CHIPINGE- The proposed United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe’s (UCCZ)
Gazaland University situated in Chipinge district is set to be constructed
following the official bricklaying ceremony held at the campus’ main site last
weekend.
Chairperson of the Interim University Council, Phillimon Mlambo said plans
were at an advanced stage for the construction of a composite administration
block that will house lecture rooms, lecture theatres, and library to get the
institution running.
“What we are set to do first is the administration block which is a composite
structure. It has got lecture rooms, lecture theatres, library and offices. If we get
that done the next stage will be looking at the expansion of lecture halls in other
faculties and so on,” he said.
He also said the university was open to private players and investors who would
like to partner the church in the construction of the university’s facilities and
other social amenities.
“Our main mandate as guided by the local authority is to construct the
functional buildings that make up and constitute tertiary learning facilities. We
are however open to invite investors who would like to assist in the construction
of complementary amenities such as sporting facilities, the kitchen and dining
hall as well as the on campus clinic,” said Mlambo
He further highlighted that as result of the district being severely affected by
earth tremours and tropical cyclones there was need to reinforce the foundation
and the footing of the building which may cost twice as much than normal
foundation laying.
“With the amount of work that we need to put into reinforcing the buildings
since the district is prone to several natural disasters such as cyclones and earth
tremors, I would like to say the administration block construction will cost close
to US$1 million to completion,” he added.
Mlambo said the university, born out of the church also wants to promote the
values of Christianity in tertiary education.
“Our commitment is to foster transformation, as a human being, as a
community, as a district and as a nation. When we look at such we look at a

person as whole, and I should note we not building a mission school but we are
going to build a university that anchors on our ethos of Christianity and our
ethos of making a person whole. That being said we appreciate the need for our
ministers and ministers from other denominations to be equipped, one of the
degree programmes that we are going to offer obviously is Theology and
Culture,” he said.
The university council has also engaged the United Baptist Church (UBC) to
assist in promoting the Counselling and Care Course with plans to upgrade the
diploma program currently being offered at UBC.
In 2002, the church acquired 120 hectares of land from Chipinge Town Council
for the construction of a university campus at its 5901 St Kelvin stand
The land was surveyed by a private surveyor withy construction plans approved
by the local authority.
Gazaland University becomes Manicaland’s third university after the Methodist
Church run pan African institution, Africa University and Manicaland State
University of Applied Sciences.