Chronicle Editor
Vincent Gono, News Editor
PLAGUED by lack of infrastructure development, water challenges, investment flight leading to closure of industries and growth of informal sector with no proper workspaces, a general untidiness making cholera, typhoid and dysentery quite fashionable, Bulawayo was fast becoming a fading shadow of its old self.
The moniker City of Kings and Queens that depicted a wholesome palace environment that the city was known for with its unique architecture and spacious clean streets had been overtaken by piles of uncollected garbage, pothole littered roads even in the Central Business District, unruly touts and unregulated vending activities at every corner.
Those politically entrusted with the running of city affairs seemed content, at ease and at peace with the deteriorating standards of the once cleanest city in the country. Yes, they had no clue how to arrest and stop investment flight just as they have been watching the water crisis that now looks normal and yet it’s a result of lack of foresight and planning ahead on the part of successive councils.
It had to take the intervention of the Central Government to save Bulawayo from sinking deeper into the jaws of a political hydra by responding to the water and infrastructure development challenges.
A more than a century permanent water pipedream for Bulawayo — the Zambezi Water Project that had been touted but never really took off, may well be a signature project of President Mnangagwa’s administration in the region.
His revered legacy will be that of wetting the thirsty throat of Matabeleland Region ending years of political bickering and bringing back the investment lost to the shortage of the precious liquid in the region. He will be credited for not playing politics with development and for his hatred of the bambazonke thinking that only creates a primate city concept that peripherises other cities outside the capital.
Minister for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Bulawayo Cde Judith Ncube said in an interview that there is both a strong political will and undiluted commitment by President Mnangagwa’s administration to develop not only Bulawayo but the rest of the country as part of his vision 2030.
She said the thrust on development of basic infrastructure that improves the lives of citizens was so close to President Mnangagwa’s heart, adding that he had been serious and consistent in ending perceived marginalisation of certain areas in the geography of the country as evidenced by the number of projects that his Government had embarked on.
“The emphasis is on development of infrastructure that makes life easier for the ordinary citizens. I can tell you the president has been very serious and consistent about that. We have therefore seen a number of projects in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province and the country as a whole that feed into his dream of having an upper-middle-income economy by 2030,” said Minister Ncube in an interview with Sunday News at her Mhlanhlandlela Government COmplex offices.
She says the Second Republic has provided answers to most of Bulawayo’s problems that are centred but not limited to water.
“I would say the Lake Gwayi-Shangani project has been the masterstroke of the Second Republic’s response to water problems not only in Bulawayo but in the Matabeleland Region as a whole. Water is life and its absence stifles a lot in terms of basic human life functionality. You will agree with me that the issue of water had presented a headache to the citizens of the region.
“Its expected availability after President Mnangagwa actualised the Gwayi-Shangani dream that had taken an eternity in the previous political administration will go into the annals of history where his name will be remembered for leading a development crusade that ended Matabeleland’s thirsty,” she said.
Minister Ncube added that with availability of water from Lake Gwayi- Shangani, Bulawayo was expected to be able to attract investment in various sectors while agricultural produce is anticipated to increase in town from the greenbelt of irrigation schemes that are going to be established.
“There are endless opportunities that are going to improve the lives of people in and around town. We are really grateful for the development,” she said.
The minister hailed the Second Republic’s infrastructure development agenda that has seen the construction of a newly completed Cowdray Park Health Centre which she said would go a long way in easing health services care in the sprouting Cowdray Park suburb.
She said the health centre comes in handy for residents who have been made to travel to the already congested Mpilo Central Hospital and the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH). The new 20-bed Cowdray Park Health Centre is furnished with state-of-the-art equipment as part of Government’s efforts to improve access to quality health services.
It is part of the 30 health facilities being constructed by the Government through a US$200 million loan facility from the United Kingdom.
“We are forever grateful to the Second Republic for the Cowdray Park clinic. Residents will no longer travel long distances to access health care. The residents are happy, they are so proud of what the government has done.
“Prior to its construction, residents were getting healthcare at a clinic near Cowdray Park terminus that is very small. People would spend a lot of time in the queue before being attended and some would resort to go to Mpilo or UBH which are referral hospitals and therefore serve a lot more people,” said Minister Ncube.
The clinic comes in handy as Cowdray Park suburb has grown exponentially in population surpassing towns such as Gwanda at a time when the population of Bulawayo has generally been stagnant, increasing by a mere 12 000 in the past decade, according to the 2022 Population Census results.
Minister Ncube paid tribute to the Government for entering into Private-Public -Partnership (PPP) that saw the construction of the Nust student hostels to solve student accommodation woes that they have been living with for a number of years.
She said 33 949 farmers benefited from the Presidential Inputs Scheme and a number of them were revelling in a bountiful harvest after they took up the Intwasa/Pfumvudza farming concept introduced by the Second Republic in response to food security issues affecting even the urban communities.
“We also have the electronic-passport rollout. We were among the first provinces to have that as part of government’s move to decentralise access to civil documents in line with devolution and our residents have been benefiting from it with more than 2 160 passports having been issued already.
“I can also tell you that we have done 36 x 6km of roads under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) where roads such as Siyepambili and Intemba Roads are being worked on. This programme is meant to make our roads trafficable after realising that they are now littered with potholes and the City Council has not been doing much in fixing them,” she said.
The minister added that the Government had also constructed extra classroom blocks at Mandwandwe, Pumula South Secondary School and Cowdray Park in addition to upgrading of Thorngrove Hospital, the opening of Ekusileni Hospital that had taken forever as well as equipping schools with various ICT gadgets.
“We have also seen women and youths benefiting from the First Lady’s Angel of Hope programmes in collaboration with Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) where 2500 women and youths in Bulawayo underwent training in various empowerment projects such as detergent making, ICT, nurse aid, counselling, art and craft and many more,” she said.
The Provincial Minister highlighted the Second Republic’s commitment to see Bulawayo reclaiming its status as the country’s industrial hub saying she hoped the investors in various sectors that the country was courting through trade and investment showcases such as ZITF and Mine-Entra materialised.
“Bulawayo has been declared a special economic zone and the Second Republic has been working hard to attract investors into the country. There is also an NRZ locomotive refurbishment programme that is going on in anticipation of a boost in business. Our transport system has also been enhanced with Bulawayo getting a total of 77 Zupco buses since 2019 and this has opened it up for employing our youths which is a job creating initiative by the Second Republic,” she said.
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