The Sunday News
THE move by the country’s Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko to engage former mayors and their deputies to come up with strategies as part of moves to restore Bulawayo as the country’s industrial hub sets the right tone for the resurrection of the country’s second largest city, which over the years has seen a flight of companies while others have closed shop.
On Friday last week, Vice-President Mphoko, who of late has been doing a lot of legwork especially in Bulawayo and its surroundings in a bid to find the real problems affecting the region, held a meeting at the Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo’s offices at the Mhlahlandlela Government Complex to discuss strategies on how to restore the city to its status as the country’s industrial hub.
The meeting was attended by Bulawayo’s first black mayor, Cde Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, Cdes Joshua Malinga, David Ndlovu and Richard Ndlovu. Also in attendance was Mr Thaba Moyo. The former deputies included Amen Mpofu and Abednico Nyathi.
Speaking before the meeting VP Mpoko said he wanted to carry the legacy of the late Vice-President and National Hero Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo.
“My being Vice-President won’t mean anything if I go around beating my chest, I won’t achieve anything, or going after women saying I’m now VP, you once rejected me or getting businesses. That is not what we are here for,” said the Vice-President.
“There are people who walked this road before us, people like the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo. If I’m given that position, Nkomo’s position, I have to show that I’m taking the challenge. My challenge is carrying forward what was done by Nkomo.”
The VP’s words give the people of Bulawayo in particular and Zimbabwe in general at least something to cheer about seeing that there are moves to solve the problems affecting the city and we take this opportunity to urge the people of Bulawayo to put their heads under the same thinking cap and support such noble manoeuvres. VP Mphoko has also displayed political maturity by inviting even former mayors from the opposition such as Thaba Moyo and his then deputy, Amen Mpofu. The two served in council under an MDC-T banner and we hope they attended the meeting wholeheartedly without any ulterior motives.
It should be borne in mind that the industry in the country is in dire need of economic revival coming at a time when 55 443 workers lost their jobs after 4 610 companies closed between 2011 and 2014 hence the move by the VP is encouraging and is surely music to the ears of Bulawayo and the rest of the country.
However, the people of Bulawayo should also come up with their own solutions and not wait for national leaders such as VP Mphoko and different Government departments to solve their problems because the VP has other pressing issues elsewhere in the country as he is the Vice-President for all Zimbabweans not the people of Matabeleland only.
There are also other issues of economic nature in other parts of the country such as that of the timber industry in Manicaland and the Ziscosteel problem in Midlands. So the people of Bulawayo should not wait for the VP to spoon feed them but should also come up with their initiatives in reviving the city.
While the call for the revival of Bulawayo industries have reached a crescendo, we wonder what type of industry the people of this great city want. Are they still thinking about the industries of the smoking pipe era that earned the city, the nickname koNtuthu ziyathunqa. We say so because a lot has changed in terms of technology and the type of machinery being used.
We are now in the post-industrial society also known as the information society. It would be downright impossible to have heavy industries firing again and when we talk about the revival of Bulawayo we should bear in mind that in the times we are living in, the strategic resource is computer technology and there is very little for the heavy machinery that is operated by many people. For Bulawayo to rise again we should be forward thinking and realise that the days of heavy industries are gone. We should come up with different strategies and we take this opportunity to call on the people of Bulawayo to support VP Mphoko’s initiative. He needs all our support.
