By Sandisile Mtetwa
This year Bulawayo celebrates its 126th Anniversary with its genesis traced back to 1870 under the leadership of King Lobengula.
Bulawayo was established as a town in 1894 on the site of King Lobengula’s capital and acquired municipal status in 1897.
From this proud history of African royalty dating back to and beyond Kings Mzilikazi and Lobengula, Bulawayo city is a creative capital in the Southern African region constantly churning out talent and arts products that have been consumed world over.
The celebration of Bulawayo Day and the hosting of the Bulawayo Arts Festival is one of Bulawayo’s annual events aimed at enabling local people and global visitors to participate meaningfully in the cultural life of the city, and provide an opportunity for Bulawayo to showcase its proud heritage, rich diversity, creative nature, resilience and majesty.
June 1st is the Inaugural Bulawayo day and the day means different things to various people as others view it as a day which speaks culture, tradition and bringing everyone back to the realization of the importance of being in touch with one’s roots and identity.
According to Zenzele Ndebele from CITE, ‘the modern Bulawayo owes its origins to the commercial aspirations of the British South African Company (BSAC), and Rhodes’ ambition to extend influence and trade from Cape to Cairo.’
Following the recent announcement by President E. D. Mnangagwa declaring the COVID-19 Lockdown Level 2 to stay on indefinitely, the organizers of the event announced that the inaugural Bulawayo Day & Bulawayo Arts Festival scheduled for June 1-6 2020, has been postponed to June 2021.
Despite the absence of activities due to covid 19, the city still continues to progress in unity and development.
“For the past few weeks, in conjunction with all the partners and stakeholders, we have been working hard to explore all avenues to put on this year’s festival, including moving the dates to later in the year,” said the BCC representative.
She added that, “due to the continuing uncertainty regarding holding of public gatherings, the increasing number of Corona virus positive cases, the threat to people’s health, and the potential need for an extended period of social distancing, we have taken the collective decision to suspend our 2020 programme as it was planned.”
Some reasons for this decision have been because of international travel restrictions that will make it impossible for conference speakers and some festival performers to gain entry into the country.
However the event organizers noted that they will still recognize June 1st as Bulawayo Day as they will also hold a digital launch and three special virtual/ online pop-up events from Wednesday 3rd June to Friday 5th June on the Bulawayo Arts Festival & City of Bulawayo Facebook pages.
The same programmes will also be posted on the BAF TV Channel on Youtube as delayed content.
The Bulawayo Arts festival which was scheduled for 1-6 June 2020 was going to run under the theme “WOW” (short for We Own Winter) as all activities were expected to illuminate the usually not so active winter month in Zimbabwe.
The explosion of arts and culture in Bulawayo puts the city and the country on the global spotlight and encourage its tourism and business potential.
The Bulawayo is one of the beautiful cities in Zimbabwe, also popularly known for having the clean water, efficient council services and the clean streets.
Whilst the immediate future is uncertain, there is optimism that the pioneering spirit of the city festival will continue through various pop up events during the year and leading to June 2021.
Whilst the 2020 plans are being suspended for now, audiences are encouraged to stay at home and practice good hygiene for their own health safety.
Restrictions on large scale assembly are likely to continue and events such as concerts and festivals may remain banned for the foreseeable future.
NUST JOURNAL-ZW 