THE ONCE lush green lawns at the Centenary Park in Bulawayo were an envy of the whole country.
Report by Blondie Ndebele
A wedding was not one unless the couple posed before the iconic fountain at the park, but today the place is an eyesore.
Bulawayo once boasted some of the best recreational facilities, with swimming pools dotted across the city’s suburbs, while the lighting of the Christmas lights at Nketa Park in Mpopoma signalled the beginning of the festive season.
A tour of these amenities last week revealed that most of them were in an advanced state of disrepair, while the dust and bare ground have replaced the once well-manicured lawn at Nketa Park.
All the city’s swimming pools in the high-density suburbs have been closed for more than five years.
In separate interviews, Bulawayo residents expressed concern over non-functioning facilities in their areas.
A youth from Mpopoma, Brian Zukwete, said the swimming pool was closed years ago and nothing had been done to renovate it to allow children and adults alike, to cool off during summer months.
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“I have never seen this pool open. The council has not done anything, to at least, provide recreational facilities for this community, let alone to renovate the old structures that are lying idle,” he said.
Even football pitches which drew hundreds at weekends for social soccer, now exist in name only.
Zukwete said they had resorted to street soccer as there were no proper football pitches in their suburbs.
“Some of the children in this area, Mpopoma, now go to Entumbane to play in unsafe ponds in an effort to cool off,” he said.
However, reports of children dying in ponds abound, as they take to the pools without adult supervision.
The city currently has three working pools, in North End, Barham Green and the Bulawayo city pool. Linda Sibanda from Barbourfields said the swimming pool in the area had been quite popular in the summer in the past, and its state of disrepair had been an unbearable inconvenience.
“I learnt how to swim at this pool and the Bulawayo City Council guards used to supervise us,” she said.
“Now that these facilities have been closed, our children do not even know how to swim, that is why we always get reports of people drowning. The government should find donors to sponsor such projects.”
Freddy Ndlovu, a resident of Luveve, said crime cases have seen an increase in the suburb because the majority of its youths were idle.
“If recreational facilities in this suburb were working, they would be doing something during the day at least,” he said. “Nowadays you will find them whiling away time at street corners.”
Efforts to get a comment from the city council were fruitless, as the town clerk Middleton Nyoni was said to be out of the office and would be expected back this week.
