When government announced in 2018 that it was committing millions of dollars to modernise Makokoba and Mbare, hopes ran high that the country’s oldest suburbs would finally get a facelift befitting their historical and cultural significance.
In Makokoba, residents dared to dream of improved housing, upgraded infrastructure, and even a tourism hub modelled after Soweto in South Africa. Yet, seven years later, the dream has all but evaporated.
The US$139 million redevelopment plan, including a US$21 million package for Makokoba, now lies in the dustbin of political promises.
The Bulawayo City Council played its part, initiating surveys, master planning, and design work, but the central government’s support quickly fizzled out.
By 2023, even the Local Subject Plan tender – a crucial step in guiding redevelopment – had been cancelled, leaving residents with nothing but dashed hopes.
This is not the first time citizens have been taken for a ride.
Lofty promises often resurface in the run-up to elections, dangled as carrots to woo an increasingly sceptical urban electorate.
Yet, after the rallies fade and the ballots are cast, communities are left abandoned, their needs relegated to the periphery of the political agenda.
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Makokoba’s stalled facelift is a painful reminder of how development rhetoric is weaponised as an election gimmick rather than a genuine policy commitment.
Makokoba is more than just an old township. It is a living symbol of Bulawayo’s heritage, resilience, and identity.
Its people deserve more than grand speeches and glossy designs that never translate into brick and mortar.
Failure to modernise the suburb is not just a lost opportunity for urban renewal, but also a betrayal of trust between government and the people it purports to serve.
It is time authorities are held accountable for these broken promises.
Citizens must demand transparency on why projects announced with pomp and ceremony vanish into thin air.
If Zanu PF is serious about winning over the urban electorate, it must abandon tokenistic pledges and instead deliver concrete development that improves people’s daily lives.
Makokoba residents deserve better than to be pawns in political chess games.
The suburb’s future cannot remain hostage to empty promises — it requires genuine commitment, adequate funding, and political will.
Anything less is a mockery of the very people whose votes politicians court every five years.
