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Flora Fadzai Sibanda recently in Bubi
COUNCIL of Chiefs president, Chief Mtshane Khumalo, has kick-started a project aimed at preserving cultural heritage and promoting tourism growth in his home area in Bubi District, Matabeleland North province.
This will be realised through building a culture centre that will tell the Zimbabwean story from Bubi while serving as a courtyard where Chief Mtshane will hold and also lead cultural activities with his subjects.
On Thursday, the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Cde Mangaliso Ndlovu, visited Chief Mtshane in Bubi and participated in the tree-planting programme, which is also part of the heritage and tourism dream project.
In his remarks, Chief Mtshane said he was excited by the minister’s visit and noted that planting trees was critical in enhancing environmental conservation in the community.
He said he was hopeful that a blend of cultural heritage and environmental conservation would attract tourists, and thus add more value to the community.
“I am really happy to see this dream coming to life, we have been talking about it for a long time now. The place is around a dam and some mountains, which I am sure tourists would like,” said the traditional leader.
“The place will also serve as a courtyard where we are going to be talking about all the problems that my community encounter and will go on to be a place where the elderly will advise the young people, especially girls on matters such as drugs and substance abuse and teenage pregnancies,” said Chief Mtshane.
He said so far, they have planted more than 100 trees at the centre, which include citrus fruit trees and wildlife fruit varieties.
In his remarks, Minister Ndlovu said he was pleased with the initiative by Chief Mtshane, which he said has unique approaches to incentivising protection of culture and the environment.
He said the Government would not hesitate to support all the initiatives proposed by the chief and is actually looking forward to seeing them coming to life.
“I hope the community will preserve the trees planted here today. Because this is a way of preserving our environment and promoting the vision that Chief Mtshane has for this place,” he said.
“Cultural centres are very important because they will always remind us of the importance of protecting our cultures.”
Cultural heritage preservation efforts feed into the domestic tourism drive being spearheaded by the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).
Last November, the ministry launched the Domestic Tourism Campaign dubbed #ZimBHO “Uripi/Ungaphi”, to encourage locals to consume their own tourism products and visit places of interest at the various tourist attractions across the country. —@flora_sibanda
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