Matabeleland area has important gold deposits. Industries include gold and other mineral mines, and engineering. There has been a decline in the industries in this region as water is in short supply. Promises by the government to draw water for the region through the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project have not been carried out. The region is allegedly marginalised by the government. Around the 10th and 11th centuries the Bantu-speaking Bakalanga arrived from the south and settled in Mapungubwe on the Limpopo and Shashi river valleys. Later they moved north to Great Zimbabwe. By the 15th century, the Bakalanga had established a
Apostolic Prefecture of Zambesia and polygamy. The missions concentrated on providing education although this was hampered by a number of physical difficulties, although the introduction of railways meant that more mission stations could be established. As well as the Jesuits and the Sisters of St. Dominic the other Catholic missionaries included the Missionaries of Mariannhill, the Sisters of Notre Dame and the Sisters of the Precious Blood Apostolic Prefecture of Zambesia The Zambesi Mission was a Catholic prefecture division in Rhodesia. The prefecture comprised all Rhodesia south of the Zambesi River, that part of Bechuanaland which is north of the Tropic of Capricorn and