John Ndlovu and Clive Thabo Dube
There was a time when the City of Bulawayo was touted as one of the cleanest urban areas on the continent. Skies or the City of Kings were the monikers that were given to this City that was founded by King Lobengula.
Bulawayo boasted of wide boulevards that were tree-lined with Jacarandas.
Besides it’s cleanliness, it had world class infrastructure ranging from commercial parks, residential areas to sports clubs.
Enter the rot, uncontrolled refuse, abandoned buildings being home to vagrants and countless yesteryear sports clubs being white elephants or not serving their original purpose.
One such facility is a former bowling club along Robert Mugabe Way in Northend, back in the mid 90s, the City Fathers controversially leased it out to businessman Delma Lupepe together with Callies Sports club that is situated adjacent to it.
Very few people back then questioned the logic of Council leasing out a bowling club and a baseball stadium to Lupepe.
With all the glamour his now defunct Amazulu Football Club brought to the sporting scene, many probably thought the business mogul would transform those two sporting facilities into world class stadia.
However, Lupepe abandoned both, a situation that turned them into an eyesore. Worse off they are located along airport road, meaning international visitors to Bulawayo were exposed to those abandoned facilities.
Fast forward to recent times, though Callies baseball stadium has now been given a new lease of life and has been renamed Chiefs Village by its new tenant, Bulawayo Chiefs Football Club.
However, nothing seems to have changed at the bowling club as it is still lying idle.
Zim GBC News sought a comment from the City Fathers on why the facilities such as the bowling club and many have been leased to tenants who have gone on to leave them for other purposes.
“The City of Bulawayo cannot share the lease agreements that we sign with our tenants. We cannot show you the document because they are confidential.” Reads a statement from the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Public Relations officer Bongiwe Ngwenya.
Efforts to get a comment from the Bulawayo businessman Delma Lupepe were fruitless as his number was not going through.
Meanwhile here are some of the other sporting facilities in the City that are not being used for their proper purposes. Portuguese Sports Club ( the bar is open), Ross Camp Stadium (though owned by the police not the Council), Sizinda Stadium (there has not been proper grass for years, dressing rooms are also in a sorry state), Njube grounds(no grass and fence), Municipal’s Sports Club in Famona, Bulawayo Sports Club (turned into an extension of the SOS children’s Village, Old Miltonian’s Sports Club (bowls and tennis sections only viable sports courts) etc.
Most swimming pools are out of commission