Aaron Gono
Shashe river separates Masvingo and Midlands provinces. It lies nearly 70km from the north of Masvingo town.
Barely a month passes without witnessing a deadly accident at the scene. Gonawapotera is the name given to the pool that lies at Shashe river bridge. The late Mordecai Hamutyinei, a famous Shona novelist wrote about it in his novel ” Gonawapotera.”
Gonawapotera was said to be a pool where criminals met their deaths during ancient times; big stones were tied on their legs and thrown into the pool. Now some fortune seekers use it as a source of getting power and riches there. Only in 2024, the pool dried up in August and in early October, the pool replenished itself with water, before the onset of rains.
In Shona we say ” panoyera” or it’s a scared place. And you can feel it when you are walking on top of the bridge. On Thursday morning ( 23/04/ 26), two trucks side swapped at the bridge, when avoiding hitting a cattle drawn scotch-cart. Unfortunately, the truck going the direction of Masvingo, hit the cart by its trailer, resulting in the death of Albert Maribha of Chaka village. Maribha was leading the cattle drawn cart. His friend who was sitting inside the cart was seriously injured and is now admitted at Mvuma District Hospital.Â
Last year the Ministry of Transport, built humps at Chaka township, to minimize accident related deaths, which was caused by speeding motorists. The township lies about 1.km from Shashe river. But due to lack of not observing road signs by some drivers, the humps are now causing accidents to motorists. So, Chaka township remains the old accident prone scene.
