Traditional chiefs were left stranded at a local hotel after they failed to get fuel to return to their respective homes after attending a two-day Chiefs council meeting in Harare.
The hotel also ordered them to check out to pave way for new guests after their stay had expired. This saw some milling around the hotel while officials from the Ministry of Rural Development and Preservation of Culture and Heritage who were supposed to assist them were not available. In an interview with The Herald, Chiefs council president Fortune Charumbira confirmed the incident. Said Charumbira:
Yes, it is true that some of our members were stranded because they failed to get resources like fuel to go back to their respective homes. We had to assist some of them from our pockets because the situation was becoming embarrassing. We tried to call officials from our Ministry, but their phones were either unreachable or went unanswered, we do not really know what was happening. You really cannot blame the hotel staff for that. The situation was bad. Some of them had to go to their relatives while we managed to help others from our pockets
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