Shops Close At National Park (Hwange)

Source: Herald

Date:12th January 2008

Author: Anon

Three upmarket restaurants and four retail facilities servicing Hwange National Park have been closed, it has been learnt.

Apart from the restaurants the other affected facilities include a bar, curio shop, bakery and superette. The facilities, which were being leased by a Hwange businessman, Mr Maurice Kantor for an annual fee of $25 000, closed shop on December 31 last year.

In an interview in Beitbridge on Thursday, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority western region manager Mr Tawanda Gotosa confirmed the closure of the facilities. He said the authority was working flat out to ensure that the outlets were re-opened. "Yes, it is true that the facilities are not operational at the moment. It is not our intention to have them closed for a very long time, as they are a major component of our business. They ceased operating on 31 December," said Mr Gotosa. He said the authority had to terminate Mr Kantor's lease as he was failing to run the business soundly.

"There was no business at all. The facilities would go for days if not weeks at times without providing any service. It seems he has not been injecting adequate working capital hence the collapse of the business," said Mr Gotosa. He said the facilities were even failing to provide basic essential services to tourists. "As you could be aware our lodges are self-contained. There is also self-catering. We had a situation where tourists would come and could not even get bathing soap from the superette, for instance."

Mr Gotosa said Mr Kantor had also abandoned the business. "From the intelligence we have been gathering, we established that Mr Kantor was no longer there on the ground. He had left the business to his workers. Hwange National Park being what it is we could not allow such a thing to happen," he said.

It is one of the faces of Zimbabwe," he said. Mr Gotosa said the collapse of the business was coming at a time when business had vastly improved at the parks. "Hwange National Park is one place which is always busy. We actually have day visitors at times. As of last year arrivals in the park and our occupancy improved tremendously. The only blemish was our facilities. A number of clients aired their complaints, hence our resolution to terminate the lease," he said. Mr Gotosa said the authority would in the meantime run the facilities as they scout for the right candidates to take over the business. "In the interim we are going to run the business ourselves as we scout for people whom we can lease the properties out to. We only want serious bidders not people who come in for speculative purposes," he said. Mr Gotosa said the only thing they would not let out was the curio shop. "We are not going to let out the curio shop. We will maintain and run it. This is where our promotional material will also be displayed," he said.

Mr Gotosa said the authority would soon be courting fuel dealers with a view of leasing out the service station. "We have got filling stations in the park which are lying idle at the moment. We are convinced that once these are running they will have a positive bearing on the arrivals," he said.

On the fate of the workers employed at the facilities, Mr Gotosa said the authority would absorb them.