The Legacy of Bulawayo’s Beer Gardens: A Reflection on Colonial and Post-Colonial Urban Life
Once known as “Kontuthu Ziyathunqa” or “Smoke Rising,” Bulawayo was once the industrial heart of Zimbabwe, a city pulsating with the energy of its factories and the daily rhythm of its workers. However, over time, many of these industrial sites have fallen into disrepair, and the once-bustling flow of workers moving between the city center and the western suburbs has significantly slowed. Despite this decline, one intriguing remnant of the city’s colonial past continues to thrive in the older western neighborhoods—municipal beer halls and beer gardens.
These venues, originally constructed during the colonial era for African worker communities, were designed to regulate drinking and social activities while also generating revenue for township welfare. They played a significant role in shaping the social fabric of the townships, especially during the period of formal segregation that followed World War II. These spaces, though initially oppressive, evolved over time into vibrant hubs of community life.
From Beer Halls to Beer Gardens
One of the most famous beer halls in Bulawayo is MaKhumalo, also known as Big Bhawa, which was built in 1913 and still stands in the Makokoba neighborhood. In its early years, it was a stark and oppressive space, where patrons often felt like prisoners. However, by the 1950s, more picturesque beer gardens began to emerge, reflecting new ideas about social development and urban planning.
Hugh Ashton, an anthropologist who became the director of African administration in Bulawayo in 1949, played a key role in transforming these spaces. He believed that reformed beer systems could help create a more passive and productive urban working class. His vision included constructing beer garden complexes with trees, games facilities, food stalls, and events such as traditional dancing. These spaces were meant to be both convivial and controllable, encouraging broader participation while maintaining order.
Industrial Brewing and Community Spaces
The names of many beer gardens, such as MaMkhwananzi and MaNdlovu, reference the traditional role of women in beer brewing in southern Africa. This helped legitimize the council’s “home brew.” However, the reality was that the beer was produced in a large industrial brewery, managed by a Polish man, and delivered in trucks to steel tanks atop the dispensary buildings. It was then piped down into plastic mugs at small bar windows, or sold in calabashes and cartons.
These beer gardens also provided rare opportunities for African men to attain higher-grade public sector jobs. As the townships expanded, the sales of the council’s “traditional” beer increased, supported by extensive advertising in the council’s free magazine, which mixed symbols of tradition with those of modern middle-classness.
The Beer Monopoly System
The success of the beer system relied on the Bulawayo council having a monopoly on the sale of so-called “native beer.” This traditional brew, made from sorghum, millet, or maize, was restricted to African access under racialized liquor laws. The beer halls and gardens were the only legal venues for Africans to drink, except for a small elite who had access to exclusive cocktail lounges.
This system, while profitable, was deeply controversial. It caused resentment among African townspeople and became politically charged. In several colonies, beer halls became sites of protest or were boycotted. In Bulawayo, the more the city council improved its beer system after World War II, the more contradictory it became. It encouraged mass consumption of “traditional” beer to fund “modern” health and welfare services, but this approach was seen as morally ambiguous by many.
After Independence
After Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, the township beer gardens remained under municipal control. They continued to be popular, even as racial desegregation allowed residents to access other social spaces. The colonial-era beers, such as Ngwebu (“The Royal Brew”), became patriotic beverages for the Ndebele majority.
However, with the deindustrialization of Bulawayo since the late 1990s, many blue-collar workers moved to South Africa, changing the city’s workforce dynamics. The old drinking rhythms have shifted, and younger generations find little appeal in the beer gardens. Many have been leased out to private individuals.
Despite this, the beer gardens still attract regulars, where friends and burial society members gather. Some play darts or pool, while others sit alone, perhaps reflecting on the past. These spaces embody the moral and practical contradictions of late colonial development, and their evolving meanings in the post-colony.
