Bulawayo in twinning agreements with SADC cities

Bulawayo City Council will this year formalize twinning partnerships with three municipalities in the SADC region.

Thaba Moyo, the mayor of Zimbabwe's second biggest city with 1,5 million residents, said the twinning will be with Katima Mulilo in Namibia, and Polokwane and Durban in South Africa.

Bulawayo has already twinned with Aberdeen of Scotland. Moyo said: 'A delegation from Bulawayo will fly out to Durban in the next two weeks. We should have gone there some few weeks back, but because of the local government elections that are in South Africa, we had to put the trip on hold.

'Soon after the elections we definitely will go there to formalize the twinning arrangement. The proposal has gone through relevant council structures here and in Durban I am told the same process has been done. So what remains is the formal signing of the deal.'

Durban is South Africa's third biggest city and has had an informal twinning arrangement with Bulawayo for about two years.

'Already we are benefiting from that informal relationship,' said Moyo. 'A few of our junior engineers have gone to Durban for training.

'We have a delegation of senior engineers from Durban scheduled to come here shortly. So there is that exchange of skills and training.

'Durban council will help us improve our billing system. We also want to learn from them how they have gone about formalizing their informal sector.'

Durban council exhibited at the recent Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. By August Bulawayo should have reached a twinning agreement with Polokwane following discussions at the turn of the millennium when Zimbabwe and South Africa agreed on the Trans-Limpopo Spatial Development Corridor.

The corridor covers South Africa's Northern Province and Zimbabwe's Matabeleland region.

On Katima Mulilo, Moyo said work was still in progress.

The Namibian town, situated at the eastern tip of the SADC country, made a twinning proposal mid-last year. Katima Mulilo mayor John Likando visited Bulawayo in July last year and former Bulawayo town clerk, Moffat Ndlovu, now a consultant in the town, is instrumental in forging the relationship.