Turning Makokoba into a ‘historical site’, is it feasible?

I recently read in the press that the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) was considering turning Makokoba suburb into a historical site. The question that immediately came to my mind was, is it possible to turn an area where people live into a historical site (some kind of museum)?

I engaged several colleagues from within and without Makokoba on this issue and they all agreed that it was not possible. Anyway, not only is it impossible, it is unimaginable.
On the other hand may be the city fathers have other ideas, interms of how they are to turn the city’s oldest suburb into a ‘historical site’. In my humble and innocent submissions, I think one of the ways to do so is through finding an alternative site for habitat for the thousands of Makokoba residents. Considering that the bulk of the residents in the suburb are low income earners will the city council manage to service and build relocation homes for these residents? My honest opinion on this is that I do not think that BCC has that capacity at the moment to undertake such a huge project, interms of financial, technical and human resources.

Maybe they were not exactly thinking of turning Makokoba into a historical site, but rather into a ‘tourist attraction’ centre in the same mould as Soweto township of South Africa. Soweto has a rich history in terms of its role as an incubator of socio-political change in South Africa during the Apartheid era, in the same order as Makokoba during the Rhodesia era. However, Makokoba and Soweto have developed and transformed differently over the years.
Soweto houses several museums and state of the art public lecture theatres. Remember, in 2008- President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson of Liberia delivered the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in one of the public lecture theatres in Soweto. Amongst many other historical artefacts, Soweto also hosts the June 16, 1976 memorial. The June 16, 1976 memorial symbolises the massacre of South African Youths by the Apartheid security forces who were demonstrating against legislation by the then Afrikaner government to force black students to learn Afrikaans. Surely, from the few points I have raised above it is clear as to why Soweto is a tourist attraction.
The same cannot be said about Makokoba. The suburb is a forgotten part of the city, an ‘urban structural nuisance’ that town planners at Tower Block are working overtime on how best they can eliminate it from the face of the earth. Surely, if turning Makokoba into a historical site is one of the ways that they have thought will be the best way of destroying Makokoba, then there is something wrong with the caliber of our town planners at Tower Block.
There is nothing extraordinary that could lure tourists from Europe, the Americas, Asia or any other part of the world to visit Makokoba. Anyway the suburb is a health time bomb, what with sewage freely flowing on the streets, grounds and private dwellings of Makokoba residents. May someone at the city hall care to explain on what exactly they mean by turning ‘Makokoba into a historical site?’