Militants representing President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party have raided boating clubs and tourism lodges in the country’s main tourist areas and 200 party members have barricaded fishing spots and a safari lodge about 30 kilometres west of Harare since Friday.
Amid checks to ensure that tourist destinations are 51% black-owned, Zimbabwe launched a new tourism campaign branding the country as ‘the world of wonders’.
Lodge owner, Gary Stafford says the militants took an inventory of the assets at the lodge but he says there were no incidents of violence or looting. The militants said that they were taking stock and evaluating all tourist destinations in terms of the Zimbabwean law that calls for 51% ownership of all businesses by blacks.
Other groups of militants visited boating clubs and mobile home parks at Lake Chivero, west of Harare. They were armed with sticks and chanting slogans in support of Zanu-PF and Mugabe. Apparently the militants occupied a mobile home at the caravan park and allowed it to stay open as long as nothing was removed from the site.
The militants then completed a detailed inventory of everything on site. They supplied their own food and even told local people that they wanted to improve conditions for impoverished communities nearby so that they could have a share in the leisure activities at the Lake.
Property owners throughout the country have contacted the tourism and environment ministries and asked them to urgently intervene to prevent such action.
On Friday last week Zimbabwe launched a new tourism campaign branding the country as “the world of wonders” during an international tourism convention held in Spain.
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This is how it started the last time. This means elections are close, I assure you that a lot of very nasty things are going to happen. Oh God not again! - Howard
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