Chronicle Editor
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE City of Bulawayo is seeking to create strong synergies with the Hwange Local Board (HLB) aimed at boosting economic activities in the two local authorities’ areas of jurisdiction.
This came out during a recent visit by Bulawayo councillors who constitute the city’s Business and Investment Committee and the Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube of various infrastructural development projects in Hwange.
In the latest HLB newsletter, City of Bulawayo Business and Investment Committee chairperson Councillor Mxolisi Mahlangu said there was a need for local authorities to work together to assist each other in growing economies in their areas as well as improving their operations.
“What prompted us to visit HLB was basically to build synergies with sister municipalities given that learning is bi-directional in that we can learn from a smaller municipality while it also learns a lot from us.
“The world itself has become integrated, it’s now more of a global village and it’s largely because of this that we realised working with HLB and the City of Victoria Falls, we tend to benefit immensely,” said Clr Mahlangu.
He said Bulawayo and areas in Matabeleland North Province have an opportunity to benefit immensely if the Trans-Limpopo Spatial Development Initiative (TSLDI) comes to fruition, while there was a need for local authorities to fully participate and ensure the planned inter-country trade expansion corridor becomes a reality.
Clr Mahlangu said Hwange and Victoria Falls were tourist destinations and they could use the development corridor (TSLDI) from Matabeleland North to Matabeleland South where there are tourist destinations such as Matopos as a snow-ball effect with Bulawayo taking advantage of providing accommodation.
“We learnt a lot on how much we stand to benefit from the development corridor and how mining activities have turned around the economic activities of Hwange and how it has managed to create more employment opportunities.”
In 2000, Zimbabwe and South Africa signed an agreement on the TSLDI, to establish a commercial corridor between the neighbouring country’s Limpopo Province and Matabeleland provinces.
Among its major components, the initiative is expected to pave the way for increased agri-businesses, eco-tourism and infrastructure development programmes.
Clr Mahlangu said Bulawayo would leverage on the realisation of TSLDI to enhance its status as the country’s cultural hub.
“Bulawayo is a cultural hub, whereas Hwange and Victoria Falls also have their culture with several ethnic groups. We can take advantage of this to showcase cultural diversities by having a cultural event, which will attract tourists from all over the world,” he said.
Cultural tourism is a type of travel in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the cultural attractions and products offered by a tourist destination.
These attractions and products relate to the intellectual, spiritual, and emotional features of a society that encompasses arts and architecture, cultural heritage, culinary heritage, literature, music, creative industries as well as the living cultures with their lifestyles, value systems, beliefs and traditions.
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) revived the Bulawayo Business Development Committee early this year.
According to the local authority, the key objectives of the Committee were the identification of development and investment opportunities in the city, the codification of special benefits, attractions and opportunities for prospective developers and investors and the dissemination of awareness to stimulate and motivate development and investment in the city.
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