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Zanu war base turned into brothel
By Staff
Reporter
THE Mushandira Pamwe Hotel in Highfield, Harare, which was used by Zanu
as a base during the country’s war of liberation has been turned
into a brothel by the son of one of President Robert Mugabe's closest
liberation war allies.
The hotel in the poor township was owned by the late George Tawengwa who helped freedom fighters during their bloody battles with the Rhodesian forces in the 1970s.
The hotel, which was built in 1972, provided food, facilitated meetings and accommodation for Zanla forces and several nationalist leaders who included Mugabe, Enos Nkala and Edgar Tekere.
Mugabe and Nkala both had houses in Highfield and their ideals resonated with Tawengwa who freely assisted the freedom fighters from the Zanla and Zipra movements.
New Zimbabwe.com today can reveal that the Senator for Glen Norah and Highfield constituencies, Charles Tawengwa, and his two brothers - Tendai and Aggrey – are running the brothel.
Charles Tawengwa and his two brothers had a fall-out with their late brother and former mayor of Harare, Solomon Chirume Tawengwa, whom they excluded from running the hotel and the fleet of buses left by their father.
The late burly mayor was relegated to the farming activities at Sheba Farm outside Marondera.
Charles Tawengwa owes his senatorial post to the reputation of his father during the armed struggle.
Investigations by New Zimbabwe.com revealed that Mushandira Pamwe Hotel does not allow guests to check into their rooms during the day but only after 6PM.
Between 11AM and 6PM, the hotel is used for "quickies" or "short time" sex sessions with lovebirds paying $200 000 for an hour.
Last Friday, a New Zimbabwe correspondent was turned away during the day "because the hotel had rooms for day use", according to a clerk at the reception.
On the walls hung new rates for the hotel which stated that for day use, one forks out $200 000, night (double communal room) $ 800 000 and night (executive room) $1 200 000.
Senator Tawengwa denied that he had turned the family hotel into a brothel.
"We are a hotel and offer services offered by other hoteliers. It's all rubbish to suggest that we are immoral," he said.
Sources said Mushandira Pamwe Hotel has lost lustre as a result of this moral decadency.
Small scale tobacco and vegetable farmers from farms near Harare told New Zimbabwe.com that they are allowed to book into the hotel during the day but cannot access their rooms until 6PM.
"We are told that the rooms would be available in the evening. But at times we find used condoms in the rooms suggesting they would have been used during our absence," one farmer said.
Other farmers said it is hard to get a room on Sundays because marabi musician Kireni Zulu, who is contracted to perform at Mushandira Pamwe Hotel on this day, has a huge following which consists of patrons with hot pants who book the rooms in advance.
Incidentally, farmers book on Sundays for a week to attend the tobacco auctions at the Boka Auction Floors, Burley Marketing Zimbabwe and the Tobacco Sales Floor.
The tobacco auction floors close at the end of this month, one month ahead of schedule.
Mugabe has used
several national occasions to remind Zimbabweans how George Tawengwa
helped him and others at Mushandira Pamwe at the height of the war.
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