THE annual Bernard Mizeki pilgrimage ended yesterday with pilgrims heading back to their destinations amid pomp and fanfare among business operators in the farming town of Marondera.
The pilgrimage started on Friday last week.
About 15 000 pilgrims from around Zimbabwe, the southern Africa region and the world attended the event that celebrates the life of a martyr who died in 1896.
Mizeki was an African Christian missionary and martyr.
A survey carried out by NewsDay showed that Marondera was busy during the pilgrimage.
Transport operators were some of the biggest beneficiaries as they transported pilgrims to the shrine, which is 15 kilometres from the Marondera central business district.
Their job was made easy because the church rehabilitated the roads leading to the shrine. Traffic volumes to the shrine had increased significantly since last week.
Taurai Maenge, a commuter omnibus operator in Marondera, said they benefited a lot from the pilgrimage.
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“We are making money, and there is no time to rest since last week. We are carrying people who are going to the shrine and we have increased our bus fare from $2 to $3,” he said.
Another operator, Tendai Mandizha, weighed in, saying: “We are happy that whenever there is a Bernard Mizeki event, we have good business. l think the church should have such programmes many times,” he said.
Anglican Diocese of Manicaland bishop, Eric Ruwona, said the pilgrimage was an “important event on the church’s calendar”.
“Everyone is happy to be part of this gathering and we are happy with the attendance,” he said.
