The Sunday News
A lot has been said about the controversial Bulawayo Power Station whose cooling towers have caused people to exchange harsh words with some saying they should be demolished to make way for the modern ones.
I feel as Zimbabweans we must not be seen destroying our own history.
Bulawayo is what it is today as a result of those cooling towers.
When I was born I found them there and interesting white smoke coming from the towers made Bulawayo the number one tourist destination.
The second largest city got the name koNtuthu Ziyathunqa as a result of the six cooling towers whose smoke was seen from all the directions.
Whether you are coming from the direction of Mutare, Mberengwa, Beithbridge, Plumtree or Bostwana you would always be greeted by the nice smoke coming from the mighty Bulawayo Power station cooling towers.
It is also known that once you destroy your rich history you will never get it back so I am against the idea or any move by the ZPC to pull down those cooling towers.
It is not only about the issue of Bulawayo cooling towers but all the old buildings have never been demolished to make way for new ones.
For example in 1995 when the famous Bulawayo Centre was constructed we saw one of the oldest buildings the Grand Hotel being spared and look how beautiful the Bulawayo Centre is now as a result of the Grand Hotel which makes the whole centre look more great.
The other buildings are CBZ Bank eight Ave, Art gallery and Barclays Bank Main Street.
These buildings are very old and should not be touched.
I feel the owners of the cooling towers can make millions of dollars if the towers are only renovated and ask the advertisers to put their adverts on the buildings like some of the towers which were no longer being used in Johannesburg.
Major companies like Vodacom were seen advertising on the towers. It would be better for the Zimbabwe Power Company to build their towers elsewhere in the city and spare our history.
We heard that the Bulawayo City Council has offered ZPC land to build modern towers and forget about concentrating on bringing down the peoples history.
I’m appealing to the Government through the responsible ministry to stop efforts by the ZPC to demolish the Bulawayo cooling towers since they are part of the history of the city.
Eddious Masundire Shumba,
Bulawayo.
