Bulawayo

Bulawayo koBulawayo
View of Bulawayo's Central Business District (CBD) from Pioneer House by Prince Phumulani Nyoni. The CBD is 5.4 square kilometres and is in a grid pattern with 17 avenues and 11 streets.
Flag Coat of arms
Location in Bulawayo Province
Location in Bulawayo Province
Coordinates: 20°10′12″S 28°34′48″E / 20.17000°S 28.58000°E / -20.17000; 28.58000Coordinates: 20°10′12″S 28°34′48″E / 20.17000°S 28.58000°E / -20.17000; 28.58000
Country	Zimbabwe
Province	Bulawayo
District	City of Bulawayo
Settled	1840
Incorporated (town)	1897
Incorporated (city)	1943
Divisions	4 Districts, 29 Wards, 156 Suburbs
Government
• Type	Provincial Municipality
• Mayor	Martin Moyo
Area
• City	1,706.8 km2 (659.0 sq mi)
• Water	129.3 km2 (49.9 sq mi)
• Urban	993.5 km2 (383.6 sq mi)
• Metro	1,706.8 km2 (659.0 sq mi)
Elevation [1]	1,358 m (4,455 ft)
Population (2016)
• City	1,200,337
• Density	700/km2 (1,800/sq mi)
• Urban	1,205,675
• Urban density	2,305/km2 (5,970/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (CAT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (not observed)
Area code(s)	9
Climate	Cwa
Website	citybyo.co.zw

Bulawayo is the second-largest city in Zimbabwe with an estimated population of 1 200 337, per city council estimates in 2018. This figure is disputed with the national government saying Bulawayo and the Matabeleland region is declining in population when the rest of the country is growing rapidly. Authorities in Matabeleland say these are deliberate moves by officials in the capital to deprive the region when it comes to resource allocation.^{[disputed – discuss][2]} It is the capital of the Ndebele province of Matabeleland. Matabeleland is now divided into 3 regions for administration purposes with Lupane being capital of Matabeleland North province, Gwanda being capital of Matabeleland South province and the city of Bulawayo for the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province.

Bulawayo is nicknamed the "City of Kings" or "kontuthu ziyathunqa"—a Ndebele phrase for "smoke arising". This name arose from the city's historically large industrial base and specifically draws from the large cooling towers of the coal powered electricity generating plant situated in the city centre that once used to billow steam and smoke over the city.^[3] The majority of Bulawayo's population belongs to the Ndebele ethnic and language group (otherwise known as Northern Ndebele).^[4]

For a long time, Bulawayo was regarded as the industrial centre of Zimbabwe, and it served as the hub to the country's rail network with the National Railways of Zimbabwe headquartered there because of its strategic position near Botswana, Zambia and South Africa.

History[edit]

Inhabitant of Bulawayo, 1890

Bulawayo Scouts in 1893

The city was founded by the Ndebele king, Lobhengula, the son of King Mzilikazi born of Matshobana who settled in modern-day Zimbabwe around the 1840s after the Ndebele people's great trek from Nguniland. The name Bulawayo comes from the Ndebele word KoBulawayo meaning "a place where he is being killed". It is thought that, at the time of the formation of the city, there was a civil war. A group of Ndebeles not aligned to Prince Lobengula were fighting him as they felt he was not the heir to the throne, hence he gave his capital the name "where he (the prince) is being killed". It is said that when King Lobengula named the place "KoBulawayo" his generals asked "who is being killed mtanenkosi (prince)?" and he replied "Yimi umntwanenkosi engibulawayo", meaning "it's me, the prince, who is being killed". At the time Lobengula was a prince fighting to ascend his father's (Mzilikazi) throne. It was common at the time for people to refer to Bulawayo as "KoBulawayo UmntwaneNkosi" "a place where they are fighting or rising against the prince". The name Bulawayo is imported from Nguniland which was once occupied by the Khumalo people. The place still exists: It is next to Richards Bay.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1860s the city was further influenced by European intrigue, and many colonial powers cast covetous eyes on Bulawayo and the land surrounding it. Britain made skillful use of private initiative in the shape of Cecil Rhodes and the Chartered Company to disarm the suspicion of her rivals. Lobengula once described Britain as a chameleon and himself as the fly.^[5]

During the 1893 Matabele War, the invasion by British South Africa Company troops forced King Lobengula to evacuate his followers, after first detonating munitions and setting fire to the town.^[6] BSAC troops and white settlers occupied the ruins. On 4 November 1893, Leander Starr Jameson declared Bulawayo a settlement under the rule of the British South Africa Company. Cecil Rhodes ordained that the new settlement be founded on the ruins of Lobengula's royal kraal, which is where the State House stands today. In 1897, the new town of Bulawayo acquired the status of municipality, and Lt. Col. Harry White became one of the first mayors.^[7]

Siege[edit]

At the outbreak of the Second Matabele War, in March 1896, Bulawayo was besieged by Ndebele forces, and a laager was established there for defensive purposes. The Ndebele had experienced the brutal effectiveness of the British Maxim guns in the First Matabele War, so they never mounted a significant attack against Bulawayo, even though over 10,000 Ndebele warriors could be seen near the town. Rather than wait passively, the settlers mounted patrols, called the Bulawayo Field Force, under Frederick Selous and Frederick Russell Burnham. These patrols rode out to rescue any surviving settlers in the countryside and attacked the Ndebele. In the first week of fighting, 20 men of the Bulawayo Field Force were killed and 50 were wounded. An unknown number of Ndebele were killed and wounded.

During the siege, conditions in Bulawayo quickly deteriorated. By day, settlers could go to homes and buildings in the town, but at night they were forced to seek shelter in the much smaller laager. Nearly 1,000 women and children were crowded into the small area and false alarms of attacks were common. The Ndebele made a critical error during the siege in neglecting to cut the telegraph lines connecting Bulawayo to Mafikeng. This gave the besieged Bulawayo Field Force and the British relief forces, coming from Salisbury and Fort Victoria (now Harare and Masvingo respectively) 300 miles to the north, and from Kimberley and Mafeking 600 miles to the south, far more information than they would otherwise have had. Once the relief forces arrived in late May 1896, the siege was broken and an estimated 50,000 Ndebele retreated into their stronghold, the Matobo Hills near Bulawayo. Not until October 1896 would the Ndebele finally lay down their arms to the invaders.

Modern city[edit]

In 1943 Bulawayo received city status.

In recent years, Bulawayo has experienced a sharp fall in living standards coinciding with the severe economic crisis affecting the country. The main problems include poor investment, reluctance by government to improve infrastructure and corruption and nepotism leading to most original dwellers of the city migrating south to the neighbouring South Africa. Water shortages due to lack of expansion in facilities and supplies have become steadily more acute since 1992. Cholera broke out in 2008. Though the city is the centre of the southern population generally categorized as the Matebele, the composition of the city is made up of people from all over the country thereby making it the friendliest city in Zimbabwe as it is built on a foundation of tolerance and acceptance of different cultures. The Central Business District has the widest roads which were deliberately made so to accommodate the carts that were used as a primary means of transport back when the town was planned and erected.

• 

  Bulawayo City Hall

• 

  Kenilworth Towers, residential flats

Bulawayo City Council[edit]

Bulawayo City Council Offices

Although controlled by the main opposition party MDC-T, the council has managed to stand out as the leading municipality in Zimbabwe in service delivery to its residents, through campaigns engineered by the city council such as the #mycitymypride campaign and #keepbyoclean on social media. These have been met with positive responses by residents and other stakeholders in the city. In recent years, Bulawayo has been widely perceived as the cleanest city in Zimbabwe due to the council's effective waste management strategy.^{[citation needed]}

In 2015 the city of Bulawayo was praised for its town planning that, unlike major urban areas such as Harare and Chitungwiza, has not been marred by corruption and problems such as illegal settlements. The municipality police are among the hardest working as they maintain order in the city without corruption or favour.^{[citation needed]}

Geography[edit]

Bougainvillea outside a Bulawayo home

Topography[edit]

The city sits on a plain that marks the Highveld of Zimbabwe and is close to the watershed between the Zambezi and Limpopo drainage basins. The land slopes gently downwards to the north and northwest. The southern side is hillier, and the land becomes more broken in the direction of the Matobo Hills to the south.

Petrea flower in a garden in Bulawayo

Climate[edit]

Due to its relatively high altitude, the city has a subtropical climate despite lying in the tropics. Under the Köppen climate classification, Bulawayo features a semiarid climate (BSh). The mean annual temperature is 19.16 °C (66.44 °F),^[8] similar to Pretoria at a similar altitude but almost 600 km (373 mi) farther north. As with much of southern and eastern Zimbabwe, Bulawayo is cooled by a prevailing southeasterly airflow most of the year and experiences three broad seasons: a dry, cool winter season from May to August; a hot dry period in early summer from late August to early November; and a warm wet period in the rest of the summer, early November to April. The hottest month is October, which is usually the height of the dry season. The average maximum temperature ranges from 21 °C (70 °F) in July to 30 °C (86 °F) in October. During the rainy season, daytime maxima are around 26 °C (79 °F). Nights are always cool, ranging from 8 °C (46 °F) in July to 16 °C (61 °F) in January.

The city's average annual rainfall is 594 mm (23 in), which supports a natural vegetation of open woodland, dominated by Combretum and Terminalia trees. Most rain falls in the December to February period, while June to August is usually rainless. Being close to the Kalahari Desert, Bulawayo is vulnerable to droughts and rainfall tends to vary sharply from one year to another. In 1978, 888 mm (35 in) of rain fell in the three months up to February (February 1944 is the wettest month on record with 368mm) while in the three months ending February 1983, only 84 mm (3 in) fell.

Water Supply[edit]

Bulawayo has good quality tap water owing to the management of the water authorities, meeting international standards . Bulawayo does not recycle waste water but uses treated waste water for irrigation.

Bulawayo experiences water shortages in drought seasons due to the overwhelming increase in population versus the static and sometimes decreasing capacity of the reserve dams. The geographical factors causing water scarcity are rising temperatures, the area's high elevation and the arid environment of Matabeleland. Bulawayo provides residents with water by using a system of dams, treatment plants, and reservoirs.

Environmental and sanitation circumstances have detrimental effects on water quality. Sources such as groundwater and tap water are subject to pollution due to waste from burst sewers contaminating them. Samples taken from well water from the Pumula and Robert Sinyoka suburbs show that well water maintain levels of coliform higher than the Standards Association of Zimbabwe and World Health Organization give.^[12][13]

Demographics[edit]

Population census controversy[edit]

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The population of Bulawayo, according to the 2012 national census, stood at 653,337;^[14] however, this figure has been rejected by the Bulawayo City Council authority with Councillor Martin Moyo claiming an anti-Bulawayo conspiracy to under-fund projects in the city.^[15][16]

The population of the city according to metropolitan council sources is closer to 1.5 million and a more closer and estimated figure being 1.2 million.^{[citation needed]} Reports have alluded to the de-industrialization of the city as the reason for its population decline, a claim which was rubbished as council officials referred to the fact that, in 1992 the city's population stood at 620,936. It had grown in the number of households due to urban expansion. City authorities also laid claim to the fact that the current water challenges facing the city were a result of an increasing population despite its economic challenges.

Economy[edit]

Bulawayo was known as the industrial hub of Zimbabwe. This is the reason why the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is hosted in Bulawayo. It had a large manufacturing presence with large industries based here before Zimbabwe's economic collapse. However, some of these companies have either moved operations to Harare or have closed down — which has crippled Bulawayo's economy. Most factories are deserted and the infrastructure has since been left to deteriorate. The reason for the de-industrialization has largely been political with some factories like Gold Star sugar company removing machinery that was installed during colonial times to open new factories in Harare . When Government passed Indegenisation laws some successful businesses were taken over by Zanu PF people only to close down a fews years later.

Many locals argue that it is because of marginalisation they experience against the government due to cultural differences between the Shona in Harare and the Ndebele in Bulawayo because the National railways of Zimbabwe (headquarters in Bulawayo) is a government parastatal and, as such, should have been thriving had it not been for embezzlement of funds by company executives who are believed to be Shona. The water issue is not new and had brought about the "help a thirsty Matabele" initiative of the 1970s and the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project which would put an end to the water issue in Matabeleland was drafted; however, this project was put on hold soon after independence.

These allegations have all been labeled hogwash by the relevant authorities. However, they have only fueled the secessionist initiative into a general opinion. The city still contains most of what remains of Zimbabwe's heavy industry and food processing capability. This includes a thermal power station that resumed operations in February 2011 after a capitalisation deal with the Government of Botswana where Bulawayo would supply 45 megawatts in three years.

Like many parts of the country, Bulawayo has for the past ten years^[when?] seen a huge drop in service delivery and an increase in unemployment due to the resignations of people seeking better prospects across the border. Many people resorted to farming, mining, and the black market for sustenance, while others depended on the little foreign currency that would be sent by family in other countries. However, with the introduction of the multi-currency system in 2009, a new approach is seen by investors in the city who admire the already-available infrastructure; the huge workforce; and Bulawayo as great prospects. It is set to once again contribute greatly to the economy of Zimbabwe.

The city is served by Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport and the other international airport in the region being the Victoria Falls International Airport. Bulawayo is the capital of the bigger Matabeleland province which is arguable Zimbabwe's tourism paradise. Matabeleland boosts of Victoria Falls, Matopo National Park, Hwange National Park, Khami Ruins and a bigger share of Lake Kariba . The city is located within an excellent road and rail transport network linking the region to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. The potential is massive and Bulawayo will rise again.

The Bulawayo Centre

Important buildings and infrastructure[edit]

The Nesbitt Castle, Bulawayo

These include:

• Ascot Centre
• Bulawayo Centre
• Bulawayo Golf Club
• Fidelity Life Centre
• Mhlahlandlela Government Complex
• Nesbitt Castle
• NRZ building
• National University of Science and Technology

Government[edit]

Bulawayo is governed by the Bulawayo City Council, which is headed by the Mayor of Bulawayo.

Newspapers[edit]

• B-Metro
• The Chronicle
• Newsday
• Southern Eye
• The Sunday News
• The Sunday Times
• Umthunywa

Twin towns – sister cities[edit]

Bulawayo is twinned with:

• Aberdeen, United Kingdom
• Durban, South Africa
• Polokwane, South Africa
• Katima Mulilo, Namibia
• Francistown, Botswana
• Livingstone, Zambia

Culture and recreation[edit]

Opening ceremony of the African Olympic Hockey Qualifiers 2011, Khumalo Hockey Stadium

Sports[edit]

Bulawayo is home to the Queens Sports Club and Bulawayo Athletic Club, two of the three grounds in Zimbabwe where test match cricket has been played.

Bulawayo Golf Club, the first golf club in the city and country was established in 1895. The Matsheumhlope river cuts through the 18 hole course in the suburbs.

It is home to Hartsfield Rugby grounds where many international Test matches have been played. Hartsfield was developed by Reg Hart, after whom the grounds were named and on which field many of southern Africa's greatest rugby players have competed. It is home to two large football teams: Highlanders and Zimbabwe Saints. Other football teams include Bantu Rovers, Chicken Inn, How Mine, Quelaton, and Bulawayo City (R).

Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe

Other important sporting and recreational facilities include

• Barbourfields Stadium
• Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Grounds
• Kumalo Hockey Stadium
• Ascot Racecourse
• Khami Ruins
• White City Stadium
• karate centers

Centinary Park

Museums[edit]

Bulawayo has museums of national importance, including the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, National Gallery, Bulawayo and the Bulawayo Railway Museum.

Parks[edit]

There are a number of parks in Bulawayo, including

• Centenary Park (which includes an amphitheatre, lawns and a large fountain)
• Barham Green
• Hillside Dams Conservancy (which has a number of dams within it)
• Mabukweni

Transport[edit]

14A class Engine no 515 on Ash Spur shunt, Bulawayo Station

The city has a total road network of about 2100 kilometres; 70 percent was declared in 2017 in a poor condition.^[17] The R2 road links Bulawayo with the Capital Harare.

The city has Bulawayo Station on the Harare-Gaborone main line and the Beitbridge Bulawayo Railway.

On the 1 November 2013, a new terminal of Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport, formerly known as Bulawayo Airport, was opened.^[18]

Suburbs and districts[edit]

Retained the old estate name.^[19][20]

Schools and colleges[edit]

In Bulawayo, there are 128 primary and 48 secondary schools.^[21]

Medical care[edit]

The Mater Dei Hospital is located in Bulawayo.^[23] Other hospitals located in Bulawayo include Ingutsheni Hospital, United Bulawayo Hospital (UBH)^[24] Lady Rowell Martenity Hospital, Robbie Gibson Infectious Diseases Hospital, Bulawayo Central Hospital, Mpilo Central Hospital, Richards Morris, Orthopaedic Centre, All Saints Children's Hospital, PSMAS Hillside Hospital and Nervous Disorders Hospital.

Literature[edit]

The city of Bulawayo serves as the backdrop for the French novel Sale Hiver à Bulawayo, by Soline de Thoisy (2011). It is the starting point for the 1925 novel by Agatha Christie, The Secret of Chimneys, in which the main character is leading tours and meets up with an old friend who gives him two jobs to do in England.

Natives and residents[edit]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bulawayo.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bulawayo.