Vusumuzi Dube
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
BULAWAYO mayor, Councillor David Coltart recently met with officials from the city of Aberdeen in Scotland, as he works towards reviving the twinning arrangement the two cities engaged in.
Clr Coltart took advantage of his 40th wedding anniversary to meet with the officials where it was revealed that the Aberdeen has a Bulawayo Trust that has not been utilised for the past 20 years.
Town twinning, as an official relationship-builder, started in Europe after the Second World War. The idea was simple: Repair damaged relationships between France, Germany and the UK. Find towns that suffered during the wars and pair them. Then encourage people from these areas to meet, mix and get along.
The roots of the twinning arrangement between Bulawayo and Aberdeen can be traced back to the mid-1980s. The initiative was born out of a desire to strengthen ties between the people of Zimbabwe and Scotland, with a particular focus on promoting cultural, educational, and commercial exchanges.
Posting on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Clr Coltart revealed that he had met with Aberdeen’s Lord Provost David Cameron to discuss measures of reinvigorating the twinning arrangement.
He revealed that the two had discussed possible cooperation in sport, culture and green energy.
“The City of Aberdeen only has twinning agreements with five other cities throughout the world. The flag of Bulawayo adorns Aberdeen’s great hall and I was proud to represent it in my meeting with Aberdeen’s Lord Provost David Cameron when I met him today to discuss how we can reinvigorate the twining agreement entered into between our two great Cities over 30 years ago.
“The Lord Provost advised me that Aberdeen still has a Bulawayo Trust which has not been utilised for over 20 years. We discussed possible cooperation in sport, culture, green energy and Bulawayo acquiring Aberdeen equipment such as used fire engines in future. Our discussions will continue going forward but a good start has been made,” wrote the mayor.
Bulawayo has twinning arrangements with the Cities of Aberdeen in Scotland, eThekwini in South Africa and a memorandum of understanding with the City of Polokwane. Further, there have been a number of discussions with cities like Francistown of Botswana and Katima Mulilo of Namibia on possible arrangements with delegations from these cities visiting Bulawayo.
The twinning arrangement between Bulawayo and Aberdeen is by far the oldest arrangement Bulawayo has entered into having signed the agreement as far back as 4 June 1986.
One of the notable of takes from this partnership is the Operation Florian, which is a massive fire and humanitarian charity organisation based in the United Kingdom, which has seen the city’s fire and rescue operations rise to become the best in the country. The arrangement has huge roots in the partnership between Bulawayo and Aberdeen. To date BCC has benefited vehicles, equipment and materials valued at millions of United States Dollars.
Bongani Ndlovu