Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
FOCUS in the country shifts towards Victoria Falls this week where President Mnangagwa is expected to officially confer the municipality with city status on Wednesday.
The Victoria Falls Municipality will also present the President with the Freedom of the City on the same day for his contribution to the town’s growth into a city.
Freedom of the City is a highest honour bestowed by a municipality to a valuable member of the community or to a visiting dignitary and it was historically an honour granted to military organisations allowing them the privilege to freely parade the city with drums beating, colours flying and bayonets fixed.
It will be the first such honour to be given to anyone by the municipality in the history of the town and the first for President Mnangagwa as Head of State.
The municipality also recently conferred alderman status to former mayor Nkosilathi Jiyane for serving the local authority for more than 10 years.
Two months ago Parliament approved that Victoria Falls be granted city status after recommendation by a commission appointed by Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo three years ago.
Minister Moyo confirmed recently when he visited Victoria Falls that the President will confer the city status to the resort town.
“We expect the President to be making a proclamation of the city on December 9. There are a lot of issues involved in becoming a city and part of this is the qualification where once the commission recommends, it must be debated in Parliament and in this case, the two Houses unanimously supported that the municipality be upgraded to a city. The President is then required to make a proclamation and that is what is going to happen on the 9 December,” said Minister Moyo in a recent interview.
The President will also officiate at the Zimbabwe Local Government Association (Zilga) conference to be held in the resort town on Thursday and attended by more than 300 female councillors and executives from both urban and rural local authorities countrywide.
Zilga was established as a union of Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (Ucaz) and Association of Rural District Councils (ARDC) and chose to meet in Victoria Falls so that all local authorities can also join the sister municipality to celebrate the milestone achievement.
A news crew observed that the venue for both functions at Kingdom Hotel has been prepared.
The city status is a milestone and prestigious achievement for Victoria Falls which becomes the first municipality to be upgraded by the Second Republic and first city in Matabeleland North.
It comes as Government has shown commitment to transform the province particularly Victoria Falls which was designated a Special Economic Zone with special focus on tourism.
Victoria Falls as a city assumes prestige that is reserved for cities and now compete with other tourism destinations globally.
This will also make the tourism town a well sought-after investment destination, with potential for twinning with other cities around the world.
The city fathers and residents are excited about the development which they believe will help expand industry and create more jobs for the town whose economy was solely dependent on tourism.
Government wants to make Victoria Falls its conferencing capital and plans to build a multi-purpose convention centre with top-notch facilities such as five-star hotels, medical centre, a university, a Zimbabwe Defence Forces camp and sporting facilities.
There are plans to improve infrastructure in the town to match world tourism destination standards as well as develop Victoria Falls-Hwange-Binga Special Economic Zone comprising Masue and Batoka satellite towns, Hwange, Mlibizi, Binga and Sijalila along the Zambezi corridor.
Government recently launched the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) which is also expected to lure investors.
Victoria Falls’ population is estimated to be 40 000 people. — @ncubeleon
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