Unbelievable inferiority complex on display as Coltart is praised for Egodini Mall

Unbelievable inferiority complex on display as Coltart is praised for Egodini Mall

Nevanji Munyaradzi Chiondegwa

In a blatant case of unbelievable and pathetic inferiority complex teetering on mental colonization, hundreds of social media users have been on a stampede to credit recently appointed white City of Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart with the successful completion and opening of the iconic Egodini Mall.

Coltart who was only appointed Mayor four months ago with the works at Egodini having started in 2018 after the signing of the agreement with Terracota the construction company in 2016, it is rather far-fetched and a sad display of blatant mental inferiority that refuses to acknowledge the work done by Solomon Muguni led council.

That the biggest purveyors of this false narrative of Coltart’s success include self-proclaimed investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono is sad.  So blatant has been the attempt to dismiss black capability and success to the extent of even trying to rubbish the existence of sanctions and attribute the success to successful white leadership of the City of Bulawayo.

That the project was 95% complete in April 2023, three months before the elections of August 2023 that removed the Solomon Muguni council is not even being taken into consideration. They are struggling to give credit to their Bulawayo Council of black people which had done a tremendous job of building a new neat marketplace. Instead, they are desperately stampeding to pour praise on David Coltart who was only appointed Mayor 4 months ago. And anyone trying to correct that is labelled Murakashi.

The facts are; in 2016, the Bulawayo City Council awarded Terracotta Trading Limited (TTPL), a US$60 million tender for the redevelopment of the Basch Street terminus popularly known as Egodini under Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) facility. In March 2018, vendors and public transport operators were relocated to pave the way for construction works. The contractor was supposed to finish work by November 2019 so that vendors and buses can be back on site. They however failed to meet the deadline but by the time Coltart entered office, they were almost through!