Chiyangwa speaks on Grace Mugabe tour funding

Businessman Philip Chiyangwa has said the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe's "Meet the People tours" across all provinces are being financed by "private money" and not taxpayers' funds.

Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo left the door open for speculation yesterday after telling a newspaper that, "I really don't know where the funding is coming from.

This allowed the paper to speculate that the "mega-rallies, attended by Cabinet ministers and top civil servants, could be feeding from the ailing national fiscus".

Chiyangwa hit out at the claims, revealing that he chairs a committee which raises funds to sponsor the First Lady's programmes ahead of her expected assumption of the post of Secretary for Women's Affairs at the Zanu-PF National People's Congress in December.

He said there are sponsors and if there is anything that has been said about money, its private money, it's a fund that was brewed during the Women's League Conference following the chaotic Youth Conference.