Tsholotsho Rural District Council has been awarded town status

Thandeka Matebesi

Tsholotsho RDC Chairperson Councillor Esau Siwela confirmed the development saying it was long overdue.

“We applied for town status last year in terms of the Urban Councils Act Chapter 29:15, and we are excited that our work has yielded the intended result. Tsholotsho receives a lot of investment from the diaspora which has enabled it grow in terms of social services, population and economic activity. However, people are sometimes reluctant to invest more in a rural area so we set out to improve our status in order to attract bigger investment than we already have,” said Siwela.

Siwela added that a town status will assist the local authority to source funds for the rehabilitation of the Bulawayo – Tsholotsho highway. 

” In addition to the diaspora investment, Tsholotsho is well developed with a serviced suburb, hospital, a well functioning local authority and quite a number of social activities. The challenge is the state of the road from Bulawayo, it’s terrible. We cannot do much about it as a rural council but as a town we can apply for grants from the government,” explained Siwela. 

According to the Handbook for Councillors in Rural District Councils the status of an urban council is dependent on a number of factors including size and population, infrastructure, services offered and social developments. 

Statistics provided by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission show that Tsholotsho’s population is over 100 000 which is the required population for an RDC to be awarded town status.