Online Reporter
George Maponga
Masvingo Bureau
The Masvingo Provincial leadership has proposed renaming the Gymkhana Events and Conference Centre in Masvingo to Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Recreational Park in honour of President Mnangagwa.
Gymkhana was recently in the spotlight for hosting the just-ended Sanganai/Hlanganani Dzimbabwe World Tourism Expo that was held in Masvingo City.
The world-acclaimed expo was officially opened by President Mnangagwa and ran from September 9 to 12 at Gymkhana.
A new world-class restaurant, conference centre, a bar and 1,4km tarred access road to Gymkhana Events and Conference Centre were among the infrastructure legacy projects that were developed by the Government to ready Masvingo City for the Sanganai/Hlanganani Zimbabwe World Tourism Expo.
Speaking at the expo, Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Ezra Chadzamira suggested that Gymkhana be renamed after the President as a way of honouring him.
Now the provincial leadership has gone a step further by formally proposing to Masvingo City Council to initiate and effect the renaming process.
Permanent Secretary for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Dr Addmore Pazvakavambwa on Thursday revealed that plans were in motion to rename the venue of this year”a Sanganai/Hlanganai Dzimbahwe tourism expo after the President.
Dr Pazvakavambwa said Masvingo City Council needed to effect the necessary name changes to officialise the name change.
“We have agreed and proposed that the Gymkhana Events and Conference Centre be renamed Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa Recreational Park in honour of the President, whose sound and visionary leadership has successfully pivoted Zimbabwe to become an upper middle income economy by the year 2030,” said Dr Pazvakavambwa.
“We are pushing for the name change at the instigation of the Minister(of State for Masvingo Provincial and Devolution), and Masvingo City Council has to approve the process to take effect.”
A council resolution adopting the name change needed to be passed by Masvingo City Council before the renaming occurs officially.
Dr Pazvakavambwa said Masvingo City Council has already been approached and expressed optimism that the renaming process will proceed flawlessly.
He noted that renaming Gymkhana Events and Conference Centre was justified.
“The President is a visionary leadership whose stroke of genius saw him implementing the devolution programme and decentralisation of national events to all corners of the country in line with his philosophy of “leaving no one and no place behind.”
“Gymkhana now boasts a state-of-the-art restaurant, the first of its kind in Zimbabwe, thanks to the hosting of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo, so as Masvingo, we decided to rename the place after the President as a way of honouring him and saying thank you.”
According to him, Gymkhana Events and Conference Centre was now a sought-after place for tourism investment in Masvingo.
“There is a stampede by investors who want to build a five-star hotel at Gymkhana, and this huge interest is partly because of the new legacy infrastructure that is now at the place as a result of hosting the just-ended world tourism expo.”
Dr Pazvakavambwa paid homage to President Mnangagwa, saying the tourism industry in Masvingo had rebounded because of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo.
Minister Chadzamira noted that Gymkhana was a colonial name that needed to be scrapped.
He said President Mnangagwa was a colossal figure under whose tutelage Zimbabwe was firmly on course to attain upper middle-income society status.
Minister Chadzamira said Masvingo’s provincial economy was stimulated by the just-ended expo and is now on course to morph into a US$8 billion economy in gross domestic product terms by 2030.
Tourism is now Masvingo’s third-largest contributor to the provincial GDP.
