By Daniel Chigundu
ZIMBABWE Tourism Authority (ZTA) says the heritage trails march that was held in honour of the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo on the sidelines of the 11 edition of Sanganai/Hlanganani World Travel Expo has now been turned into a three-day Bulawayo carnival starting next year.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga had commanded that the march is made an annual event that should be held before premier travel show.
However, Dr Kaseke said they have taken hid of the instruction but have decided to turn the event into a three-day show that takes place the weekend before Sanganai/Hlanganani.
“The heritage trails of Dr Joshua Nkomo were held this year and as you heard from the Vice President, he has directed us to make this an annual event so the Dr Nkomo march is going to be turned into the Bulawayo Carnival, get it from me, the Dr Nkomo procession is going to be turned into a three-day Bulawayo carnival where we are celebrating the life of the legend, the life of our hero, the life of Father Zimbabwe in three-days it’s not going to be one day.
“It will be done the weekend before Sanganai/Hlanganani, it won’t be done a day before but the weekend before Sanganai/Hlanganani and we are going to follow the instructions given to us our honourable VP that we must make it an annual event but we cannot make it an annual event just as a march before Sanganai/Hlanganani,” he said
Dr Kaseke added that they have been looking for an opportunity to use in justifying the need for Bulawayo carnival and that the Nkomo march has just given them the reason they were looking for.
“We have been talking about Bulawayo carnival we now have a real excuse, the real reason to have the Bulawayo Carnival is the Dr Nkomo celebration, we want to have the carnival to celebrate our hero, Dr Nkomo.
“We are going to be inviting international countries, Dr Nkomo was not a nationalist but an internationalist, he had his footsteps in most countries in the region and in Africa up to as far as Egypt, so we are going to invite other countries to come and join us at the celebrations of the carnival starting next year,” said Dr Kaseke.
According to the ZTA, the Bulawayo carnival is going to be more about cultural activities and that the Samba Queens from Brazil will not be invited for the event.
“What we are asking ourselves is what are we expecting the Brazilians to come for Dr Nkomo carnival, no but are we expecting the Swazi to come yes, we are expecting people from Swaziland because they are very cultural, we are expecting people Botswana, Namibia and even from as far as Egypt to come for this carnival but Brazilians are not expected to come.
“Brazilians are for Harare Carnival they can come for Harare, but for Dr Nkomo carnival they are not expected to come because it’s a carnival that is looking at the heritage, cultural heritage that is looking at the footsteps of our forefather, our father Zimbabwe and we want to say it’s a real cultural event in both design and nature. So we are going to have no less than 10 countries will participate I can assure you,” he said
The Samba Queens have proven to be the main headline for the Harare carnival as they mesmerise crowds with their costumes and headgear.-
