BULAWAYO DIFFICULT TO MARKET IN ITS CURRENT STATE: ZTA

Clive Thabo Dube

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has disclosed that the marketing of Bulawayo as a holiday destination has become difficult over the years because of the uncontrolled littering afflicting the country’s second largest urban area.

This is according to the ZTA Bulawayo Regional manager Novuyo Mathonsi.

“As ZTA, we market Bulawayo as a beautiful and clean city. However our city streets in their current form contradict messages we send out there to potential foreign visitors,” said Mathonsi.

Mathonsi who is the Sanganai/ Hlanganai Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairperson pointed an accusing finger at the city fathers, whom she said have been “asleep” in this critical matter of refuse collection.

“The City Council directors do not seem to see how dirty Bulawayo has become and that it may be sitting on a health time bomb. Most of the uncontrolled littering is because of the mushrooming of informal trading in the Central Business District (CBD) that the city council is turning a blind eye on.”

Bulawayo is one of the country’s leading tourist destinations. It is surrounded by several major sites like the Matopos, Hwange National Park and the Victoria Falls. The city has for the last decade hosted a major international tourism expo called Sanganai/ Hlanganai at the Zimbabwe exhibition park which also hosts another global expo in the form of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).

Mathonsi’s sentiments were also echoed by a director with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) Chistopher Mushava who said the unclean environment in Bulawayo had dramatically lowered the value of the city.

“It’s going to be difficult for stakeholders to bring back the Bulawayo of old but everyone has to step up to the plate and try.”

Meanwhile, the drive to restore Bulawayo’s cleanliness status kicked off on Wednesday with the organisers stating that it will run up until Friday, 20 January 2023.

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