Government Backs Mbizi Police Post Heritage Project

By Talent Chimutambgi, Senior Writer — Southerton Business Times HARARE — August 20, 2026

Plans to transform the historic Mbizi Police Post in Highfields, Harare, into a national liberation heritage site have gained fresh momentum following a Government delegation’s tour of the former colonial detention facility. The delegation was led by Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Permanent Secretary Dr Takaruza Munyanyiwa and included senior museum and heritage officials, as well as Southerton Constituency Community Development Trust (SCCDT) chairman Andrew Makahamadze.

The visit comes after earlier efforts by the Zimbabwe Republic Police and SCCDT to rehabilitate Mbizi Police Post. In March 2025, The Herald reported that the facility had been rehabilitated and recognised as a liberation heritage site after SCCDT secured approval for a US$10 000 contribution towards renovations. Mbizi is historically significant because it served as a detention centre for African nationalists during the colonial period. The recent delegation was shown detention cells, concrete structures and other features associated with the facility's history, including sanitation arrangements and a torture bench.

For Makahamadze, preserving the site is about ensuring that future generations can encounter liberation history through physical evidence rather than relying exclusively on textbooks or oral accounts. In a 2025 letter reported by the Southern Business Times, Makahamadze described Mbizi as being of “paramount importance” because of its history, including the incarceration of liberation stalwarts such as former President Robert Mugabe.

The heritage initiative also places Mbizi within the wider historical significance of Highfields, a township that became an important centre of African nationalist mobilisation before Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. Historical accounts describe the suburb as a major centre of nationalist activity, with prominent figures including Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe associated with the area.

The Government's involvement could eventually see Mbizi incorporated into a wider Highfields liberation heritage tourism trail, linking locations associated with nationalist mobilisation, political organisation and colonial repression. Such an approach would be consistent with UNESCO guidance, which emphasises authenticity, community participation and sustainable tourism in the management of heritage destinations. UNESCO says local communities should be involved in planning and management and should benefit economically from heritage tourism.

UNESCO has also stressed the importance of protecting the authenticity and integrity of Zimbabwe's heritage sites, lessons that could prove relevant as plans for Mbizi develop. The proposed development could create opportunities for heritage tourism in Harare, school visits, historical research, guided tours, exhibitions, oral-history projects and community enterprises. However, significant work remains, including historical documentation, structural assessment, conservation, interpretation and securing sustainable funding.

For Highfields, the project represents an opportunity to preserve a physical reminder of the sacrifices associated with Zimbabwe's liberation struggle. If successfully developed, Mbizi Police Post could evolve from a former symbol of colonial repression into a centre for education, remembrance, liberation history and heritage tourism in Zimbabwe.

Mbizi Police Post heritage site