The name "Tsholotsho" (old spelling "Tjolotjo") being derived from the San word "Tsoro o tso" meaning the head of an elephant.

[citation needed] It was part of the Kingdom of Butua and the king or mambo madlimbewu or dlimbewu was based at Khami at the time.

Mzilikazi loved the vast grazing land and left it under the watchful eyes of one of his trusted paramount chiefs, Maqhekeni Sithole, when he moved to Matopo to meet up with the rest of the Ndebele group.

It has been an administrative centre for the trust land for many years and fell under the jurisdiction of the Native Commissioner for Nyamandlovu who first assumed responsibility in 1909.

The soils around the precincts of the village are regosols derived from Kalahari sands and shallow rocky basalt-derived pockets are to be found in the district.

There is a belt of alluvium along the Gwayi river which has led numerous prospectors in the search of minerals and precious and semi-precious stones.

An industrial school was founded at Mavela in 1921 by H. S. Keigwin, who also had a hand in establishing a similar institution at Domboshawa in Mashonaland the following year.

The original course was designed by E. D. Alvord, who was then an agricultural missionary at Mount Selinda, where he had started instructing African students on similar lines in 1920.

After the college was transferred to Essexvale, the vacated land was used as an experimental substation of the Matopos Research Station, where the work is primarily concerned with the breeding of indigenous Nkone or 'Nguni' cattle.

[2] Tsholotsho is home to three ethnic groups, these being the Ndebele, Kalanga (along the Manzamnyama river) and the San (closer to the Hwange national park.

The Kalahari sands are surprisingly good for cattle rearing though they need massive investment in terms of reliable water provision and disease prevention.

The road passes through Madona, Dumbo,Mapulubusi,Nembe, Jimila, Tshino, Mcetshwa, Sipepa Business Centre, Gwayi Siding all the way to the Bulawayo – Victoria Falls highway.

The first branch is a road to Plumtree passing through Ehampeni, Mhlahlo, Emlotheni, Dinyane, Mbamba, Bubude, Matshangane and other villages.

Another branch heads as far as Phelandaba passing through Magotsha Somgqibe Mazibisa Dlamini Mswigana Somlotha and other notable villages.

The district was then divided into two constituencies of Tsholotsho South and North with Moyo (independent) narrowly retaining the latter while Maxwell Dube of the MDC winning the former in the 2008 harmonised elections.