Online Reporter
Vusumuzi Dube, Deputy Radar Editor
The City of Bulawayo is set to formalise a sister-city relationship with the City of Francistown in Botswana, following renewed efforts to revive cooperation talks that date back more than a decade.
This was revealed in the latest council report presented by the Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube, which outlined progress towards the signing of a twinning agreement between the two cities.
According to the report, Bulawayo has been pursuing a sister-city partnership with Francistown since 2014, when the Botswana city conducted a benchmarking visit to Zimbabwe’s second-largest city.
“The City of Bulawayo had been pursuing a relationship for a Sister City partnership with the City of Francistown from as far back as 2014 when the leadership of Francistown held a benchmarking visit to Bulawayo,” the report reads.
During that visit, the two cities agreed to explore areas of cooperation and strengthen twinning processes. Another engagement followed in October 2016, where both parties agreed to work towards a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise the relationship. However, momentum later stalled.
The report noted that discussions were revived in November 2025 when Francistown re-engaged Bulawayo, leading to an online meeting where both cities presented their profiles and identified potential areas of cooperation.
A delegation from Francistown, led by Mayor His Worship Honourable Gaone Majere and Acting Town Clerk Ms Pedzani Selwana-Mahama, visited Bulawayo from 22 to 26 April 2026.
During the visit, the delegation held consultations with Bulawayo officials and toured key facilities including the Bulawayo Chambers SME Maker Space, Kelvin Factory Shells, Famona Fire Station, and the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair grounds.
The council report said discussions identified several areas of cooperation, including economic development, trade and investment; service delivery and municipal administration; tourism; governance and institutional strengthening; youth development, education and sports; agriculture; health; cultural relations; and administration and professional development.
The meeting also noted the need for an implementation matrix and action plan to guide the twinning arrangement, as well as project-specific agreements following the signing of the MoU.
“It was also agreed that the two cities should sign a Memorandum of Understanding to formalise the cooperation and also develop project-specific agreements following the signing of the MoU,” the report stated.
The MoU will establish a collaborative framework to promote mutual development, exchange of ideas, and structured cooperation in areas of common interest.
“The purpose of the MoU would be to establish a collaborative framework between the two Cities and ensure the process of forging mutually beneficial relations,” the report said.
The agreement is expected to strengthen cooperation in key sectors including economic development, governance, tourism, health, agriculture, and cultural relations.
Council further resolved that Bulawayo will be represented at the signing ceremony by Mayor Councillor David Coltart, Town Clerk Mr Dube, Chamber Secretary Mrs Sikhangele Zhou, and members of the technical committee on twinning, including Linda Sibindi, Bongiwe Ngwenya, and Bukhosi D Mpofu, as well as the councillor responsible for twinning.
It was also resolved that council will cover travel, accommodation, subsistence and incidental allowances for the delegation in the usual manner.
