In years gone by, Bulawayo, with its charming architecture and Victorian-style buildings, stood tall across the country as one of the better-organised and cleanest cities in Southern Africa.
From a reliable garbage collection schedule to public lighting and traffic lights maintenance, the City of Kings and Queens was something to be reckoned with. With its tree-lined boulevards and tranquil recreational parks, Zimbabwe’s second city was the country’s smartest metropolis.
Historically, Bulawayo has been the country’s principal industrial centre with its factories producing car accessories, building materials, electronic products, textiles, furniture and food products.
The city is also the hub of the country’s rail network and the headquarters of the National Railways of Zimbabwe.
Today, Bulawayo is a pale shadow of its former self and a decaying eyesore. The city’s dirty and crowded streets and untended landscapes are no longer a delightful way to pass a few hours.
On roads such as 6th Avenue Extension and Herbert Chitepo Street from 5th Avenue to 11th Avenue, driving during peak hours has become nightmarish as rowdy commuter omnibus crews violate road rules causing congestion.
The ubiquitous vendors have occupied just about every available space, creating chaotic scenes – especially along 5th Avenue between Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo and Jason Moyo Streets.
The chaos obtaining in the city centre has partially been blamed on the delays in the redevelopment of Basch Street Terminus which has been closed for far too long.
Central and Centenary parks along Leopold Takawira Avenue Extension, which were once centres of entertainment and relaxation, are veritable eyesores. Ponds that once teemed with fish have run dry, and all that remains of the duck pen is an unbearable stench.
Central and Centenary Parks have been turned into illegal pick-up points by operators of long-distance buses that ply the Bulawayo-Beitbridge and Bulawayo-Harare routes.
All this comes as the Bulawayo City Council seems to be fighting a losing battle in dealing with errant bus crews who are resisting moving to Renkini Terminus.
Along Leopold Takawira Avenue Extension, buses used to park adjacent to Eveline High School but the local authority has since placed bins and ropes preventing the bus crews from parking there. But instead of returning to Renkini, the bus crews have moved down the street and now operate near Bulawayo Theatre and the museum.
Vendors have naturally followed the buses to their pick-up points, and littering is the order of the day.
And the littering is not confined to these places. Indeed, the opposition-run council is struggling to collect refuse in residential and commercial sites across the city, resulting in illegal dumping of waste in open spaces and alleys.
Town planning expert Mr Tafara Madyangove says it all comes down to management.
“For instance, while street vending has become one of the major sources of income, it needs to be organised. Mind you this business thrives where there is a hive of pedestrian traffic,” he notes.
Mr Madyangove adds that the smart city concept proclaimed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa is something that deserves pursuing.
“The smart city concept thrives on three anchors which are the compact city, infrastructure development and sustainable development. Once a city can leverage its comparative advantage, it can survive,” he said.
“A compact city is where there is reduced travel by having everything in one building hence there won’t be any need for transport thus reducing unnecessary errands. We also need to reconfigure and bring in the aspect of smartness so that we reduce congestion in cities and distances travelled so that people get services more efficiently.”
Acting Bulawayo Town Clerk Sikhangele Zhou attributes the decay of the city to the economic challenges.
“It is true that Bulawayo used to be the cleanest and most organised city back then before we started witnessing the closure of industries resulting in people who lost their jobs resorting to street vending. We, however, need to regulate these activities, which is why we normally encounter running battles with violators of council by-laws,” she said. – The Chronicle
