A GRAND PARTY FOR THE AGES

THE Doek & Slay all-women’s parties continue to grow with the number of women who are attending exploding by each passing event.

We have seen the numbers grow and on Sunday there was a record attendance at the spiritual home of the show, Alex Sports Club, with rough estimates showing that at least 27,000 people paid to be part of the celebrations.

The organisers of the event said they lost count of the number of tickets sold but confirmed that the latest show broke all records in terms of attendance.

There are three Doek & Slay shows which are held in Harare every year with the main one being held in December.

Similar shows are held across the country but they are smaller when compared to the main show in Harare which also attracts women from other parts of the country.

The beauty about the Doek & Slay parties is the order which always prevails there despite the huge number of women who patronise the events.

This was the case at Alex Sports Club on Sunday with the thousands of women who came for the event showing remarkable discipline in terms of how they parked their vehicles, how they lined up to enter the show and how they behaved when they were inside.

We are so sure that if this was a show for men, and the same number of people had turned up, we would have had some serious incidents, including violent ones.

When you consider that a lot of alcohol is also consumed at this show, with the patrons allowed to bring in their cooler boxes loaded with all sorts of beers, then you can understand why we are giving these women all the praise for their exemplary behaviour, even under the influence of alcohol.

It’s good to see the police being there to just provide guidance rather than having to spend all their time dealing with those who will be fighting each other.

Of course, we heard that there were some bad apples, women who came specifically to steal the mobile phones of other patrons.

It’s an area that the organisers should address because they have created a profile of an event where women have always felt comfortable.

We saw a lot of negativity when it came to the latest edition of Zimfest which was held in the UK recently.

A lot of the criticism was directed at the way many of the ladies who attended the event were dressed.

Many critics felt that the dressing by some of the women was not in line with our culture as Zimbabweans.

We haven’t seen any pictures from the latest Doek & Slay event which shows that some women crossed the path with their dress codes on Sunday.

It feels good to see women having a party and the event passing without any major incident.

Credit should also be given to the organisers for the way they have remained innovative and have ensured that their event remains relevant and popular.