Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
THE Government has officially opened the new North Pole Complex at Nembudziya Shopping Centre in Gokwe North District, marking a significant step towards achieving town status for Gokwe by 2026.
The US$1,5 million state-of-the-art, two-storey development features supermarkets, office spaces, and a modern service station, revolutionising Nembudziya and providing essential commercial services to the local community.
The complex, which was built by Mr Spencer Tshuma, director of the Spencer Tshuma Family Trust, is viewed as a key milestone in the rural modernisation and transformation agenda while contributing to Zimbabwe’s broader vision of achieving upper-middle-income status by 2030.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Owen Ncube, hailed the private sector-led initiative as a beacon of local economic empowerment and growth.
“Today’s event buttresses the Second Republic’s heritage-based Rural Industrialisation underpinned by Rural Development 8.0 that focuses on food security, boosting rural incomes and reducing rural-to-urban migration by enhancing the agriculture value chain, which is a major economic sector here in Gokwe North,” he said.
Minister Ncube noted that the North Pole Complex, that has an initial workforce of 25 employees was constructed from November 2023 to April 2025 and is comprised of a supermarket with a fast-food outlet, several other retail outlets, a hardware as well as a thriving fuel service station that supports all sectors of the local economy.
“I am reliably informed that this project is a brainchild of the Spenser Tshuma Family Trust that has properties in Kadoma, Chitekete, Nembudzia, Chegutu, and Harare, among others. Accordingly, this state-of-the-art enterprise showcases President Mnangagwa’s commitment towards private sector-led economic growth and development underpinned by domestic resource mobilisation, a strategy which has overwhelmingly succeeded in countering the negative effects of illegal sanctions imposed on our nation by the United States and its allies,” he said.
Minister Ncube said he was pleased to note that the shopping mall has a multiplier effect on the Midlands Provincial economy through the creation of employment, skills, and technology transfer, stimulating upstream and downstream industries that support the mining, agriculture, construction, retail, and tourism sectors, which anchor the provincial GDP.
The minister urged local authorities to improve the ease of doing business as part of a broader service delivery package in a bid to attract more investment by the private sector, State-owned enterprises, and individuals.
“Gokwe Rural District Council must sustain the whole-of-Government and society approach established with Government ministries, departments, and agencies as well as the private sector among others during the 2025 National Independence Day preparations to propel infrastructure development,” he said.
Minister Ncube added that the rehabilitated road network, schools, clinics, drilled boreholes, business units developed, ICT equipment, street lighting installed, among many others, must be maintained and upgraded in line with the Second Republic’s Smart City concept.
“In this regard, I implore all local authorities, guided by their recently approved master plans, to adhere to Town and Regional Planning Regulations and emulate efforts by the New Dispensation, which, since its inception on 24 November 2017, has promoted regional integration and embarked on modernisation of key infrastructure as a critical sector that attracts and facilitates tourism, trade and investment,” he said.
Cde Tshuma said the investment is in line with the Second Republic’s rural industrialisation drive under President Mnangagwa’s development vision.
“The President, Cde Mnangagwa, is on record saying ‘nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’. I was born and raised here in Gokwe North and felt it was my duty to contribute towards uplifting my community. Yes, I could have taken this investment to an urban area, but how will Gokwe develop if we shun our rural communities? With determination, we can transform our home areas and create thriving rural economies,” he said.
