occupancy in the low-income and informal settlements varies considerably, as many people do not bring their families to Beitbridge, but includes at least four people. Recreational facilities are limited in low-income areas, consisting largely of bars and soccer pitches.
Map - Beitbridge District (Beitbridge District)
Map
Country - Zimbabwe
Flag of Zimbabwe |
The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes demarcated the Rhodesia region in 1890 when they conquered Mashonaland and later in 1893 Matabeleland after a fierce resistance by Matabele people known as the First Matabele War. Company rule ended in 1923 with the establishment of Southern Rhodesia as a self-governing British colony. In 1965, the white minority government unilaterally declared independence as Rhodesia. The state endured international isolation and a 15-year guerrilla war with black nationalist forces; this culminated in a peace agreement that established universal enfranchisement and de jure sovereignty as Zimbabwe in April 1980. Zimbabwe then joined the Commonwealth of Nations, from which it was suspended in 2002 for breaches of international law by its government under Robert Mugabe and from which it withdrew in December 2003.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
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ZWL | Zimbabwean dollar | 2 |
ISO | Language |
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SN | Shona language |