Reviving The City of Kings -Paradigm Shift Needed

Ideas and Perspectives On The Revival Of Bulawayo

By Dumisani O.Nkomo

The revival of Bulawayo which once was the industrial hub of the country has been a topical issue for the past few years. In this article i would like to suggest some ideas and issues that we need to consider in order to revive the City of Kings.  I would like to suggest  we as the citizens of Bulawayo both at individual and corporate levels have to  gravitate toward new paradigms of socio economic development and not necessarily be stuck in a moment of history almost forty years ago when Bulawayo was the industrial hub of Zimbabwe .We  need to envisage Bulawayo as it will be in twenty to fifty years not seek to return it to what it was forty years ago .

The dictates of globalization and the Information Communication  Technology revolution make it imperative for the city to re position itself ,identify its strategic competencies and build its development foundations upon new opportunities in the new national and global socio economic and political environment .It may be a fallacy to think the same industries that made Bulawayo the industrial hub of Zimbabwe forty years ago can be revived in the same state and compete with industries for example in the emerging economies of Brazil Russia ,India   ,China and South Africa .It may be necessary to identify the new competitive advantages of Bulawayo and build upon old ones which are still feasible .

I would like to argue that the future growth of Bulawayo should be premised on the following fundamentals and considerations

1.Development of alternative ,renewable, eco  friendly  and sustainable energy sources .

2.Utillization of the huge potential in tapping surface and underground water .

3.Masive investment in road ,rail and air infrastructure mainly through private public partnerships .

4.Exploiting  potential of the extractive sector with huge possibilities in gold ,diamond  and coal mining .

5.Devolution of power and  decision making to maximize on local resource potential and access to decision makers for corporate and individual citizens .

These fundamentals will then inform the growth of industry and business activity in Matabeleland in general and Bulawayo in particular in the following ways:

1.Currently industry cannot reach capacity utilization  targets let alone compete with huge production volumes of competitors .Production has been severely affected by  perennial load shedding and power cuts .The exploitation of alternative ,sustainable renewable energy  would be foundational to the growth of industry in Bulawayo

2.Completion  or commencement of water projects such as the Gwayi - Shangani Dam ,the duplication of the Insiza  Dam and the subsequent release of Mtshabezi Dam to support irrigation in Umzingwane  .Bulawayo will not grow or attract  investment without sufficient reserves of water for domestic and industrial purposes .The potential of underground water sources such as the Nyamandlovu and the Matsheuhlophe aquifers would boost the irrigation potential of areas in and around Bulawayo.

3.Investment in transport infrastructure namely roads ,rail and the Bulawayo airport will play a critical role in ensuring that Bulawayo repositions itself as a strategic route  to South Africa ,Botswana and Zambia in the context of the SADC region .Already the Plumtree –Bulawayo -Mutare highway is due to be constructed ,opening avenues to the  eastern Highlands and Mozambique .The Joshua Mqabuko airport refurbishment and expansion has to be speeded to boost the tourism industry especially with easy access to tourist destinations in Victoria Falls-Hwange  which has the  potential of raking in millions of dollars  .The growth of the sector will largely depend on the  development of a sound road ,rail and airport infrastructure .Several hundreds of millions of dollars will also be required to revive the rail industry as it will play a critical role in catalyzing industrial growth premised on coal in Hwange ,Iron  and steel in Kwekwe  and timber in rural Matabeleland   .These will provide a basis for the redevelopment of heavy industry and furniture industry Development of transport infrastructure will thus  be pivotal  to the industrialization of Bulawayo .

4.Bulawayo As A Legislative Capital

I fully subscribe to Welshman Ncube’s bid to have Bulawayo declared as the seat of parliament .All progressive people and Bulawayans will support this  move especially seeing that funds are actually available for the construction of a new parliament .The actual construction of the parliament building will generate activity for the construction industry whilst also providing jobs in the process Downstream industries such as the transport  sector , the hotel and hospitality industry will benefit as a result of the increase of parliamentary activity in Bulawayo  with members of parliament ,legislative staff and lobbying groups locating their activities in Bulawayo .

5.Tourism

Tourism is one competitive advantage that south western Zimbabwe 6.Bulawayo can also position itself as a centre of arts and culture giving rise to cultural tourism ,festivals and carnivals with their downstream contribution to the economy .

7.The revival of the livestock centre will be central to the growth of industry in the city as the city is located in a region which has a climate and geography which is suited to ranching .It will however take up to five years for the Matabeleland   region to build its herd levels to pre 2000 levels .

Bulawayo must take its place in the sun.

Dumisani O Nkomo is a political analyst and C.E.O of Habakkuk Trust .He can be contacted on dumisani.nkomo@gmail.com or on his blog www.dumisanionkomo.blogspot