BCC lures diaspora community

THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) is formulating a diaspora policy to engage Zimbabweans living abroad, aiming to leverage their financial resources for local development while addressing challenges in fund mobilisation for investments.

This initiative aligns with the Government’s ongoing efforts to create a national diaspora policy, acknowledging the critical role diasporans play in the country’s development.

Diaspora remittances are among Zimbabwe’s top foreign currency earners, contributing US$1,8 billion last year. Many diasporans have already invested in properties back home, prompting the BCC to recognise their potential further.

Speaking during the city’s master plan presentation last Thursday, Bulawayo town clerk Mr Christopher Dube explained that the new policy would formalise the council’s interactions with the diaspora community.

“We have a population of over 3 million people in South Africa, and over half a million in the United Kingdom and other Western cities. People now want to come back to Bulawayo to invest and there has always been some enquiries,” said Mr Dube.

He noted that past attempts by diasporans to pool funds for local investments often led to disputes. To avoid such issues, the council plans to be more directly involved, ensuring that contributions are properly managed.

“We are planning to seriously engage the diaspora. Initially, we advised them to form cooperatives or pool their funds together, but disputes over money arose. They now want the local authority to be at the centre stage,” said Mr Dube.

“There was one such scheme that they started but in no time they started quarrelling over money. To do this we have suggested that we should come up with a diaspora policy for the city so that we know how exactly we are going to be in the thick of things.”

Mr Dube said the council has delayed introducing its diaspora policy as the Government is in the process of crafting the country’s Diaspora Policy.

“We want the national policy to be developed so that we can adapt it. We cannot ignore our diaspora—those are our people, and they want to come back. If we put the right policies they will come back and we will have the numbers that are required,” he said.

Mr Dube also urged the business community to seize opportunities in the housing sector, as the city faces a backlog of over 140 000 housing units. The council has resorted to private contractors for stand servicing due to limited financial capacity.

The private sector then recoups its investment in the selling stands.

“Let me challenge the business community that other than the infrastructure such as factories and industries which of course is not operating at full throttle, we have a big shortfall in housing and that is the area in which we must concentrate,” said Mr Dube.

“Let’s build houses so that we can create a bigger population, so that we create business. Our housing waiting list stands at over 140 000, there is a housing market.”

Despite concerns about the cost of stands, Mr Dube emphasised that Bulawayo’s rates are more affordable than those in other municipalities.

He said residents should grab the available stands as they can be accessed even by those who are not residents in the city as long as they can afford them.

Additionally, BCC has introduced an affirmative action policy aimed at supporting local companies in tender processes. Mr Dube encouraged local contractors to improve their bidding skills and reassured them of the council’s commitment to prioritising local businesses in tenders.

The policy aims to ensure that local companies are competitive and that local investment is prioritised alongside foreign contributions.

“We support local contractors, when we are talking of business we cannot talk about investment without talking about local investment.

“The problem is that we are operating within a certain framework, that we need to advertise and our people must learn how to bid tenders,” he said.

“It is our duty as a local authority to educate our local contractors on how to bid successfully. We have even come up with a policy to say, that if there is a tender and if our local company loses by a certain margin, we can catapult them to the first place.

We have an affirmative action policy like that to support the local industry.” — @nqotshili