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Govt to legalise shebeens

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TOURISM minister Walter Mzembi yesterday told the National Assembly that government was in the process of rebranding shebeens with the aim of legalising them.

TOURISM minister Walter Mzembi yesterday told the National Assembly that government was in the process of rebranding shebeens with the aim of legalising them.

BY VENERANDA LANGA

“Under the new tourism policy, we are now capturing the essence of shebeens, not in an old colonial sense, where they were outlawed,” Mzembi said at the National Assembly’s question and answer session.

“We have rebranded them in the new tourism policy as home hospitality centres, and they will be an extension of a product that we shall actually register and grade. Because they will be licenced, they will not be threatened in the same manner they were before.”

He said it will be important to licence shebeens to accommodate other guests when the country hosts the International Conference on Aids and STIs in Africa (ICASA) next month as most hotels would be fully booked.

“I have asked the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority to go out there and register home hospitality centres to take some of the clients in a typical homely situation. If a person is then offered beer — I know the question now is will it be a shebeen? The answer is no. The package will be properly graded and licenced under hospitality and not in the old sense of shebeens.”

MDC legislator Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga then asked: “How are you going to make sure this will not turn into sex tourism because people will get a beer and other services too?”

Mzembi said it was impossible to monitor and guard against such activities.

Meanwhile, Energy minister Samuel Undenge was taken to task by Mutoko East MP Ricky Mawere (Zanu PF) to explain why his ministry had issued a licence to a service station built near people’s houses in Mabelreign.

“I will deploy our regulatory body to look at the dangers so that they review the situation,” Undenge said.

Asked if he had ever been to Kariba recently to check on the dam’s water levels in relation to the current power shortages, Undenge said: “Zambia depends 90% on hydro-electricity and, yes, it has serious power problems. I have been to Kariba many times. Even if you go there to look at the water levels, it will not give you the hydrological situation. You need to apply scientific methods to know the water levels.”