Declaration of National Monument Tere raMakate National Monument

The Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage has redeclared Mutoko Ruins as a national monument under a new name, Tere raMakate.

The site sits in Mutoko Rural District Council, about 150 kilometres north-east of Harare in Mashonaland East Province, 3 km off the Harare–Nyamapanda highway.

Two things change together. The name changes from Mutoko Ruins to Tere raMakate, and the boundaries are redefined. The new site covers 16 000 square metres, described as a circle circumscribing the ruins hill and extending further westwards, and fixed by twenty-one UTM survey points (A through U in zone 36K) listed in the instrument.

Declaration as a national monument brings the site under the protection of the National Museums and Monuments Act. In practice that means excavation, alteration, damage or removal of anything from the site, and development within the declared boundary, require the authority of National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe.

Landowners, farmers and developers near the ruins hill should check the coordinates rather than rely on the old boundary — the extension westwards means the protected area is not the same shape it was.