Kwekwe Company (ZISCO), the country's largest steelworks. It also hosts the Zimbabwe Iron and Smelting Company (ZIMASCO), the largest ferrochrome producer, and one of the biggest power generating plants, ZESA-Munyati, in Munyati, a suburb of Kwekwe. Kwekwe is Zimbabwe's richest city in terms of minerals. Kwekwe town was founded in 1898 as a gold mining town, and hosts Zimbabwe's National Mining Museum. The town remains an industrial centre of the country. The name stems from the Zulu word "isikwekwe", which means "scurvy", "mange" or "scab". Popular belief states that Kwekwe is named after the croaking noise made by the nearby river's
Kwekwe-Gokwe Highway Manzamunyama and Navata are very slippery during rainy seasons. Zhombe-Silobela Road branches left at Zhombe Joel and it is a 39.5 km long gravel road. It passes through Gwenzi, Mavuli, Hwida, Ntabeni then joins Luveve-Silobela Road (Kwekwe-Nkai Road) 8.7 km short of Gweru River bridge and 24 km short of Crossroads Growth Point. Loreto Mission is just less than 1 km from Gweru River Bridge. From Zhombe Joel this road has unclear routes to Exchange Irrigation Scheme but local people use various secondary roads to the scheme. branches left at Fafi shopping center, before Ngondoma river and it feeds Ntombankala