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Sikhulekelani Moyo, [email protected]

THE Bulawayo business community says it benefited immensely from increased sales for products and services when the city hosted close to 4 000 delegates at the 21st Zanu-PF Annual National People’s Conference last week.

Hotels and lodges were the biggest beneficiary as they were fully booked while catering companies, fuel service stations, transporters, retailers, network providers, event managers, entertainers, and many more also reaped big spoils from the high spending by delegates, which energised their businesses.

The party’s conference also saw many businesses taking up stands to exhibit their goods and services at the venue, the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre, as a demonstration of confidence in the supportive economic policies being pursued by the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa.

In separate interviews representatives from different sectors said this came as a huge blessing to them and hoped more bigger conferences could be hosted in Bulawayo.

President Mnangagwa tours business stands at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre on the sidelines of the 21st Zanu-PF Annual National People’s Conference in Bulawayo last week.

They also commended the highest level of order and timely payments for their services and products, which is good for business confidence.

Before the start of the conference, the hospitality sector reported that all hotels and lodges were fully booked, which signifies the importance of hosting big events, especially in boosting the city’s economy.
“If you look at the business in Bulawayo in October, it was boosted by several conferences, the delegates who came from different parts of the country for the Zanu-PF conference, most of them occupied space in hotels and lodges,” Bulawayo City Council business development officer, Mr Kholisani Moyo said.

“During the conference, hotels and lodges were fully booked. So, in terms of business in the hospitality industry, it was boosted by the Zanu-PF Conference.
“This week we have a team from BRICS, who have come to meet the Bulawayo business community and we have seen most of the hotels also fully booked,” he added.

“These conferences have been a blessing to the economy of Bulawayo promoting the up and downstream industries that support the hospitality sector.”
The month of October has seen Bulawayo hosting a lot of events, which include strategic planning workshops from some of Government ministries, the ZimTrade Export Week, Mine Entra, and this week more events like the Alternative Mining Indaba, and the PRAZ workshops are ongoing.

Mr Moyo said this will see the gross domestic product (GDP) of the city growing.

Judith Ncube at Zanu Pf conference 2024 

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Matabeland Chapter chairperson, Mrs Beauty Bhulu, who is also the Bulawayo Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) representative said they were looking forward to hosting more conferences, saying that hosting the Zanu-PF Conference revealed that Bulawayo has the capacity to host big events.

Conference goers dressed to the nines in Zanu-PF regalia

“The spending that happened during the conference was good, it made a change in Bulawayo. Also, the conference organisers made payments in advance for many of their services so everything was perfect,” said Mrs Bhulu.
Mr Mackenzie Dongo of Mac Motors said the fuel sector also saw an increased demand during the conference, which was a positive trend resulting in business growth.

Ma9nine at Zanu-PF Conference gala

“We witnessed a boom in terms of business on the fuel side, we are happy and some of the sites with food outlets were also packed,” he said.
“It’s our hope that as Bulawayo we continue hosting events of such magnitude, which come in and boost our level of business,” said Mr Dongo.