Bars cash in on live Concourt proceedings

SPORTS bars dotted around Gweru and Kwekwe in the Midlands Province on Wednesday recorded brisk business, charging a fee to people seeking to watch the live screening of the Constitutional Court proceedings on the petition lodged by MDC-Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa, who is seeking to overturn President Mnangagwa’s victory in the July 30 harmonised elections.

A snap survey conducted by The Herald in the two cities discovered that most sports bars had hired bouncers to man the entrances, with people seeking to watch the proceedings from television sets within the bars having to part with $1.

Soccer betting shops were also packed with people taking leave from betting to watch the televised court proceedings.

Various bar attendants interviewed said they had to charge a fee to try and manage crowds most of whom were not their usual patrons. “As you might be aware, we know our patrons and we usually know the estimate numbers of people who get into the bar, but today (Wednesday) we had a sudden influx of people, most of them who are not even buying anything here, but watching court proceedings. We then decided charge individuals getting into the bar,” said Ms Janet Simango from Gweru’s City Centre Sports Bar.

Ms Simango said there were not charging their regular patrons for watching the court proceedings.

“We have our regular clients, these are not affected, but we have been trying to control the crowds by charging those who have only come for the first time to watch the proceedings,” she said.

Another bar attendant, who declined to be named, said they introduced an entrance fee charge after their patrons raised a complaint.

“During the first session of the proceedings, we allowed people to get in, but the numbers kept swelling and our patrons then started raising complaints, thus we decided to charge a fee,” he said.