Bajila challenges 50km roadworks pledge for Bulawayo–Victoria Falls highway
By Staff Writer, Parliamentary Watch
MP Bajila has challenged the scale of planned works on the Bulawayo–Victoria Falls highway, telling Parliament that a 50-kilometre commitment was inadequate for a route connecting two cities identified in the debate as Cricket World Cup hosts.
Speaking during the National Assembly sitting on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, Bajila questioned the infrastructure priorities outlined in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State of the Nation Address delivered on 29 September.
“Yet in the State of the Nation Address, the President spoke of plans to do only 50 kilometres of roadwork in Bulawayo-Victoria Falls during the year 2027,” Bajila said.
“It does not matter how one looks at this, the only logical conclusion is that it is not right.”
Bajila told the House that Bulawayo and Victoria Falls had been approved as host cities for the 2027 men’s Cricket World Cup, which Zimbabwe would co-host with South Africa and Namibia.
The MP also said that some travellers preferred travelling between the two cities through Botswana because, despite being longer and more expensive, that route took less time.
“For infrastructure, we should not only measure kilometres announced but kilometres completed and communities connected,” the MP said.
Bajila called on Parliament to scrutinise allocations, disbursements and implementation, and demand public progress reports.
The 50-kilometre figure was presented as a commitment cited from the presidential address.
