‘Carnival floats should reflect economic pillars’

Roberta Katunga in Harare
A LOT of effort is needed in the construction of floats for carnivals to reflect the country’s four established economic pillars under the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

A float is a decorated platform, either built on a vehicle or towed behind one, which is a component of many festive parades.
Speaking at the welcome reception for the international carnival participants in Harare on Thursday, VP Mnangagwa said it was important for Zimbabwe’s adaption of the carnival concept to reflect the Zimbabwean cultural connotation. He said investing in float construction was a key element of any carnival.

“Cotton ginners, tobacco auction floors and grain marketers should be here with their floats, including players in the mining industry. I wish to see the four established economic pillars of agriculture, mining, manufacturing and tourism under our Zim Asset economic blueprint coming to tell their own story through these dynamic displays,” said VP Mnangagwa.

He said floats would help explain the country’s challenges and how they could be addressed. He gave an example of the current power crisis and said an energy float could explain to the nation the current challenges in meeting demand against the backdrop of climate change which has undermined hydro-electric generation.

“I perceive a regional power pool float showing Southern African power pool and how this problem is not just akin to Zimbabwe, but is a regional challenge. We could also complement this with a message on a switch off switches programme to save the minimum that is being generated,” said VP Mnangagwa.

He said religious tourism could also be promoted as the church industry had a huge following. He said using floats to reflect what the country was all about and celebrating the diversity of the people was one way of bringing out the good in carnivals.

He endorsed Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Engineer Walter Mzembi’s Gross National Happiness concept.

“No wonder we witness now in other countries, the pursuit of happiness captured as the Gross National Happiness (GNH), replacing the traditional methods of economic well being such as Gross National Product,” he said.

He said for the carnival concept to be sustainable it was imperative for it to be decentralised to provinces with each province hosting a carnival at least once a year. VP Mnangagwa said each province could have its own theme consistent with its endowments and accomplishments.

“In doing all this we ensure local ownership of branding, messages with the Ministry of Tourism and its marketing arm the ZTA and other relevant ministries playing equal roles. I am for smart partnerships that will ensure that carnivals become hubs of economic activity in provinces,” he added.

However, VP Mnangagwa said it was premature at this stage to talk of economic benefits of the event benchmarking the country against established traditions dating back hundreds of years ago. He urged the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry as well as the hospitality and transport sectors to gear up for large numbers of visitors and not to be found wanting and running out of stock.

The third edition of the HIC was held from 8 to 10 October with other activities running from September under the theme Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with the pay off line Celebrating our cultural diversity.

More than 25 countries participated at the carnival and they included Mozambique, Indonesia, Nigeria, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Namibia, South Africa, India, Malawi, Kenya, Brazil, Malaysia, Botswana and Swaziland.