Beitbridge on the path to modernisation
I N his work, “The Wretched of the Earth”, Frantz Fanon is quoted saying, “Colonialism hardly ever exploits the whole of a country. It contents itself with bringing to light the natural resources, which it extracts, and exports to meet the needs of the mother country’s industries, thereby allowing certain sectors of the colony to become relatively rich. But the rest of the colony follows its path of under-development and poverty, or at all events sinks into it more deeply.”
The quest to free themselves from the colonial yoke saw many sons and daughters of the country taking up arms to fight for their freedom and to lay the foundation for equal access to opportunities.
In the pre-Independence era, there were a number of deficiencies on issues such as urbanisation, communication facilities, access to health and education facilities among other amenities.
At the turn of the millennium, Government upped the tempo in rolling out policies to address some of these problems countrywide.
This includes transforming and urbanising areas which had suffered years of neglect and underdevelopment.
One such place which lagged behind in terms of meaningful development and people-centred services was Beitbridge District.
For many people living in this part of the world, life has mainly been a pendulum, swinging from one end to another with no significant improvement.
It has become a case of so near yet so far for a community longing for a change of fortune, urban renewal, economic and sustainable development.
In general terms, this has become a perennial mirage since 1980.
However, Government has made tremendous strides in transforming Beitbridge from a mere growth point to a rural district council, town (2006) and municipality (2018) and rural district council.
Further, the district population has been growing rapidly in the last decade due to its geographical location and proximity to SADC and Africa’s economic power house, South Africa. The district’s population is estimated to stand at around 250 000, that is 70 000 in urban and 165 0000 in rural components respectively and a further 15 000 transiting the town daily.
The year 2006 was a turning point for the Beitbridge folk, when Government under the auspices of the National Economic Development Priority Programme (NEDPP), sought to give the area a facelift and transform it into a medium city.
This programme (NEDPP) came with massive civil works projects, including the construction of 16 blocks of flats to house 64 families, mainly middle-class civil servants, 250 core houses for home ownership, 52 F14 houses for civil servants, road dualisation, upgrading of water supply and sewer infrastructure in the town.
In addition, it also provided for the establishment of other institutional facilities, namely; a hospital, primary school, secondary school, civic centre, Government composite office block, modern truck inn, shopping complex, a five-star hotel, an aerodrome and the upgrading of the current border post to meet world class standards.
Thus, a six-member commission was set up in 2006, to delink the urban and rural set-ups and the sharing of assets, the delimitation of urban and rural boundaries, identifying capital projects for the border town and also to come up with an administrative structure and to work with the rural district council in addressing other cross-cutting issues.
Their tenure expired in 2008, ushering in a new town council headed by the late Dr Sipho Singo.
Since then, the town has made tremendous growth in terms of infrastructure and service delivery, with issues of intermittent water cuts and sewer burst becoming a thing of the past.
According to Beitbridge’s Town Clerk Mr Loud Ramakgapola, the municipality is back on track as they walk the road to transformation.
“We are back on track after over 10 years of quietness. It is pleasing to note that some of the projects which fall under the modernisation initiative are underway,” said Mr Ramakgapola.
“For instance, we have; the border post transformation, the 6km dualisation of road from the border post, the upgrading of the rank, the opening of an upmarket PMSI (Premier Service Medical Investments) hospital, ongoing works on Petrotrade and the recent gazetting of the town as a Special Economic Zone point to a move to developing this town.
“We are very hopeful that in the next 10 years, we should be a modern model municipality on the road to full urbanisation. We have dreams to make the town modern and we are slowly working towards that.
“We want to be the face of Zimbabwe that has all the standards of a modern town, whose facilities will be open 24 hours just like the border post.
“In addition, we should finalise our Local Development Plan, which should make it easy and quicker to invest in the town”.
He said there was a need to embrace the ease of doing business.
Mr Ramakgapola said the town was ideally located to draw investments in all economic sectors. He said there were a lot of economic development opportunities awaiting exploration.
“If Government completes the dualisation or widening of Beitbridge-Masvingo-Harare Highway and fully modernise the border as well work on Government flats on the highway, we will certainly be modernised,” he said.
The town’s housing officer Mr Nicholas Muleya said they had started renaming streets, business centres and suburbs in line with their urbanisation programme.
“This will enhance service delivery issues, especially the provision of social amenities and addressing challenges around services which include ambulances, fire brigade and the police to respond to emergency calls.
“In addition, services such as postal deliveries cannot be introduced without proper organisation of suburbs and streets, thereby hindering billing systems among other challenges,” said Mr Muleya.
Initially, the town had only one suburb, Dulivhadzimo and most of the new suburbs now have business centres or land developers’ names.
He said they had created 12 suburbs to include; Matibe (low density formerly Eastly), Tshidixwa (old medium density near OJs Business Centre), Stauze (Mashavire, Garikai, Two Rooms and Mangavha areas), Khwalu 1 (Shule-shule and SDP stands), Kwalu 2 (Mfelandawonye and Forit stands), Mabidi (medium density west of White Loadge) and Vhembe View (old low density and CBD area).
“Other suburbs are Madinginye (high and medium density west of Welton Primary School), Siyoka (low density stands along Bulawayo Road), Limpopo View (west of border post), Dulivhadzimo (old Dulivhadzimo and Vhembe High School area) and Milayo industrial areas (Industrial area north of old medium density suburbs),” he said.
“We have also new names for the roads leading to Harare (Tshikwelengwe) and Bulawayo (Robert Mugabe) and those cutting across the border and CBD (Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo).
“The other major roads are Mahopolo, Industrial Link, Makhado, Tsinoni (CBD), Tshifhumila (CBD), Kohomela (industrial), Mazibeli (medium density surburb), Goda (Limpopo View suburb) and Makavhane (Dulivhadzimo suburb). The process is continuous and we inviting those with named clans to partner with us in putting signage on the streets.
“These should also conform to our modern standards,” said Mr Muleya.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA)’s Area manager for Beitbridge Bertha Mutowembwa said it is important for the town to establish a Publicity Association (Bureau) to help market its investment opportunities.
“There is also a need to introduce other services including; recreational activities, tourism amenities: car hire, travel agents, tour operators, cultural centre and activities relating to museums.
“We must also look at upgrading and increasing marketing of the town’s tourism products e.g developing Tshipise Hot Springs area into a resort, marketing the cultural activities at Mpande Cultural Village and creating more water sports at Zhovhe Dam,” she said.
Former Beitbridge-Mwenezi Town Board Councillor Mr Enos Mabidi (who served in the local authority during the colonial era) said; “The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development must assist Beitbridge in building and maintaining its road infrastructure and water facilities. We are a transit town carrying the transit burden.
At the moment, the local authority is going it alone and it’s not sustainable.