Spending on a different scale
Rich Zimbos really go big when it comes to spending their hard cash.
And we are not talking of small monies here either but thousands to millions of American dollars.
Of course for some it is hard earned but in most cases it is ill gotten.
Miniyothabo Baloyi-Chiwenga, the 47-year-old wife of vice president Constatino Chiwenga, 68, is building a house, a warehouse and a shopping mall at her home village in Filabusi.
This came to light when a Harare couple she had paid to construct these properties later abandoned the projects despite having been paid.
The couple was arrested at the Beitbridge border post while attempting to flee; they should have known better that they are messing with the wrong people.
Anyway, what is of particular interest in this story is the amount of money involved, they type of investment and the place.
According to media reports, Miniyothabo had paid almost a million US dollars towards the construction of the said structures.
I will not dwell much on where she got the money from, after all she is a decorated soldier and the wife of country’s second in command, which means for her finance is not problem.
I can only imagine the type of a house she is building; it will surely be a mansion and a star attraction in her village.
Since she is building a warehouse and a shopping mall, it shows she really means business about sprucing up her home area, which to me is not a bad idea as it will also create employment for locals.
I have no doubt the roads in the area are now in a better condition, we don’t want our First Lady in the making to be driving on bumpy, pot-hole riddled roads.
Still on money and spending, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, George Guvamatanga is in the news again following a buying spree of houses in the leafy suburbs of Jo’burg.
Guvamatanga, whose source of wealth is questionable, reportedly spent millions of Rands on 12 houses in adjacent suburbs of Sandton, Randburg, Fourways and Dainfern Golf Estate.
According to a local media house, The News Hawks, the properties range between R700, 000 to R6 million.
The Perm Sec also owns properties in Durban and Cape Town.
Guvamatanga has a penchant for spending and never shies away from showing off his soft life.
A few years back, he hired South African artists, Makhadzi and Mafikizolo to perform at his birthday party and paid them double what they had charged, just to show off his big fat pockets.
After that, he charted a private jet to Vic Falls for his family in yet another obscene show of spending, causing a bigger splash than the famous waterfall itself!
So you see, while most of us are trying hard to stretch that dollar, the rich Zimbos are spending with their eyes closed.
