Mutoko

Mutoko is a small town in Mashonaland East province, Zimbabwe. It was established as an administrative station in 1911. It lies 143 km from Harare. It is named after the local Chief Mutoko.

This town is capital of the Mutoko District which is inhabited by the Buja people. The Buja people are said to have settled in Mutoko from Mhingari in what is now Mozambique

The Buja people are known for being amongst the best tomatoes and mango farmers in Zimbabwe.

Mutoko area is also known for being a very mountainous region of Zimbabwe and as such is an important source granite stone.

It is also home to Nohureka (see Nehanda and Chaminuka), a spiritual leader of the Buja people. Nehoreka's totem is shumba(lion).

In 1937 at nearby Mutemwa there was established one of the few leprosy treatment centres in the country^[1] at which John Bradburne worked from 1969 until he was killed by guerrillas during the Rhodesian Bush War.^[2] Up to 25,000 people attend a service each year in his memory.^[3]

Mutoko is also the birthplace of Tsitsi Dangarembga, author if the famous post-colonial novel Nervous Conditions.

list of famous institutions in Mutoko: Nyadire Methodist Mission :Teachers College ,mixed boarding facilities for High and primary school , hospital ,Methodist church institution Mutoko High School Gvt Funded boarding facilities mixed All Souls Catholic Mission  : Orphanage mixed Boarding facilities for High and primary schools , hospital, church Nyamuzuwe Methodist Mission: mixed Boarding facilities for High and primary School hospital and church

Tourist attractions: Mutoko airport mutoko centre Mutoko ruins Mudzi River

References

1. ^ http://www.icon.co.za/~host/john/mutemwa/index.htm
2. ^ http://www.johnbradburne.com/story.php?story=2
3. ^ http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=14768

Further reading

1 A Dictionary of African Mythology (Oxford University Press) by Harold Sheub; 2000

Coordinates: 17°24′S 32°13′E / 17.4°S 32.217°E / -17.4; 32.217