Durban and Bulawayo explore joint heritage for tourism push

11 Views

The eThekwini Municipality, which runs the City of Durban, and Zimbabwe’s City of Bulawayo are now prioritising the exploration of their shared cultural heritage as a key strategy to invigorate tourism.

This will also see a strengthening of ties in the arts, culture, and business sectors, building upon the foundation of the cities’ historical connections to foster continued economic and cultural exchange.

The Durban and Bulawayo collaboration

Over a decade after signing their Twinning Charter in September 2011, the long-standing partnership between Durban and Bulawayo is entering an exciting new phase.

As the City of Bulawayo participated in this year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), it invited eThekwini Municipality.

In an interview with The South African, Thulani Nzama, the head of the eThekwini Municipality’s Business Support, Tourism, and Markets Unit, said his municipality is happy to work closely with the City of Bulawayo.

“Our main purpose is to forge business linkages between the two cities,” he said. ” We want to look at other areas like the arts and culture. These cities usually host similar cultural events. The majority of people in the City of Bulawayo speak the Ndebele language, which is similar to isiZulu. Even if you look at the surnames…in terms of culture, everything looks almost the same.”

How the two cities connect historically

Nzama historically described how the eThekwini Municipality and the City of Bulawayo share the same history. He noted that the founders of KwaBulawayo originated from KwaZulu and relocated during the Mfecane period.

“As much as it was war, if you look at it strategically, it was more of expanding the nation. They are still here, speaking the language and sticking to our culture. So it is a matter of saying, ‘guys, let’s meet and share because this is similar.’” Nzama said the shared history, depicted by the heritage sites like The Battle of Isandlwana and Mzilikazi’s grave, will help the cities improve tourism.

Nzama said the idea is that if a tourist is visiting for seven days, we can easily package him or her for three days in Durban. He or she can then take a flight to Bulawayo for another three days.

Another South African municipality is twinned with Bulawayo

The City of Bulawayo also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Polokwane Municipality in October 2012.

“We are twinned with two South African Cities, eThekwini Municipality and Polokwane Municipality, and it is working very well,” said Kholisani Moyo, the Bulawayo City Economic Development officer.

“We have managed to link Bulawayo Polytechnic to the Venda University. They have since signed an MOU, and this year they had their first conference in Victoria Falls. Some research papers were presented during the conference. Both South African and Zimbabwean researchers participated. Next year, the conference will be held in South Africa.”