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While tourism in Zimbabwe has largely been restricted to traditional attractions like the Victoria Falls, Great Zimbabwe Monuments, Nyanga, Hwange National Park and a multifarious array of other world acclaimed tourism tapestries, there is a new thinking that links tourism to the history and the people of that country.
History and culture have of late become the pinnacles of tourism, hence the introduction of township tourism, under the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority’s new tourism brand, “Zimbabwe – A World of Wonders”.
President Mugabe, affectionately known by his legion of fans and admirers by his totem, Gushungo, is no doubt a tourist attraction.
His history, political astuteness, tact, vision and principled stance have been captured through a township tourism house built in Gweru by businesswoman Mrs Smelly Dube.
The house, built in Woodlands Park, which is a replica of President Mugabe’s historical house in Highfield, Harare, was unveiled on Wednesday to the business community in Gweru.
The house is filled with pictures that tell the story of President Mugabe’s life, from his heyday as a schoolteacher to his transformation into a great nationalist and revolutionary up to his day as the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
The unveiling of the house to the business community coincided with the celebration of Mrs Dube’s scooping of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Midlands Provincial Businesswoman of the Year award. She was also the first runner-up in the ZNCC national awards.
Midlands Governor Mr Jason Machaya led the contingent of the business people and ordinary admirers who thronged the Gushungo House.
The house is expected to draw people to Gweru in the same manner Nelson Mandela’s house brings tourists to Soweto.
“We are proud of Mrs Dube as a woman from Midlands province and as a Zimbabwean woman who has embraced President Mugabe’s indigenisation and emancipation projects’.
“She has done us proud. She won the awards because she deserved them since she is a hard worker,’’ said Governor Machaya.
To show that Mrs Dube is a selfless businesswoman, she celebrated her life with thousands of elderly people to whom she donated blankets and food hampers.
The scene looked like a star rally as thousands of people came to join her.
They came on foot in droves. They sang and danced to her good life and made speeches that praised her as a harbinger of tourism and good life to Gweru.
It is the first ever such project in Zimbabwe and Mrs Dube has effectively scored another priceless award, for her innovativeness, selflessness and vision, which underpins President Mugabe’s indigenisation and women empowermrnt programmes.
“I am proud of being a woman, a Zimbabwean woman. There is no better place to be a woman than in Zimbabwe, where President Mugabe has given women equal opportunities to men.
“I hate it when people talk of gay rights. How can a man marry another man or a woman marry another woman?
“Women must take advantage of opportunities presented by President Mugabe. There are many things a woman can do in Zimbabwe.
“I grew up admiring the works of the President and when I got land through the land reform programme I believed I would achieve the goal of giving back to the community on behalf of our revolutionary leader’.
“This house is a tribute to the work that the President has done for the good of this country,’’ said Mrs Dube.
In 1954, Robert Mugabe, then a young man, taught at Mambo Primary School, a spitting distance from the city centre on the western side.
Today, just about 2km from Mambo School, a house has been built and internally decorated not only to tell the story of President Mugabe but also to promote the virtues, values and principles of a life well lived.
Pictures of President Mugabe and his colleagues in their early nationalist days are displayed on the walls and they really tell his story.
Mrs Dube built the house and a water booster station in Woodlands Park through her company, River Valley Properties (Private) Limited.
Like or hate President Mugabe, wherever he has been, the veteran nationalist has left footprints and a trail of admirers.
Obviously 1954 is not a short time ago. Several moons have turned into years that have rolled into decades.
The house is worth more than US$50 000 and has been furnished and decorated to the tune of US$20 000.
Mrs Dube got Woodlands Farm under the land reform programme in 2007 and has turned it into a thriving new residential area for Gweru.
She also handed over 1 000 medium- and high-density residential stands to civil servants in the city and is now working on availing building material which recipients of the stands will get on credit and repay on a monthly basis.
Mrs Dube, who has provided accommodation for thousands of people in Gweru, says she was inspired by Mr Philip Chiyangwa’s Pinnacle Holdings.
“I am really thankful to President Mugabe who gave women the opportunity to climb up the ladder in the post-independence era.
“I thought I was lessening the burden on desperate home seekers and little did I know there were people watching me’.
“I feel proud to be a woman. I did it to demystify the misconception that we cannot be at par with men,” she said.
There is no doubt that the house will pass on information about the great revolutionary from one generation to another.
Mrs Dube should be applauded for scoring a first in tourism, too.
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