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Tichaona Zindoga Political Editor

A visit to Domboshava over the long weekend yielded a surprising bit of news.

Domboshava is located in the north east of Harare in the land also known as Chinamhora communal areas in that familiar nomenclature of Rhodesian colonialists.

The local chief is from the Chinamhora lineage, those of the Monkey totem.

According to the delimitation with respect to national elections, Domboshava falls under Goromonzi West, Mashonaland East.

For a long time Domboshava has been known for its horticultural production, giving Harare and its surrounding areas lots of leaf vegetables and tomatoes.

In the previous decades, trucks loaded with vegetables with men and women perched precariously atop the vehicles would be seen making way from Domboshava to Mbare Musika, the biggest produce market in Zimbabwe.

The market was decentralised in the mid 2000s with satellite markets at places such as Highfield and Hatcliffe.

Domboshava was not alone in feeding the capital.

Surrounding communal areas such as Chiweshe, Murehwa, Mutoko, Marondera and Seke also had considerable supplies.

They still do.

Horticulture has been a big economic activity in these areas, and the default employer.

However, things are changing.

Horticulture, in particular vegetable production, has become less and less profitable.

On one hand, the closure of industries in the country since the turn of the century has meant that this industry has had more and more joining its ranks, thereby causing a flood of the produce.

It is simple economics enough.

On the other hand, thanks to the land reform programme, there has been a “flood” of vegetables and tomatoes from farmers who got bigger and more resourced plots — complete with water bodies — that have drastically reduced the price on the market.

The “vendor menace” in Harare, which represents the best and worst of a growing horticultural market, in part is a story of Domboshava and its long relationship with vegetables.

On the streets of Harare — and it’s no longer Mbare Musika only — tomatoes are fetching as low prices as one dollar for 30 or even 40 fruits, while other vegetables are sold for equally low prices.

It is the best time for consumers. It is the worst of times for poor producers of Domboshava (and other areas named above).

A long romance is coming to an end.

It is time to face the truth.

Horticulture as we knew it, and as indeed as it sustained families is dying a slow and painful death.

Farmers will no longer enjoy that intercourse with the land — the intimacy of caressing the long, green leaves of rape vegetables and touching the rotund firmness of the tomato.

They will no longer enjoy the sensation of plunging into a cool river to fetch water to nourish their plants.

Nor shall they enjoy feeding the land with cow dung, mulching and fertilisers which made the land fecund.

At any rate, outside the changing economic dynamics, society has quite undergone a sea change itself: new people, new cultures have set in.

The population has grown with the settlement of a population that previously resided in Harare.

The reason for the movement is economic. The new settlers (or let’s say residents) feel it is cheaper to commute to Harare and even better owning your own piece of land.

These new residents don’t quite care about farming; all they want is a piece of land to build a house.

People holding communal family and trust land have obliged them by cutting off chunks of land to the newcomers. One can imagine what this has done to the geography of the area.

Many parts of Domboshava — from the Showgrounds to some villages close by — are barely recognisable from their old, rustic shapes as they have assumed a haphazard and cramped aspect.

It may yet get worse.

And here is the news: there is gold mining in Domboshava now taking place in two places namely, Chikokonya and Nyamande villages.

It is a sign of the times.

Things are changing.

Previously gold panning took place in an odd river or two at the peripheries of Domboshava in the north, bordering Mashonaland Central which has a bigger mining pedigree in Bindura, Shamva and Mt Darwin.

Mining was never an economic activity for Domboshava and its people.

It is a good thing: the knowledge that the area has significant gold deposits that could change the economics of the area.

Young men and women will have hope once again.

Government and other economic players can invest in Dombosohava and make it big.

It will be useful to study the mineralisation of the area and look at the prospects comprehensively — which we shall do on a fine day.

On the other hand, Domboshava will also be scarred forever.

The few choking rivers now will silt to their eternal death.

Chemicals will contaminate rivers, killing plants and animals.

The environment will groan.

Perhaps those beautiful hills of Domboshava will be razed down and plundered as people search for gold.

More people will come to Domboshava for the economic boon.

The old Domboshava will be swallowed whole, along with its old economy and way of life — including morality.

A golden Domboshava presents exciting prospects.

It also elicits strong, sad portending.