The Sunday Mail
Wendy Nyakurerwa Assistant Editor
Behind Police Commissioner-General Dr Augustine Chihuri’s stern demeanour as a man of law and order is something softer, something that only becomes pronounced when he is around his better half, Dr Isabel Chihuri. If displaying affection is a crime, then the Comm-Gen is guilty as charged.
The family unit is greatly cherished within the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and the secret ingredient Dr Chihuri and his charges use to counteract the daily stress of the job is family.
“We need to build families that can stand the test of time . . . A house of quarrels can never produce a good police officer,” Dr Chihuri said on September 2, 2016.
He was speaking to police officers and their spouses who had gathered for the official opening of the ZRP Kuyedza Women’s Club annual show in Harare.
The event is an opportunity for police officers’ wives to exhibit their entrepreneurial wares. At least 15 000 women are members of the club and the entry requirement is very simple — a police officer has to love you enough to marry you.
These SMEs entrepreneurs are driving economic growth through manufacturing, marketing and selling textiles, detergents, jewellery and cosmetics, amongst other products.
Their thrust dovetails with the country’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset, which seeks to spur socio-economic development through the judicious exploitation of the country’s abundant human and natural resources.
Mai Koshi, for example, is making jatropha soap, while Anna Chipanda’s weaving hands spin incredible accessories with beads.
In a keynote address read on her behalf by Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operatives Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni, First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe said Kuyedza Women’s Club has been a formidable player in the SMEs sector.
The club’s vice-president, Dr Isabel Chihuri, said cops’ wives were inspired by Amai Mugabe’s entrepreneurship, and they had even established a factory trading as Marble Gold Enterprises.
Delegates at the ceremony included Home Affairs Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo, his Namibian counterpart Mrs Pendukeni Livula Ithana, and Mt Pleasant legislator Cde Jaison Pasade.
Dr Chombo told The Sunday Mail that the women’s club had introduced co-operative principles, extending beyond traditional cake-making and sewing enterprises.
