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Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
HAVING the privilege of accessing education early after the Anglican Church established schools in Manicaland Province, people from the province flocked to Bulawayo for business opportunities.It is for this reason that businessmen from Manicaland dominated Bulawayo businesses as early as 1929 and rapidly became the “smart boys”, who could throw money around and get beautiful women.

All the businesses were set up in the western areas as black people were not allowed even to walk on the streets of the Central Business District (CBD) or to be seen mixing with white people.

The Manicaland gurus included the likes of Benjamin Burombo, Mutasa, Chigumira, Nyaguze, Musarurwa, Jerry Vera, and Muzondiwa Mugadza among others.

At that time the business people were concentrating on grocery shops.

Later, in the 1940s the Kalangas, who included the likes of Grey Bango and Mazibisa and the Ndebele people, found themselves joining the business community and establishing businesses in new surbubs.

The newer surbubs included Barbourfields, Mpopoma, Mabuthweni, Njube and Luveve among others.

The late Vice-President Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo became the first auctineer, operating from Mzilikazi.

Chronicle caught up with Mugadza, 90, who shared his experiences at that time.

“I established a supermarket and butchery in Mzilikazi in 1960 and named my business Thokozani, written Kevin in Sky on the outside. I decided to lease out the business after realising that I was old and could no longer run the business,” said Mugadza.

“Although it was during the colonial era where there were so many limitations, we somehow accepted the little that we could do and anjoyed the available opportunities while we waited for total freedom.

“At that time businesspeople were very supportive of each other to the extent that at times they pooled resources together to boost their businesses.”

Mugadza said at one time they formed a group of businessmen called the “Syndicate of 12” which pooled resources together and managed to revive the Valley Hotel, owned by Jerry Vera.

“I remember very well how it was so easy to support one another through contributions. The Valley Hotel was the first hotel in the city to be owned by a black businessman and we were all proud of that.

“The businessmen I remember, although most of them are late now are Chigumira, Hlalo, Munyoro, Mabodoko, Simon Moyo, Mayimbe, Leonard Mhlanga and others,” he said.

Mugadza is now retired and stays with his wife Margaret Mugadza in Riverside, Bulawayo, and the couple has eight children.
Cultural expert Phathisa Nyathi said he remembers how black businesspeople were not allowed to sell clear beer.

He said because of the discrimination black people were not allowed to operate businesses in the CBD or eastern areas.

“The black business people as a result dominated the western areas where they set up grocery shops. These business people were only allowed to sell traditional beer which was called isikokikiyane and later tototo.

“This limitation promoted shebeens in most surbubs where tototo was sold.”

Nyathi said the oldest suburb in Bulawayo, Makokoba, was established in the 1890s and blacks then were pre-occupied with odd jobs such as shoe repairs while Jews and Asians operated other businesses such as retailing.

The Manicaland businesspeople, he said, started flocking to the city in 1929 in Makokoba and Mzilikazi while others followed as more surbubs were built.