David Coltart
@DavidColtart • 497,230 subscribers
Official page of Senator David Coltart, former Zimbabwean Minister of Education, Sport, Arts & Culture, Christian, human rights lawyer, Mayor of Bulawayo
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I have just been sent the attached videos of the rehabilitated fountain in front of The City of Bulawayo City Hall! Congratulations to the contractors who have done such sterling work in getting this iconic structure ready for Trade Fair. It truly enhances the already beautiful City Hall.
David Coltart134,519 views • 1 month ago
Having driven down to Maphisa yesterday to celebrate the 46th anniversary of Zimbabwe’s Independence I remain deeply concerned about the state of the road to Maphisa. Although construction work has been done on virtually the whole length of the road it is nowhere near finished. In fact for much of the length of the road all that has been done is the grading of either side of what used to be narrow tar. The narrow bridges remain the same and the old narrow tar is in very bad condition. In fact most the road was extremely dangerous. I recognize that contractors are still on site and had parked their construction vehicles to facilitate the high volume of traffic yesterday, so remain hopeful that they will remain on the road until it has been completed all the way from Bulawayo to Maphisa. My fear is that now that Independence Day is over that the contractors will move elsewhere leaving most of the road in a worse state than it was before the work started. I have already had one report of construction vehicles being moved to Masvingo and hope that isn’t going to be a trend. I call on Government to confirm that construction will continue along the entire length of the road and to give an indication when it expects the road to be finished.
David Coltart66,636 views • 1 month ago
After a series of meetings with McCormick Property Development (a SA company), which included a request made to them to redesign the Egodini vendors bays, we are pleased to report that substantial progress has been made and the project is now underway again. The redesign was to ensure that the Egodini vendors market will be fully roofed so as to provide protection to vendors, their customers and their wares. Egodini is a critical component of The City of Bulawayo ‘s need to decongest areas in the center of our City (including 5th Avenue) and the project has been bogged down. I am grateful for the new energy which has been injected by McCormick and now hopeful that this long outstanding project may now be completed.
David Coltart493,990 views • 2 years ago
Yesterday we took delivery of a variety of new Caterpillar machinery and New Holland tractors for our Works Department. These have been bought by the City of Bulawayo using money supplied to us by Zinara. I am delighted that we have bought top of the range equipment which will add massive capacity to our road maintenance and construction teams. We have serious challenges as we rehabilitate Bulawayo’s roads but this is a step in the right direction.
David Coltart44,704 views • 3 months ago
Yesterday I rode down to the Umzingwane river from The City of Bulawayo. In the course of the ride I was able to inspect the state of some of the Umzingwane’s tributaries and the river itself. The good news, as shown by the attached video and pictures, is that the Umzingwane itself has been in flood and is still flowing strongly. The bad news is that I witnessed illegal gold mining in virtually every tributary, and very few tributaries were actually flowing. In all the pools in tributaries the water is exceptionally muddy, a sign of massive erosion upstream. The attached photos show tributaries not flowing and some of these discolored pools. After so much rain these tributaries should still have been flowing but they weren’t. To explain the significance of this I need to emphasize that the catchment has had at least 600mm of rain this season so far and last week alone had over 100 mms of rain - and yet the bulk of the tributaries weren’t flowing yesterday. Despite all the rain we have had Umzingwane as at the 21st January is only at 30,1 % full. In contrast Mshabezi dam is 100% full and yet its catchment area is very close to Umzingwane’s. The difference is that whereas Mshabezi’s catchment is mainly in the north eastern Matopos and has hardly any gold mining, Umzingwane’s catchment has been utterly devastated by illegal mining. Towards the end of 2024 Government banned alluvial mining in river courses. Yesterday I saw numerous miners hard at it. As stated above nearly every tributary of the Umzingwane has evidence of mining taking place. There are large camps of illegal miners. Despite this I didn’t see a single EMA or ZRP patrol. These miners are continuing their illegal work with impunity. The consequences for our City are devastating. Government needs to bring this existential threat to an end immediately otherwise Bulawayo’s water crisis will continue, indeed worsen. We are fortunate this year to have had a good rains which have put some water in our dams. In a drought year there will be almost no inflow. So this illegal mining must be brought to an end immediately.
David Coltart55,158 views • 4 months ago
The Lower Hillside Dam in The City of Bulawayo is spilling. It started spilling at 6am this morning the 17th March 2026. Not a big deal for those who live with better rainfall but noteworthy in Matabeleland. I think the last time it spilled was 2017. Utterly glorious.
David Coltart30,942 views • 2 months ago
Mshabezi dam started spilling today. Thank you Lord🙏 The City of Bulawayo
David Coltart39,645 views • 4 months ago
For the first time in over a decade our The City of Bulawayo vintage Daimler vehicle was used to deliver the Mayoress & Town Clerk Mr C Dube to the opening of the 2025 ZITF. I was unable to join them as I was at the Presidential lunch held just before the opening. The Daimler vehicle had been left unserviceable in the basement of our rates hall for years. We managed to raise private donations to repair the Daimler and to secure parts for this 70 year old vehicle in the UK. I am indebted to an old school friend of mine and retired Emirates Boeing 777 Captain Chris Brittlebank who sourced the spares in the UK. This exceptionally valuable asset of the City of #Bulawayo has now been restored to its full grandeur for future generations. Although this vehicle doesn’t provide water or jobs its restoration is symbolic of our plan to restore all the grandeur of our City in the years ahead.
David Coltart92,323 views • 1 year ago
I have just ridden down to the Umzingwane river from Bulawayo to inspect its flow. Sadly as this video shows there is only a trickle. Our dam watch report released by the The City of Bulawayo yesterday shows that our dams, despite the good rains, are still only sitting at 37% full.
David Coltart101,993 views • 1 year ago
I get daily legitimate complaints about the state of roads in #Bulawayo. I am deeply aware of the problems we face in this regard because I have to drive one of these bad roads every day. The public need to be assured that everything possible will be done to address this.
David Coltart21,080 views • 2 months ago
A little Saturday Soother for y’all. Last weekend one of our Sons Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 attended a friend’s wedding & was called up for an impromptu dance by the MC. My only regret is that I can’t claim those genes come from my side of the family! 😂 Enjoy #Zimbabwe #yellowsocks
David Coltart119,846 views • 3 years ago
This video appears to show Rwandan troops in Mozambique. If this is true one asks what the troops of one tyrannical regime are doing in another African country propping up another regime which lacks legitimacy after a highly contested election? I am advised this came from a Tweet by a Mozambican telling Rwandan soldiers to keep out of Mozambique’s affairs. He cites Rwandan soldiers travelling on a train carrying mineral ore.
David Coltart44,837 views • 1 year ago
