The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
SOMETIME last month it emerged that the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) was planning to demolish the thermal power towers situated at Zesa main, near the Railway Station. News of the impeding demolition triggered an outcry among Bulawayo residents — chief among them was the pro-active Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) and several prominent citizens. There were calls everywhere, including social media, denouncing the intended demolition of the towers. Consequently, the response was the coming down to Bulawayo of the Minister of Energy and Resources, Fortune Chasi, to meet and consult on the ground — something which should have been done in the first place but had been ignored by the power company.
To an ordinary person the towers are just old power structures that are not functioning to full capacity anymore. To that person the towers bring nothing but power to Bulawayo. But to true residents of the city the towers are much more than just power generating structures. They might have been ordinary at construction, but not anymore. The towers have become part of the city’s identity — the face and name of Bulawayo. Proud Bulawayans have and continue to call the city “koNtuthuziyathunqa” because of the towers — even though the towers rarely produce smoke these days. For the uninitiated the towers are to Bulawayo what the Eiffel Tower is to residents of Paris in France or what the Orlando Towers have become to residents of Soweto in South Africa. You can’t talk about Bulawayo without talking about the towers and their history, once these towers were a symbol of Bulawayo as the industrial hub of the country.
What happened to “intuthu ezithunqayo”? What happened to the industrial hub that was the city? Is demolition of the towers not the final straw to completely erase what once was? Erasing the whole history of a city in one sweep! Now that one thinks deeply of the issue. I think, and (I could be wrong here) that one of the reasons we don’t know the history of the towers at the moment is that the power company is deliberately hiding that history. Remember that history also tells the story of who constructed them and who owns them now. The towers were originally City of Bulawayo property that was taken “nicodemously” by the then government and given to the power company. When devolution comes maybe the towers may return to the Bulawayo City Council for good.
Anyway, during the consultative tour by the minister, the city mayor and his team told ZPC they are even willing to give them land somewhere to build new towers if it meant leaving the old ones untouched. The mayor went on to explain the historical and cultural importance of the towers to the city. “The towers are Bulawayo. There is no Bulawayo without the towers.” That is generally the feeling with most city residents. To be honest, how can ZPC want to demolish such important structures without at least consulting the people? Worse, they used foreign engineers to assess the structural integrity of the towers. True, the engineers found the towers to have cracked and posing a health risk to workers and the general public. True, the towers are cracked. True, they now pose a health risk. But local engineers would also have considered the historic and cultural importance of the towers before recommending demolition. A historical and cultural sensitive consultant and more so a historical and cultural sensitive ZPC management would have thoroughly weighed other options beside demolition. For example building new towers elsewhere since they never paid for the old towers in the first place. Let the cracks be dealt with. Mended. Let the towers be refurbished but NOT destroyed.
Even the minister came and agreed with the people. He acknowledged the importance of the towers and even suggested they be painted in traditional Ndebele colours. But did it have to take a whole minister coming down to Bulawayo for ZPC management to see some sense? While we all want electricity and development in the city we must be careful the development we get does not erode our culture and in the process our very being. Culture must never be sacrificed under the alter of development.
