Melancholy as Chiredzi’s Chigarapasi closes Women mill around the closed Chigarapasi Beerhall in Chiredzi recently
Women mill around the closed Chigarapasi Beerhall in Chiredzi recently

Women mill around the closed Chigarapasi Beerhall in Chiredzi recently

George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Massive sugarcane production from the swashbuckling and vast irrigated cane plantations is synonymous with the Lowveld town of Chiredzi. The “sweetings” has attracted people from across Zimbabwe who have become part of the 20 000 community, directly and indirectly, employed in sugar companies and other service providers. Chiredzi Town, with its sister-but-smaller town of Triangle, is commonly regarded as the production hub of Masvingo province.

This is mainly due to the vibrant sugar industry around which the lives of many residents revolve. The sugar industry is so central to the socio-economic activities of the people in Chiredzi that whenever it sneezes the whole Lowveld catches a cold.

So close is sugar to the lives of Chiredzi residents that one of its residential areas is called ‘’Sweetvale’’. However, the majority of the workforce in both Chiredzi and Triangle towns are low-income earners.

These include irrigators, weeders and cutters, the latter being mainly contract workers since cane is harvested once a year. After a hard day’s work in the cane fields, where day time temperatures are normally very high, most field workers usually troop to various drinking holes in the town.

It is, however, the Chigarapasi Community Beerhall, tucked deep in Tshovani Township, the oldest suburb in Chiredzi, which had been a favourite of many. Named after the Shangaan chief of the area, the bar looms large in the lives of Tshovani residents and beyond.

Chigarapasi’s fame even transcendeds the boundaries of the Lowveld, amid claims that it is Zimbabwe’s largest community beerhalls by land area.

Its popularity has traversed the length and breadth of Zimbabwe

According to residents, besides being the rendezvous of various tribal groups in Zimbabwe lured by the sweetness of locally-produced sugar, Chigarapasi was popular because of the serenity and freedom it offered to imbibers.

Straddling over 16 273 square metres, Chigarapasi was arguably Zimbabwe’s largest beerhall in terms of the land area that it occupies.

After opening its gates shortly after independence, its profile grew overnight as the tremours of its splendour and grandeur spread like a veld fire across the Masvingo province and beyond.

The bar became a flagship recreational facility to patrons that it started to have a direct connection to the residents of Chiredzi.

The community beerhall steadily became the nerve centre of all the socio-economic activities especially among the unemployed residents in the dusty and litter-laden streets of Chiredzi.

From young boys and girls selling various food stuffs on behalf of their mothers to the elderly selling traditional medicines for different ailments, Chigarapasi was always a hive of activity both during the day and at night.

And December 31, 2016, became an emotional day for residents in Chiredzi when authorities shut its doors to the public.

Chiredzi Town Council, the proprietors of the beerhall, decided to call time on it and close it on New Year’s Eve citing viability problems.

The aftershocks were felt across the Lowveld as its closure affected many people in a variety of ways.

Today, Tshovani Township is a shadow of its former self – dull, empty and slowly losing its breath towards inevitable death.

Chigarapasi provided the much-needed socio-economic oxygen for people in Chiredzi.

Residents of Tshovani are already nostalgic about the days when Chigarapasi used to be the nerve centre of life in the residential area.

“Chigarapasi was the lifeblood of Tshovani and the entire Chiredzi town because it is where everything happened.

“Many people earned a living by selling food to imbibers while business was brisk even for commercial sex workers.

“Tshovani is deserted and empty after people lost what had been a source of livelihood,” Nasios Bhani of Makondo suburb in the town said.

He reckons even low-income earners like sugarcane cutters no longer have a hospitable environment to relax after a hard working day.

“Chigarapasi catered for every class of people because Chibuku bulk beer, scuds and the popular Super beer, together with bottled lagers were all served there in a free and peaceful environment.

“The beerhall could accommodate as many people as possible and it never got full as far as I remember.

“Now funny lovers in Tshovani and surrounding areas have nowhere to go,” he said.

House owners, including Border Chimbo of Tshovani, say they are feeling the pinch after Chigarapasi’s closure.

“I own several houses in Tshovani and I used to live off them by renting out to a variety of people who wanted to live in the immediate vicinity of Chigarapasi.

“But my world turned upside down after the closure of the beerhall,” he said.

Chimbo added: “Demand for accommodation has decreased drastically in Tshovani because the bar attracted various people who have since moved out of Chiredzi to such areas as Beitbridge.

“The remaining few are struggling to pay rent because business is low while rentals have since dropped significantly because there are no clients.”

He appealed to authorities at Chiredzi Town Council to reconsider their decision and re-open the bar.

Herikanos Makadho said Chigarapasi’s failure to re-open would see many people struggling to send their children to school as they eked out a living around the giant recreational facility.

“The only place that mattered to us was Chigarapasi because every day we would come here any time of the day and sell various items to hundreds of revelers who always thronged this place.

“People paid school fees, sent money back to the villages and paid rentals from businesses that shot off the bar.

“All that is history, something must be done urgently, we are actually pleading with the authorities,” he said.

Commercial sex were highly critical of the bar’s closure saying they were finding it hard after Chigarapasi was shut down.

“Most of our colleagues have since left for other towns such as Beitbridge and those who remain are struggling to put food on the table,” one of the women complained.

They said the closure could increase the HIV prevalence rate in the town.

“Infections could rise because commercial sex workers are desperate and will agree to have unprotected sex with any suitor as long as they get money. These days, even the crime rate is very high in Tshovani because unemployed people who used to feed off Chigarapasi are now using unorthodox means to get money.’’

Alternative drinking areas in Chiredzi, such as Masiza Nengere Beerhall, are too small and were getting overwhelmed hence unsafe for female patrons. Chiredzi Town Council secretary Mr Charles Muchatukwa said the bar was closed because it was operating at a loss.

“We couldn’t continue to subsidize Chigarapasi so we closed it because, in actual fact, we were using council revenue to keep it open, which would get us into trouble with auditors,” he said.

Mr Muchatukwa said council was seeking a private partner to operate the bar with engagement at an advanced stage.

“We made it clear to all those who want to take over Chigarapasi that they will not change anything at the bar.

“It must be a beerhall for all the classes of people for it to maintain its lustre,” he said.

If council finds a partner, Chiredzi could still regain its acclaimed position as the host of Zimbabwe’s largest beerhall.

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