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Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
VICTORIA Falls comes alive today when more than 6, 000 Zanu-PF members descend on the resort town for the 15th Annual People’s Conference. About 6,500 delegates are expected to attend the conference which ends on Sunday.

President Robert Mugabe, who is also the first secretary of Zanu-PF, is expected to officially open the conference tomorrow.

This is the second time within a year that the resort town has hosted the ruling party following a successful 21st February Movement event which drew more than 20,000 guests.

The Mayor, Councillor Sifiso Mpofu, said the town, which has grown to be the country’s choice conference centre, is ready to welcome and host the ruling party for the second time in less than 12 months.

“As the Mayor of Victoria Falls I want to welcome everyone who has travelled from all over Zimbabwe for the Zanu-PF 15th People’s Conference.

“In my personal capacity and on behalf of fellow councillors, council management and the entire community, we want to ensure that all visitors are more than welcome,” said Clr Mpofu.

He said Victoria Falls residents anticipate business relationships to develop after the conference, with scores of locals exhibiting at a business expo at the venue.

The conference, which started on Monday, is being held at Elephant Hills Resort Golf Course.

“Victoria Falls is growing as a conference centre and if Zanu-PF decides to come back to have another event we are more than prepared to host them. We hosted the 21st February Movement celebrations early this year so they can relax and rest assured that they will have a successful occasion.

“As a municipality we would want to wish His Excellency and the First Secretary of Zanu-PF and the whole party a successful conference,” said Clr Mpofu.

He said the conference would set the business tone ahead of the official opening of the Victoria Falls International Airport.

“The occasion of this conference comes at a time when one of our major projects, the Victoria Falls International Airport, is about to be commissioned and obviously we are looking at an increase in the volume of visitors, traffic, accommodation and entertainment demand.

“Our town generally offers little in terms of entertainment especially considering there are no leisure centres and movie houses. There are opportunities for investment and I would like to inform our visitors that we have opportunities in the entertainment sector,” Clr Mpofu said.

The Town Clerk Christopher Dube said they had ensured enough safety and security for delegates.

“As the Town Clerk for this town, I would like to welcome our delegates. In terms of service delivery, we would like to assure everyone that they will get quality service as we’ve put all logistics in place,” said Dube.

“We’ve hosted numerous conferences of the same magnitude and we are more than ready to add another success story to our history.

“In terms of safety, our visitors should be rest assured that Victoria Falls is a safe and crime free area and our safety records speak for themselves. We’ve national security agents, tourism police and municipal police all working hand in hand.”

Dube urged visitors to the city to be mindful of wild animals adding that everyone should strive to protect them in solidarity with keeping the environment natural.

“Otherwise human threat is minimal and the only caution we can send to participants is that the town is located in a game park and there are wild animals which can be dangerous.

“All they need to do is respect signage that has been put across,” he said.

“There are elephants and buffaloes which have attacked people before and these can be avoided by staying away from dangerous points and not trespassing.”

In terms of health, Dube added: “We also want to assure delegates that they are safe from malaria.

“Victoria Falls is in a mosquito zone but free from malaria. We work closely with the Ministry of Health and Child Care. We just finished the indoor residual spraying and our visitors will have peaceful sleep.”

The conference is being held under the theme: “Consolidating people’s power through Zim-Asset” and the economic blueprint will take centre stage at the conference as espoused by the Politburo.