What can a mosquito do to an elephant?

Karikoga Kaseke, to Madrid, Spain to present its bid to co-host the 2013 United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly, it seemed an impish attempt to paint the air.
It sounded much like the proverbial dream of an old man suckling from his mother!

Indeed, it sounded like a distant mirage but the two career public servants took the challenge and treaded in an area where even elephants feared.
For a tiny, impoverished and sanctions-hit Zimbabwe, with an economy slowly climbing out of the dustbin, wrestling the bid from rich nations like Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and Russia was akin to a mosquito wrestling an elephant. It sounded much like a mismatch.

That the hosting of the mega event brings to the Victoria Falls, delegates from at least 176 countries, speaks volumes about Zimbabwe’s international image.
Zimbabweans in their broad totality should support the project and live the brand, “Zimbabwe, a world of wonders”.
The ball is now in our court and it is entirely up to us to soil or spoil our own chance to show the world our good side.

This event gives us the chance to tell the world that we are not the rogue state that our detractors want to paint.
We should show that we are not the notorious colour our detractors try to paint us and that we are indeed an excellent tourist destination that can compete with any other destination in the world. For those in the know, winning the bid is a result of combination of factors that include the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority’s aggressive and highly effective perception management programme and celebrity hosting project.

These have been the sole harbingers of Zimbabwe’s image to the outside world after our historic fallout with the West.
It was a long winding journey. It was a vision that should be credited to ZTA and a vision credited to Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi and his team.
Like or hate Karikoga Kaseke, the man has proved quite a mover, like or hate Sylvester Maunganidze, the man has proved effective and like or hate Walter Mzembi, the minister has a good team around him. This team has brought more accolades than any of Zimbabwe’s industries in the recent past.

I will not beat my own drum, but I am sure The Herald has played its part in building the image of Zimbabwe. The Herald Business Editor Victoria Ruzvidzo has hosted this column for more than five years.
As we get to the real business of planning the mega event, we must manage our politics locally and avoid international interventions.

We must stop being cry-babies and looking up to other countries. The success or failure will be attributed to us as a nation.
Every one of us with Zimbabwe at heart should look for homegrown political solutions and not rubbish national effort or sacrifice them at the international political altar.

Zimbabwe is ours and let’s welcome our visitors, let’s show them that we are a good people as we naturally are. Let’s show our patriotism in our broad totality by committing ourselves to this project.
The benefits of hosting this mega-event far outweigh our personal interests.