Makokoba

Also known as Makhokhoba, Old Location, eMakhokhoba.

Bulawayo's oldest African township, east of the city centre, named after an early official who walked with a stick.

Makokoba is where African Bulawayo began. It was the city’s first township, known for years simply as the Old Location, built under a colonial system that decided where Black residents could and could not live. Much of what made Bulawayo’s African life grew up here: football, music, theatre and politics.

The name comes from a man and his walking stick. An early official called Fallon went about the township on foot, and residents called him umakhokhoba — the little old man who walks with a stick. The word carries the sound of it: the ko-ko-ko of a stick striking the ground, or knocking at a door.

Other tellings

The story of the stick is told almost everywhere, with small differences about who the man was:

• The Herald (Mabikwa, 2024) calls Mr Fallon the township’s first Superintendent. It explains the word through owayekokobele, someone stooped or bent over, as well as the “ko-ko-ko” of the stick.
• Wikipedia calls him the Native Commissioner, and gives the verb ukukhokhoba, meaning to bend over and walk with a stick.

All the tellings agree on the man, the stick and the sound. They differ on his job. We have not found Fallon in any contemporary source, and would like to.

The place

Stanley Hall and Stanley Square were built here in 1936 by the African Welfare Society, and for decades were at the centre of sport and politics in African Bulawayo. In 1960 the City Council’s own account of the townships showed a photograph captioned “Paddling pool in one of the townships (Makokoba).” The footballers Adam, Madinda and Peter Ndlovu come from Makokoba, as do the Amakhosi theatre and Siyaya dance companies.

What we don’t know yet

Makokoba deserves far more than a paragraph. We would like to hear from anyone who grew up here: the beer halls and the market, Stanley Square on a match day or a rally day, the churches, the music. Photographs of Makokoba before 1980 are rare. If your family has any, we would be honoured to see them.