Chronicle Editor
Raymond Jaravaza – [email protected]
NEWSPAPER vendor Bornface Ndlovu cannot count on both hands the number of times he witnesses pedestrians tripping over damaged pavements, stumbling or in worst-case scenarios falling, at a street corner he operates from on a daily basis.
For a man who spends the whole day, from as early as 6am until nightfall selling newspapers and other wares, nothing misses his eye at the corner of George Silundika and 10th Avenue.
Hundreds of people pass by his corner on any given day, going about their business while he serves customers that buy newspapers, sweets, soft drinks and cigarettes.
But one thing always catches his eye — unfortunate incidents that befall pedestrians passing by his business corner.
The sight of a pedestrian tripping over and stumbling from damaged pavement blocks is the order of the day and all Ndlovu can do is warn the unlucky pedestrian to be careful next time.
“Most people, especially the youth, are in the habit of playing music on their phones using earphones and are always distracted when walking along this pavement.
“And that’s when it happens. On a daily basis, I witness countless people tripping and almost falling after unwittingly kicking a damaged pavement block.
“The surfaces (pavement blocks) are now uneven as you can see over there where the pavements are damaged, making walking in most parts of the city a nightmare,” said Ndlovu.
Walking as it should be is a mundane task, putting one leg after the other at varying speeds depending on whether one is in a hurry or not yet in the city of Bulawayo, pedestrians have mastered the art of being cautious.
It’s no secret that the city’s road infrastructure is dilapidated and needs major work to bring the City of Kings back to its glory days.
While focus has been on the poor state of roads, infested with potholes, little attention has been given to the city’s pavements.
A snap survey by Saturday Chronicle paints a disturbing picture of the state of pavements in the city.
In the worst cases, some sections of the city’s pavements are completely missing, turning the city into a concrete jungle intertwined with dusty trails or glaring holes that collect pools of water during the rainy season.
At a street corner along Fort Street and 11th Avenue directly opposite the popular supermarket — TM Pick n’ Pay Hyper — a street vendor lamented that the city fathers may have abandoned city pavements.
“It seems the mayor (Solomon Mguni) and his team are not regular pedestrians so they are not aware of the state of the pavements.
“Just last week, an elderly woman tripped over that damaged pavement and fell on her knees.
Personally, I avoid walking on the pavements, I would rather walk next to the road and compete for space with vehicles,” Richard Choto, an airtime vendor said.
Bulawayo prides itself as an eco-friendly metropolitan whose streets are lined with jacaranda trees that turn the City of Kings into a purple skyline when they blossom.
Some of the trees are decades old while in some places, new trees are being planted along the streets, testament that Bulawayo is indeed an eco-friendly city.
But those jacaranda trees are somewhat turning out to be a curse with their powerful roots uprooting sections of pavements in the city centre.
Cutting the trees down is not an option as it will cause an uproar from environmentalists and the general public, said an engineer who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Just like roads, pavements also have a lifespan, which means the city council must attend to them after every 10 or so years.
“Those jacaranda trees are a legacy of the city, so cutting them down is a definite no. Trees take decades to grow but pavements can be fixed once in a while so the city fathers must simply do their job. It’s not rocket science but a simple issue of service delivery,” he said.
According to the 2022 Population and Housing Census, the city has a population of 643 000 residents.
Of the more than half-a-million residents that call Bulawayo home, thousands of feet walk on the city’s pavements on a daily basis either from school, work or any other business offered in the city.
“Some of the pavements have not been repaired or completely replaced for over 40 years so one can imagine the toll taken on them by the thousands of people that walk in the city centre every day.
“The road network was left to rot all these years and we are now only witnessing that through potholes; the same thing is happening to our pavements.
“Walking in the city centre will soon be a complete nightmare and residents will be asking what the City Council has been doing about the situation all these years,” added the engineer.
Bulawayo City Council spokesperson Nesisa Mpofu’s phone continuously rang unanswered on Friday morning when sought for a comment.
Along Sixth Avenue in an area congested by street vendors and pirate commuter omnibuses, it takes the brave to navigate on the pavements.
With vendors on either side of a single pavement, pedestrians are left with space barely a metre wide to walk on.
It’s not uncommon to see pedestrians walking with their eyes firmly fixated on the ground as they walk to avoid stepping on vendors’ wares and tripping over damaged pavement blocks.
Malvin Nkomo, a rank marshal had a word of advice for the Bulawayo City Council with regard to the deteriorating state of the pavements.
“Just like potholes, they (BCC) must erect signs written ‘beware of damaged pavements’ in the city centre,” quipped Nkomo.
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