Content deleted Content added
m Removing from Category:Populated places in Zimbabwe using Cat-a-lot |
dab |
||
Line 126:
Gweru District gets its name from [[Ikwelo River]] now [[Gweru River]] which has the city as its source and primary drainage basin.
The name Gweru is a further corruption of the name Gwelo which was a distortion of the original name ''Ikwelo'' given by the earliest [[Northern Ndebele language|isiNdebele]] speakers in the late 19th century. Ikwelo was the district because it was not a spot name but rather a name given to a place along the length of the river in question as written by Colonel Carbutt, of [[Southern Rhodesia]] as published by the then Chief Information Officer,
Information Services Branch. (Division of Native Affairs, Salisbury September, 1960) in the article ''Lore and Legend: Southern Rhodesia Place Names''.<ref>[http://rhodesianheritage.blogspot.nl/2010/01/rhodesian-lore-and-legend.html?m=1 Rhodesian Lore and Legend] "The late Col. Carbutt wrote, "Gwelo township was originally known to Africans as Senka after the kopje of that name. This was at least indicative of a fixed spot, unlike the name of Gwelo which is applicable to anywhere along the course of a river one hundred miles in length." The Gwelo River near its source and down to almost where it joins the Shangani, has carved steep slippery banks in the plain over the years. When the AmaNdebele first settled in the area, the woman are said to have found it very difficult to draw water, in fact they could never find an easy place to climb up from the river bed with their full vessels. Accordingly, they often spoke of "the steep place" (ikwelo), and the river came to be known as iKwelo, eventually becoming Gwelo."</ref>
| |||