[2] The school was originally founded in 1922 by the Salvation Army, with Captain Leonard Kirby as superintendent and ensign Kunzvi Shava as native teacher.

[1]: 96 After its establishment, the school offered courses in English, arithmetic, and writing to the Shona people of the Hwata dynasty who occupied the land around Pearson farm.

In the 1930s the Salvation Army at the Pearson Farm had been surrounded by white farmers who resented the presence of the school and its black students on land they wanted for themselves.

[1]: 97 By 1953, religious organizations were responsible for 98 percent of all elementary education in Rhodesia and the Salvation Army was sixth in the number of students with 14,600, behind the Dutch Reformed Church, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist (U.K.), and Methodist Episcopal (U.S.) churches.

Form Two students at Mazowe sit for the Salvation Army Schools Association General Certificate Examination (SASA GCE) in their third term.

[4] At Mazowe Boys High School more than 75% of the student body is involved in some physical or extracurricular activity.