Plans to build a new capital for Zimbabwe are reported to be already underway, with officials confirming the new capital city will be located in Mt Hampden, which is in Robert Mugabe's rural home of Zvimba District.
Construction of a new parliament building has begun at the site, 40 kilometres west of Harare. Shopping malls, hotels and a posh residential area are said to be on the cards as well.
The independent Newsday newspaper said the development was confirmed on Monday by the Minister for Local Government, Ignatius Chombo, who said the site had been identified and the project was a going ahead.
Chombo said the new capital will also house other important government buildings, including the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the Supreme and High Courts, State House and several government ministries. This would essentially move the centre of government from Harare to Zvimba.
Political analyst Professor John Makumbe dismissed the project as "ridiculous", saying Mugabe is trying to crown his legacy by moving the entire the capital city to his backyard. "These are dreams of old, wild men," Makumbe said.
Asked how such a huge project is being funded, Makumbe said: "We know that the Chinese are in charge of it. They built the National Military Academy in record time and are building the Gweru Conference Centre, which must be finished before the 4th December. For both projects they are getting diamonds," Makumbe explained.
But the analyst, who plans to run for political office under the MDC-T, warned that these projects are only being pursued because ZANU PF is in power. Makumbe said should the MDC-T take over, they will put an end to what he called "silly ventures that amount to diamond looting by the Chinese".
According to Newsday newspaper, Chombo explained that the early colonialists meant to put the capital at Mt Hampden. But the emissaries sent to raise the British flag there got lost and raised it at the Kopje instead, establishing the present-day Harare in the 1890s.
It's interesting to see ZANU PF agreeing with the colonialists for once.
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How does the government think it can takeover a mountain that is owned by others and dedicated as a place of prayer for the nation in the summer of 2011?
What a good idea of the chefs to separate themselves from the "great unwashed" in Harare. Obviously there will be no problem with funding the supply of water, electricity and drainage to such a noble project!
no no you have it all wrong the new Chinese govt doesnt want to sit in the sh!t and filth without water in Harare and secondly Harare is mostly MDC so this is for mugabe and his new ho chi min "BASSes". This will also be patrolled by the army to keep out the poor Zimbabweans who will have to pay to enter the forbidden city. What a laugh.
Zvimba is a large rural district which borders Harare not a town. The main town of Zvimba district is Banket, 95km from Harare.
As Harare grows parts of surrounding districts, mainly Seke, Goromonzi, Chishawasha, Domboshawa and Mhondoro are incorporated into the metropolitan area. Suburbs such as Hatcliffe, Ushewokunze, Order Farm and the very upmarket Shawasha Hills are examples of areas that have recently been incorporated into metropolitan Harare previously having been parts of rural districts. The satellite town of Chitungwiza was entirely built in Seke district and is for all practical purposes a suburb if Harare
Therefore to claim that Mugabe is 'moving the capital to his home town' is a totally ignorant fabrication. If Mugabe had moved the capital to Banket, that would be true. The mere incorporation of a small part of his home district into metropolitan Harare is not moving the capital. It is not even the first time parts of a rural district have been incorporated into Harare.
It is also not even the first time a major building servicing or fulfilling part of Harare's functions has been built in a neighbouring district. Harare International Airport is in Ruwa district.
This is just cheap political sensationalism which obfuscates matters and distracts attention from substantive issues.