adminTemba Dube and Nduduzo Tshuma Chronicle Reporters
AS early as 8AM yesterday, hundreds of people had formed winding queues jostling to enter the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair gates in Bulawayo.The day kicked off with a tour of the stands by President Robert Mugabe and guest of honour Zambian leader, President Edgar Lungu.
Hundreds of people followed the presidential entourage, taking pictures of “Africa’s greatest newsmaker” as he visited the Grain Marketing Board stand with his Zambian counterpart.
Presidential security teams had a torrid time clearing the way for the two Heads of State.
Business came to a virtual standstill as a crowd gathered to watch President Mugabe at the ZimTrade stand in Hall 4.
President Mugabe drew laughter when he inquired about the durability of shoes displayed by Shoepack at the stand.
Industry and Trade minister Mike Bimha explained to the two Presidents the role of ZimTrade in facilitating business between local enterprises and foreign companies.
The Presidents lingered at the Zambian stand where they took time to admire exhibits organised by the Zambia Development Agency, whose role is similar to ZimTrade.
Other stands toured include Japan, Mozambique and Pakistan.
At the South African stand, President Mugabe gave South African Small Business Development minister Lindiwe Zulu pecks on either cheek.
The two parted after a warm embrace, symbolic of cordial relations shared by the two countries.
Zulu gave President Mugabe a South African visitor’s guide and presented a bottle of wine to Lungu by a company from that country called Thandi Wines.
The two leaders visited the Choppies stand and the Zanu-PF Hall where they viewed a number of stands including those belonging to the Women and Youth Leagues.
The crowd continued to swell as the Heads of State headed for the Bulawayo Agriculture Society stand.
President Mugabe was impressed when the organisation’s president, Isaac Dube said most of the small grains in the hall had been harvested from drought afflicted areas.
He said despite the erratic rainfall that characterised this agricultural season, farmers managed to get good harvests in small grains.
President Mugabe and Lungu made their last stop at the Alpha Omega Dairy stand, a company run by the First Family.
Meanwhile, thousands of people turned up for the official opening of the fair and were treated to an eye popping display by the uniformed forces and schoolchildren.
Featuring look-alikes of iconic WWE wrestlers the Undertaker and Rey Mysterio Junior, police recruits performed death defying stunts.
Spectators were glued to motor cycle and bicycle stunts, with police officers flying and somersaulting through the air.
The cops, who gravity apparently forgot, flew through burning hoops and criss-crossed as they spun over airborne cycles.
Not to be outdone, police dogs displayed uncanny canine intelligence as they hoisted the Zimbabwe and the police flags.
Led by their handlers, the dogs lay down in formations that read ZIM and 35.
The appreciative crowd— that included President Mugabe and his Zambian counterpart Edgar Lungu — howled with laughter throughout a superbly choreographed martial arts display that depicted the determination of freedom fighters during the war of liberation.
In one of the scenes, a female officer comically dispatched three villains.
Two officers — one male and the other female — elicited gasps of disbelief from the spectators as they contorted their bodies into seemingly impossible shapes.
Members of the public were treated to a side of policing that shattered the stereotype of officers as the unpopular uncompromising hunters of lawbreakers.
Earlier, three helicopters flew past to honour Lungu and his wife Esther and signal the start to a memorable afternoon of entertainment.
The Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, with their mascot Private Peter Moyo — a goat — marched around the Showground arena before drum majorettes from 20 schools around the country raised the bar higher.
The schoolchildren marched with aplomb into the arena and literally grabbed the show by the scruff of the neck and forced spectators to stop fidgeting and concentrate as they did their thing.
The tots were a marvel to behold as they broke the drum majorette tradition to incorporate a display called “Eat Well, Play Well, Work Well.”
As the main marchers sat down, children — all aged below 11 years — sashayed around miming traditional tasks of growing, cooking and eating food.
Dressed in colourful outfits, they exited to thunderous applause.
With spinning sticks, the rest of the drummies strutted off the stage to more appreciative whistles.
Lungu was seen off by President Mugabe, senior government officials and service chiefs at the Joshua Mqabuko International Airport at 5PM before the Zimbabwean leader made his way to Harare.
At Joshua Mqabuko International Airport, Lungu displayed nimble-footedness as he joined a group of women dressed in the traditional Zambian chitenge to perform that country’s ethnic dances.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter