‘Government steps up Bulawayo revival efforts’

Vusumuzi Dube, [email protected]

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday said Government is stepping up efforts to revitalise Bulawayo as the country’s industrial hub with a number of major projects already in motion as the Second Republic continues to walk the talk in its development agenda.

A few years ago, the city’s industrial sector was on a sharp decline with a number of companies either closing or relocating to Harare, and rendering thousands of people in Bulawayo jobless.

However, with the coming in of the Second Republic and the introduction of a number of deliberate ease-of-doing-business policies, the past couple of years has seen a number of companies emerging from the red and growing their capacity utilisation.

Speaking during a star rally in Bulawayo’s Cowdray Park suburb, President Mnangagwa said their goal as the Second Republic is to have the city regain the “Ntuthu ziyathunqa” tag.

He said chief among the strategies that were being implemented was ensuring that the city gets reliable water supplies and electricity.

President Mnangagwa said one of the Second Republic’s milestone projects- the Lake Gwayi Shangani project is now 70 percent complete, with works on the pipeline already at an advanced state.

“In the past, we used to say koBulawayo koNtuthuziyathunqa, under the Second Republic we have comprehensive plans to revitalise Bulawayo as our country’s industrial hub. The first step is for us to ensure a reliable supply of water, and that is why we have Nyamandlovu Aquifer which was my first step,” he said.

“My second step is the Lake Gwayi Shangani project. We are building the dam which was designed in 1912 and it is only under the Second Republic that we are now constructing the dam.

Once complete, you will all wave goodbye to the water challenges.”
President Mnangagwa said the second issue is energy, and electricity.

“This why in 2018, I went to China and discussed with my brother President Xi Jinping and he extended to Zimbabwe a soft loan of US$1,3 billion and we built Hwange Unit 7 and 8, which is why we now have electricity,” he said.

“The Hwange Unit 7 and 8 upgrade project has added 600 kilowatts to the national grid which is why we have electricity and I will be commissioning it tomorrow (today).”

The President revealed that there are also plans to rehabilitate the Bulawayo Power Station so that it feeds into the national grid to help ensure the total elimination of load shedding.

President Mnangagwa also informed the gathering that he had since instructed the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Lands, Dr Anxious Masuka to drill 20 boreholes in the city of which eight had already been completed.

He revealed that as the Second Republic, they continued achieving a lot of milestones despite the country suffering from the effects of the Western-imposed sanctions.

“For the last three years Zimbabwe has been the fastest growing economy in Sadc despite sanctions, we are building our country on the basis of our own domestic resources.

For 23 years we have had sanctions and for 23 years we have not received any foreign support or foreign lines of credit, but we have developed our country on the basis of the resources which the Lord above gave us,” said President Mnangagwa.

“When the Second Republic came to office, if you went to any supermarket, only 35 percent of the products in the supermarket were produced in Zimbabwe but today after five years under the Second Republic, 80 percent of products in any supermarket are produced here.”

President Mnangagwa said what was important was for all Zimbabweans to realise that a nation can only be built by its people.

“I want to commend our people in the diaspora, many of our people now remember that they have a home.

They come and have realised that they were born in this great country and people in the diaspora, I say to you continue being patriotic and remember where you come from, where you are, is not your home, but you are visitors, so remember where your mother gave birth to you and that is Zimbabwe,” he said.

“There are three principles you must teach your children, a country must be built by its own people, must be prayed for by its own people and it must be ruled by its own people. In infrastructure development, dams, roads, construction of buildings; schools, clinics and universities, these are all issues which the Second Republic is seized with and is doing.”

The President also touched on a number of projects that have been achieved by the Second Republic, these ranging from the Beitbridge border post upgrading, where he revealed that they are also in the process of upgrading the other border posts in the country to rehabilitation works taking place at the Beitbridge-Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road and the Beitbridge-Masvingo-Harare-Chirundu road.

“Because most of the Urban Councils are under the opposition and the opposition has no capacity to administer, my government has intervened and has done the roads rehabilitation of roads in most of the big cities.

“Under the Second Republic, we have since got rid of any fuel queues. With transport, we have not finished we still have to add more buses so that people can be transported on time.

We have changed our education so that our boys and girls have an education that produces products and services. We have introduced innovation hubs in every State Universities.

At NUST we are building an industrial park where talented boys and girls can translate their dreams and be productive,” he said.

President Mnangagwa said the Second Republic will continue with its “friends to all and enemy to none mantra”

He, however, noted that for countries that chose to be Zimbabwe’s enemy, there is nothing they would do about it.

“On International relations, last week, I came back from the Russia-Africa Summit. Our relations with Russia are strong and tested. We related when we were supported by Russia during the liberation struggle.

“After Independence, we have continued to strengthen our relations with such countries as Russia, China, Cuba, India, and Brazil, these are the countries who supported us and we will not forget them for supporting us to remove colonialism and imperialism,” said President Mnangagwa.

“Our philosophy under the Second Republic is that Zimbabwe is a friend to all and an enemy to none but those who chose to be our enemies there is nothing we can do about it.

The Japanese built Japan, the Chinese built China, the Germans built Germany, the Americans built America and the British built their British Island.

So we Zimbabweans must build our own country, no country will build another country,” added the President.