It is my pleasure to be participating in the first month of my internship at GOUNESCO. It has been a wonderful moment to move around my home town the City of Kings (Bulawayo,Zimbabwe) such that I figure out which is the best built heritage I can identify in order to help myself in writing a tentative article. First things first, I just thought �let me think out of the box and hence I chose the oldest building called the �Tower Block� which is one of the oldest building in my home town. This building is shaped like a block and it is tower like in nature and can be traced back to the colonial years when it was erected around the 1978 by the municipality before the Independence of Zimbabwe in 1980. The Tower block building being built in 1978 is a 13 storey building built of durable bricks. The Tower Block forms part of the buildings that are being owned by the Bulawayo City Council. The Tower block is structured in a way that allows anyone to who is coming from the easterly direction of Bulawayo town to easily identify it. This tower block is very important since it also comprises of activities that are being carried out by the Municipality of Bulawayo. This building also contains history of the Ndebele people who came to stay here in Zimbabwe after their great journey northwards when Mzilikazi Khumalo (My great great great great great great grandfather) was fleeing from the great Zulu warrior called Tshaka during the time of trouble (Mfecane) in South Africa Kwazulu Natal around 1878. The research I did about the Tower Block revealed out that the Bulawayo City Council had a policy of documenting Ndebele history. Again history of the Ndebele people can also be traced here. The tower block with its nice view and outstanding landscaping as seen by the trees and also the green lawn and water features as well as scented flowers also makes it to more beautiful and attractive even though its old built heritage. It seems the Bulawayo City Council is maintaining it in order for the heritage of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo to be preserved for future sustainability. In the tower block one can also find different activities that are being carried out by the City Council which ranges from call centre activities, recruiting people in various professions, engineers , landscapers, surveyors and also security guards. Again, the tower block is also responsible for water supply and distribution around the whole of Bulawayo town hence residents who are part of the City of Kings Bulawayo pay their bills at this building .Again ,enquiries on house stands are also done here such that any information needed for accommodation can be acquired here. Furthermore, With the beautiful scenery of this building, many people usually come to take photos/selfies hence exposing that beautiful outlook. Furthermore in this building the Municipality is also is responsible for carrying out work that ranges from campaigns called mycitymypride which thus help to keep the city clean. This has hence made the city to become clean taking into cognisance the sound and effective waste management strategy. Moreover, it is my pleasure to disseminate information about my home town among those who love travel as well as heritage including myself.
Tower Block of Bulawayo Zimbabwe in the City of Kings(Built Heritage)
