Polokwane City pledges to partner with Bulawayo!

Bulawayo, October 21, 2012, - South Africa’s Polokwane executive mayor, Freddy Greaver, has said Bulawayo has the potential to rise from the ashes of de-industrialisation, and with the right partnership, can reclaim its industrial-hub position in the SADC region.

 

Greaver was speaking at a function, held at the Bulawayo Large City Hall on Friday evening, where a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that laid the foundation for a twinning arrangement between Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, and Polokwane, South Africa’s Limpopo province capital city, was signed.

“From today onwards, the exchange between Polokwane and Bulawayo is going to mean that our people work together,” he said.

“Indeed many will argue that Zimbabwe and Bulawayo are going through trying times. We know too well what it means. We are here today because we believe in the resurrection of the giant called Zimbabwe, the resurrection of a giant called Bulawayo.

“We are here because we believe the day shall come when the people will look at this city as the heartbeat of the economy of Zimbabwe, the heartbeat of the economy of SADC.”

Bulawayo has over the years suffered de-industrialization with the ministry of industry and trade estimating that slightly over 100 industries closed down since the beginning of January this year.

Economist Eric Bloch told the gathering on Friday that while the closing down of industries was countrywide, it was most sad in Bulawayo, “because it has always been the industrial hub in the SADC region.”

Polokwane mayor Greaver said Polokwane will never turn its back on Zimbabwe because, “You (Zimbabweans) were there for us yesterday during our struggle for freedom. In this time of your difficult, it can’t be us, the people of South Africa; it can’t be us, the people of Polokwane, who turn our backs on you.”

Bulawayo mayor, Thaba Moyo, said the signing of the MoU emphasised, “the need to foster economic engagement among our people through the various sectors.”

“Talk of a global village is meaningless if we cannot as neighbours establish relationships between ourselves,” he said.

“It has to start from among us. Bulawayo has been on the decline for quite some time now. Many industries are operating below capacity. Our joining hands with Polokwane are but one intervention that we hope our business communities will take advantage of.” Online reports