Debt-ridden Chiyangwa splashes cash
By Helen Kadirire
GWERU – If flamboyance is anything to go by, then debt-ridden businessman Phillip Chiyangwa definitely knows how to display his stuff. But delivering an address to an academic crowd is not his domain, if his “public lecture” at the Midlands State University (MSU) last week is anything to go by.
According to High Court papers, Chiyangwa risks losing four houses as he is failing to settle an $8 million debt with a local bank. Four years ago, Chiyangwa staged another drama at Africa University near Mutare where he promised to pay fees for hundreds of students but nothing came out of it and some students even failed to write their exams.
Chiyangwa who was addressing students at MSU on “Youth in entrepreneurship for economic development” at the weekend left students in awe as business came to a standstill. Chiyangwa opted to make his presence felt arriving at the institution in his Rolls Royce Phantom car.
An entourage led by several executive members of his empowerment outfit, the Affirmative Action Group (AAG) and others from his Pinnacle Properties Holdings Company completed Chiyangwa’s grand entry. Students packed the college car park to catch a glimpse of Chiyangwa and his entourage, and jostled to take pictures of a car many have only seen on television.
Foreign students who do not miss an opportunity to remind locals how poor Zimbabweans are, were left speechless, and could only join local students to marvel at Chiyangwa’s style. College security details wielding baton sticks kept a menacing watch to ensure no one dared come too close.
Before the lecture began, students were shown a video of Chiyangwa titled “The story of a legend”, while countless banners of his various companies littered every corner of the college.
As he walked into the Great Hall of MSU clad in a bright peach suit and matching tie, students could not help but whistle and give the controversial Zanu PF man a standing ovation. The AAG founder who claims to be related to President Robert Mugabe told the students of how politics has made people like him rich in Zimbabwe.
“Business and politics can never be separated. You have to be affiliated to the correct political party and know the right people to pursue while you are at it,” said a boisterous Chiyangwa.
“When I started the AAG 20 years ago, I told some of my friends that I support Zanu PF and they ignored me. Right now most of them are poor because they did not follow my advice,” Chiyangwa said, showing pomp at a university where the majority of poverty-stricken students live in squalor.
Addressing students must have gotten daunting for the king of opulence because no sooner than he started talking had he already deviated from the topic of the day and started pursuing a new line. He began asking students questions on the Chiyangwa family. Students that got the first names of Chiyangwa’s parents were rewarded with $20 on the spot.
Three quarters of the time he was given on the podium to speak on youth empowerment was spent dishing out money, with statements like “ma$20 aita mashoma vanhu ndovawanda” (the $20 notes are limited we may have to up the offer) coming from the man.
At the end of the day, the event had turned into a money-making scheme for some students and a show of “wealth” on Chiyangwa’s part instead of an academic address on how to empower students with information on how they make it in the cut-throat business world. Daily News
