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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Beitbridge Town Council has started working on the naming of streets, suburbs and business centres in compliance with the directive of the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.
Town secretary Mr Loud Ramakgapola said in an interview after a stakeholders’ consultation meeting last Friday that the programme was being carried out under provisions of the Urban Council Act.
“We have held a number of consultative meetings with the senior citizens, local legislators and other stakeholders where we have come up with various names which we have recommended for adoption by our full council,” he said.
“The names will then be send to the Minister of Local Government for adoption. At the moment we have one suburb (Dulibadzimu) and the roads in the high density suburb are not named. It’s high time we address that issue.”
Mr Ramakgapola said the town was rapidly growing and that it was prudent for them to organise it in line with modern development standards.
He said the town had more than 6 000 occupied properties in the high density suburbs.
Mr Ramakgapola said the naming of the streets and suburbs will help the local authority to improve on service delivery, especially the provisions of social amenities.
Beitbridge East legislator and Minister of State for National Security Kembo Mohadi said in an interview that the naming of the suburbs, streets and business centres would give an identity to people in Beitbridge.
“There is always something unique about each area or place in terms of culture and identity and hence we have to maintain our culture and identity as the Beitbridge community,” he said.
“The town is developing at a fast rate and we need to put more focus on both social and industrial development. It is of paramount importance that we modernise the town and also jealously guard our culture.”
In his directive to the local authority, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Saviour Kasukuwere noted that in previous years, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would encounter difficulties in demarcating boundaries owing to the lack of street names and house numbers.
“In undertaking this exercise, the council should select neutral names, divest of any political or anti-social connotations/innuendoes,” he said.
“To this end, naming of roads, in honour of undeclared heroes/heroines or living personalities save for the President Cde Robert Mugabe will not be acceptable.”
Online Reporter