Thuli River

The Thuli is an ephemeral river, with declining annual unit runoff. Its major tributaries include the Mtshabezi, Mtshelele, Sengezane river and Mwewe rivers. Below Thuli-Makwe Dam, the Thuli is a sand filled channel, with alluvial aquifers in the river channel. == Towns ==

The Thuli River passes through no major settlements, only the following business centres: • Freda Mine • Guyu • Manama • Chelesa, Zimbabwe [Sengezane] == Bridges and crossings ==

There are five main bridges over the Mzingwane River: • Bridge on Old Gwanda Road, between Matombo Mission and Blanket Mine. • Bridge on Gwanda - Kezi road, below Thuli-Makwe Dam. • Elliot Bridge, upstream of Guyu. • Bridge on Manama - Kafusi road. • Mankonkoni Bridge on Tuli - Kafusi road. This bridge was destroyed by Cyclone Eline. There are also a number of fords and crossing points, including: • Ntalale causeway, which was badly damaged by Cyclone Eline. • Causeway below Thuli gorge == Development ==

In addition to a number of small weirs, there is one major dam on the Thuli River: • Thuli–Makwe Dam, west of Gwanda. It is located near the confluence with the Mtshelele River and supplies water for irrigation. The Mtshabezi River (the principal left-bank tributary) is dammed at Mtshabezi, Sheet and Blanket. Mtshabezi Dam will augment the water supply for the City of Bulawayo, once a connecting pipeline has been completed. Sheet and Blanket Dams supply water to the City of Gwanda and Blanket and Vubachikwe Mines. Two additional dam sites have been selected further downstream: • Thuli–Moswa, where no development has taken place. • Thuli–Manyange, upstream of Elliot Bridge, where construction was briefly started in 2007 but is now halted. == References ==