The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube Municipal Reporter
BULAWAYO today celebrates 120 years of existence as a town, with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and various stakeholders coming together to honour the city’s milestone achievements.Today’s celebrations, which are a climax to the year-long festivities, will see the local authority and the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) having a train trip to and from Figtree before delegates converge on the City Hall car park for the main celebrations. Bulawayo was declared a town on 1 June 1894.
Bulawayo City Council public relations officer Miss Bongiwe Ngwenya said preparations for today’s festivities were on course, with the train already fully booked and various artistes set to perform a piece which tells the story of Bulawayo.
She said the guest list included former mayors, councillors, businesspeople, the political leadership in the city and residents.
“Preparations are going on well for tomorrow’s (today) celebrations, by Thursday evening the train was already fully booked, which is a clear sign that the people of Bulawayo are really enthusiastic in participating in these celebrations.
“We also appreciate the artistes in the city who have come forward to participate, they have been busy rehearsing right through the week to come up with performances that will fully reflect the true Bulawayo story,” said Miss Ngwenya.
She said it was their hope that residents in the city would come in their numbers as this would be a prestigious event, which will allow them to reflect on the journey travelled by the city, to date, and develop a vision for the city.
“We are expecting former councillors and town clerks to come together with the current crop of councillors, with the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Cde Eunice Moyo being the guest of honour.
“It will surely be a hive of activity and our residents should not be left out and make their way to the City Hall, this is their city and where it is today is because of them,” said Miss Ngwenya.
In an interview yesterday, Cde Moyo said the 120 years reflected the journey the city had travelled from humble beginnings to the big city it had since developed into.
She paid homage to the efforts made by the city’s forefathers who had worked hard in building the city and ensuring that it developed into a city which anyone could be proud of.
“Bulawayo is important in many ways, for example we can never exclude Bulawayo from the country’s history, take for example Zapu was formed in Makokoba at the late Jason Moyo’s house. We should now take a cue from our forefathers and work towards developing our city.
“120 years is not a joke but we must not be too relaxed on celebrations but we now have to come up with something that can assist our future generations, we must fulfil the works of our forefathers, yes the industries are closed but we must now work together and open these industries, the onus is on us,” said Cde Moyo.
In a message to residents, the city’s mayor, Councillor Martin Moyo, said it was the spirit of ubuntu which had over the years remained an integral part of the city’s culture that continued to define the nature of Bulawayo.
“The enthusiasm and love of the residents has contributed immensely to the growth of Bulawayo, men and women have made Bulawayo what it is today and it has been their sweat and tears that has led to the great developments that have taken place.
“It has been their advocacy that has resulted in great policies that have become synonymous with our city, it is their unity of purpose that has resulted in the great milestones that have been achieved in Bulawayo, and the infrastructure that stands today has been built by great sons and daughters of the city. The pride that we have for Bulawayo Kontuthu Ziyathunqa has been because you have made it become what it is. As we celebrate 120 years, I call on all residents to remember that we are here because of you, and the future of Bulawayo also lies in our hands,” said Clr Moyo.
He said as a local authority they major challenge was to champion the city’s economic revival and ensuring that they worked towards retaining the city’s pride as the country’s commercial capital.
Meanwhile, former Bulawayo mayors and town clerks have also thrown their weight behind the celebrations, saying this gave the city a chance to reflect on the past, present and develop a vision for the city. They, however, noted the need for the city to work as a unit to address some of the challenges that were being experienced.
Former Bulawayo mayor, Mr Thaba Moyo, said today’s celebrations meant a lot to the city as it showed the journey travelled by the city to date.
“Over these 120 years a lot has happened for the city, it is unfortunate that we have since lost our status as the industrial hub but the city continues to grow and get a lot of achievements like what we are celebrating today.
“We, however, need to continue working as a unit and ensure that we continue positioning this city as one of the most prosperous in the country,” said Mr Moyo.
Another former mayor, Mr Japhet Ndabeni Ncube, said the 120-year milestone showed the bravery of the people of Bulawayo but now they had to think of the future and ensure the economic empowerment and strength for the city.
“The fact that we are celebrating shows that this is good news for the city but we have to see to it that we continue improving the city’s status, our legacy must be maintained and ensure that the end product is ever fulfilling.
“We have to shift a gear up from these celebrations. Yes we can celebrate our history but we now have a further 120 years and more to travel, for this we must now ask for ourselves what we are doing for the city because if we fail to do this the next 120 years will be marking the dark days for the city,” Mr Ncube said.
Former town clerk Mr Moffat Ndlovu decried the city’s ailing economic status, noting that it was time for residents of the city to come together as one and work towards reviving the city’s economic status.
“To be frank this is not the Bulawayo we dreamt of, the once vibrant city has been brought to its knees, it is now more of a city of vendors, flea markets are everywhere, industries are being turned to churches, which is clearly not supposed to be the case.
“As we celebrate these 120 years I believe we now have to come together as Bulawayans regardless of political inclination and develop our city because we are our own developers, no one can do it for us but ourselves, we need the Bulawayo we know back as a matter of urgency,” said Mr Ndlovu.
For today’s celebrations during the train journey people will be serenaded by music from ethno-soul musician, Thandy Dlana, after which there will be a procession from the main railway station to the City Hall car park where there will be performances by various arts groups.
After the function there will also be a fireworks display and Cde Moyo and Clr Moyo will jointly release the celebratory balloons.
After the main celebrations today, the city will also play host to a teacher and student concert at the Academy of Music on 4 June and a golf challenge at the Harry Allen Golf Club on Saturday 7 June plus a City of Bulawayo walk and braai on the same day. The walk will start from the City Hall to Hillside dams, where the braai will take place.
