5 000+ join Zanu-PF at ZITF

MORE than 5 000 people registered for the Zanu-PF electronic party cards at the party's stand during the 57th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair that ended in Bulawayo yesterday.

Zanu-PF was offering registration to members who wished to join the party.

The party's commissariat department, which was in charge of the registration process, indicated that it was overwhelmed by the number of people wanting to join the party.

People who registered with the party for the first time had their particulars automatically captured under their cells, wards, districts and provinces.

Team leader of the Commissariat and Information and Communication Technology at the fair, Munyaradzi Katsande said the number of people who were coming to join was a sign that Zanu-PF was the party of choice in Zimbabwe. He said some of the people who registered were from outside Bulawayo.

"Our target was to register 5 000 people and we have surpassed that. We managed to register 3 420 new entries and over 2 000 either replaced lost cards or came for reprints.

"We had an average of over 1 500 people per day coming in to register for the party. The response speaks for itself that Zanu-PF is the party for the people and people love their party. We had people of all races coming in," he said.

The Zanu-PF stand, dubbed the Home of Zanu-PF, won the best exhibit in the SMEs category at the just ended fair.

Zanu-PF's department of Economic Planning and Business Development and Liaison was in charge of the exhibition where all the party's wings exhibited different facets of the party's activities and programmes.

The party was exhibiting under the "Z concept" which also saw the stand being designed in a maze shaped like the alphabet letter Z.

Zanu-PF director of Information and Publicity Steven Chidawanyika said the "Z concept" represented Zanu-PF, Zimbabwe, and the economic blueprint Zim Asset. He said by exhibiting at the fair the party was aiming at teaching people about the party's programmes and how they are designed to empower Zimbabweans.

"During the liberation struggle fighters had three functions that is fighting, education and production. We are continuing with the education function, that's why we are here.

"We want our people to know that this is their home, Zanu-PF is their home and even when you look at people who were visiting our stands you could tell that indeed they were at home.

"We have Zim Asset which we want people to understand and appreciate. It was originated by the party for the good of the people and the country at large," he said.

Chidawanyika said by exhibiting at the fair Zanu-PF was not seeking to have an edge over other political parties.

"We are not doing this to impress or to show anyone that we are superior. We are doing this for our people. We are a party of the people, everything we do, we do it for the people," he said.

Chidawanyika added that the party would continue exhibiting at the ZITF and plans were afoot to resume participating at the Harare Agricultural Show.

Zanu-PF ran its exhibition under the theme "Towards Two Million Jobs . . . In a Vibrant and Sustainable Economy."

The party also exhibited two mini-museums for the late Vice-Presidents Joshua Nkomo and Simon Muzenda. The theme for this year's edition of the ZITF was "Innovate-Integrate-Industrialise."