At Murombedzi, a dusty outpost next door to President Robert Mugabe's rural home in Zvimba, Zanu-PF's bruising intra-party politics is good business.
At Davey & Ery General Dealer, they were making good money last weekend as the ruling party called for nominations for hundreds of politicians hoping to stand for the party in this Zanu-PF stronghold.
For $5 each they typed out application letters for aspiring candidates, typed and printed curriculum vitae, did a lot of photocopying, sold computer memory cards and bicycles, and hired out public address systems for wannabe candidates.
Zanu-PF's internal democracy is always a great show to watch, whether in the high halls of its national headquarters or here in a rural community, where Zanu-PF is a way of life for most. There are allegations of bribery, cronyism and all sorts of threats and intrigue.
There is the curious case of a man called Vambe and the missing campaign bicycles, and there is the issue of party membership cards that allegedly left national headquarters but did not reach supporters.
As the nomination process starts, there seems to be an issue with membership cards. It would appear a good number of hopefuls do not have fully paid up membership, which means that, according to party rules, they cannot stand.
New cards, bicycles
The problem is, as it turns out, national headquarters issued new cards but local leaders allegedly withheld them from members belonging to rival factions, just to freeze them out.
"No card, no qualification," one official shouts above the crowd.
A bit of a row ensues, but it is soon resolved. The hopefuls will pay $25 to submit their papers; they have to buy a membership card for $1 each, then pay $24 each in outstanding monthly subscriptions for the previous two years.
Then there's some nasty business about bicycles. Apparently, dozens of bicycles made available by the party's headquarters for campaigns are missing. Vambe, a local enforcer of some sort, apparently, it is whispered, doled them out to sabhukus, the influential local headmen, to buy power.
"Vambe will never address the party in my ward," one belligerent ward leader declares. Vambe himself is nowhere to be seen.
Then there are whispers about people who do not meet the party's criteria for candidates being allowed to submit their papers through the back door. Party rules say only those who have been members for at least five years can stand in elections. But it seems at least one Johnny-come-lately has somehow escaped the net.
"His papers were signed?", an elderly man, wearing a Mugabe baseball cap, asks a comrade. "Where did he get his five years?"
'A1s' and 'A2s'
There are both types of Zanu-PF supporters here; the "A1" farmers and their bicycles and the wealthier "A2s", with their 4x4s. A1 refers to the smaller farms that the government made available during the land reform process, and A2 refers to the bigger pieces of land.
Dozens of hopefuls line up to submit their freshly typed CVs to someone called Yvonne.
There is relief all round when Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo announces that the national chairman, who heads the party's national elections directorate, has agreed to push the deadline for submissions to 6pm.
Once you register you get a reference number that you can use to track your application, right up to national elections directorate. Should you fail to qualify as a candidate, they are told, you can use that reference number to get an explanation of why your application failed.
The nomination of candidates is a lead-up to the party's potentially divisive primary elections The primaries will all be held in a day, which will be a mean feat for a party so divided, but party insiders say is a deliberate strategy by party leaders to contain the almost inevitable fallout.