ZAZALIZITHA Khumalo had a vision: to buy land and build his family’s future retirement home in Zimbabwe, his homeland. But he soon realised that it was not an easy task. The prime land he wanted in Bulawayo, the country’s second-largest city, was too expensive and had too many restrictions. He felt frustrated and discouraged, but he did not give up.
Khumalo, who lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa, decided to reach out to his former classmates from Mzinyathini High School, a school located in Esigodini, a rural area near Bulawayo. He wanted to share his challenges and see if they had any advice or solutions. To his surprise, he found out that many of them had the same dream and the same difficulties. They all wanted to have a place to call home in Zimbabwe, where they could enjoy a comfortable and secure life.
That’s when they came up with an idea: why not pool their resources and buy a large piece of land together, where they could build their own gated community? A gated community is a type of residential development that has controlled entrances and a closed perimeter of walls and fences, offering privacy and security to its residents. Khumalo and his friends had seen and experienced the benefits of living in gated communities in countries such as South Africa, Australia and the United Kingdom, where they had settled and worked for many years. They wanted to replicate that model in Zimbabwe, where gated communities are still rare and mostly reserved for the elite.
They formed a group of 16 former schoolmates, who all belonged to the same class at Mzinyathini High School, a school whose motto is “Izenzo kunge Mazwi”, meaning actions speak louder than words. They named their group Mzinyathini Gardens, after their alma mater, and started looking for a suitable land to buy. They found one in Kensington, a peri-urban farming area on the outskirts of Bulawayo, and negotiated a deal with the owner.
The project is still in progress, but Khumalo and his friends are optimistic and excited. They have already designed their individual houses, which will be built according to their preferences and budgets. They have also planned to have common facilities and amenities, such as a clubhouse, a swimming pool, a gym, a playground and a garden. They hope to create a friendly and harmonious neighbourhood, where they can reconnect with their roots and culture, and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the countryside.
“I wanted to buy land back home some time ago and to my surprise I discovered the prime land that I wanted in Bulawayo was actually expensive compared to here in South Africa but I asked myself if giving up on my dream to buy land at home was the right thing to do because of the challenges that I had faced and the answer was a no.
“For every challenge there is a solution and that’s when I decided to get in touch with my former classmates at Mzinyathini to share the challenges I was encountering in buying land at home and surprisingly they shared the same experiences.
“The 16 of us, although living in different countries around the world, decided to come together to buy a piece of land where we would build our homes and that’s when the idea of a gated community project came about,” explained Khumalo from his base in Cape Town.
