The City of Bulawayo has renamed some of its roads to replace some of the roads’ pre-colonial names. However the council ignored cabinet suggestions and renamed the roads according to the council’s preferences, The Chronicle reports.
In defending their decision not to listen to the cabinet suggestions, the council said the Urban Councils Act gave them the power to name and rename streets as they see fit. The memo that circulating communicating the roads name changes reads in part:
Section 274 as read with Section 276 of the Constitution constitutes, establishes and confers authority on Urban Local Authorities to represent and manage the affairs of people in urban areas throughout Zimbabwe.
A Local authority has the right to govern, on its own initiative, the local affairs of people within the area for which it has been established, and has all the powers necessary to do so. It is also desirable to preserve the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial history and heritage of the local people of Bulawayo and promote national cohesion, healing, peace and tranquility in a devolved unitary state
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