Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Zimpapers Elections Desk
ZANU-PF local authority candidate for Bulawayo’s Ward 18, Cde Sikhanyiso Manyathela has said there is a need for residents to push for the restoration of the city to its former pride of being the country’s industrial hub.
The country goes for harmonised elections on Wednesday and Bulawayo is largely guaranteed to have new faces in the council chambers after a majority of the incumbent councillors fell by the wayside during the parties’ candidate selection process. In an interview with Zimpapers last Friday, Cde Manyathela said one of her major goals once in council chambers was ensuring the restoration of the city’s pride. She noted that beer gardens were once the pride of the city but were now a pale shadow of their former self.
“I moved to Bulawayo in 1980, staying here in Magwegwe, where I attended Mhali Primary School and Magwegwe Secondary School. I remember we once went for a school trip to a farm in the Khami area where they used to grow sorghum, that sorghum was then used by Ingwebu Breweries to produce opaque beer, which was distributed to beer gardens around the city.
“However, today where are the beer gardens, what happened to the successful farms that were operational around the city in the 1980s. Beer gardens have now been turned into flea markets, some have turned into a place where people play social soccer while others have just turned into white elephants,” said Cde Manyathela.
“Let us not forget that those very beer gardens were the cash cow of the city, providing funds to fix our roads, sewer system and even water delivery systems.”
Cde Manyathela bemoaned the overall state of the city, noting that the opposition was grossly failing the people of Bulawayo with the roads in a dilapidated state, perennial water challenges and raw sewage flowing on the roads, unattended.
“Our children are falling sick because of the flowing raw sewage, what is really happening within our city. It honestly seems those at Tower Block do not even care of this. We do not even have water within our houses, this all points to the failures of our local authority.
“Let us honestly look at what the opposition has done since they began running the council in Bulawayo in the 2000s,” said the aspiring councillor.
She revealed she was inspired to run for the council office by President Mnangagwa’s mantra that a nation is built by its people where she believed that a community should be built and fixed by the people who live in that community.
“I have stayed in Magwegwe West since 14 April 1980 to date, I am familiar with all the problems which we are facing within this community. When I first moved here there were roads, right now we no longer have roads, roads are dilapidated, yet we have people who say they are in council.
“When I assume office, I will take all the problems being faced in the ward and in other areas such as Pelandaba West and Pumula. In 1980 we had refuse compactors and we all knew when they would go around the suburbs collecting refuse but right now, we no longer have those refuse compactors, instead we have trucks belonging to individuals,” said the aspiring councillor.
Cde Manyathela revealed that she was a strong advocate for women empowerment and would work towards the establishment of projects meant for the girl child and women, ensuring that they were able to fend for their families.
“To the young girls and women, I will not abandon you. I have been facilitating nurse aid training, helping them open community gardens. Women empowerment is my passion and I will continue with this once in office, ensuring that I push for major projects targeted at the girl child and our women.
“What I have always said is that a woman is the community, for the community to remain intact and develop, the woman’s touch is required. So, as women let us stand up and play our part in ensuring that we are at the core of uplifting our families and communities at large,” she said.
Cde Manyathela said some of these empowerment projects that she will embark on include the establishment of women led factories that will see them being able to export products which they produced locally.
“We have already trained in bead work, once in office, I will fight to ensure that they get their factory space, which will assist them to be able to export their products thereby empowering them and their families.
“We want to see locally produced products being promoted here in the city, not having us having an influx of foreign products when we can easily produce the very products,” she said.
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