Counting The Cost Of Mugabe’s Visit

FOLLOWING Robert Mugabe’s four-day state visit to Namibia last week one cannot help but imagine that there must be a cost to count by Namibia.

From a layperson’s perspective I note with concern the loss to taxpayers last week. How much did this visit really cost us? Windhoek life as we know it had to change overnight, because for the past few days there were unprecedented traffic delays; normal traffic flow could be disrupted at any time for the presidential motorcade to pass.Motorists must heave a big sigh of relief this week now that the visit is over.MPs apparently unceremoniously deserted a session of Parliament to go to the airport to welcome ‘Uncle Bob’, who in fact landed an hour late, we are told.Sighting a helicopter over the skies of the capital following the motorcade of the visiting President on Tuesday evening was a first for me.The fact that the national air carrier, which is battling for its own survival, reportedly suffered a N$50 000 loss was mind-boggling – apparently we are told one of its flights was told to either divert to Botswana or circle in the air, as the nation held its breath for Uncle Bob’s entourage to arrive in the Land of the Brave.The Windhoek City Police had their hands full clearing the roads, time and time again, in addition to having car accidents as they rushed through red traffic lights.Turning to Uncle Bob, wasn’t it funny to hear him pretending not to know the whereabouts of the many civil, mechanical, electrical and other engineers that Zimbabwe has produced; he asked on NBC TV “Where are they?” – as if he hadn’t chased them from the country! Was it not also refreshing to hear him admit that he has made more enemies than friends since the land reform, and to hear him say that people in Zim were now living ‘comfortably’ after the land distribution was rather shocking, to say the least.If people were living ‘comfortably’ in Zimbabwe, why would everybody be jostling to leave the country, by hook or crook? And if there was such comfort in Zimbabwe, why did her soldiers who were sent to man the Beit Bridge border post desert duties and run into SA, and in fact why did Big Brother resort to making use of 16 buses to send thousands of Zimbabweans staying illegally in SA back home? Anyway, while Uncle Bob and his entourage were having fun in Namibian diamond cutting and fish processing factories, and savouring the warm Namibian sun; a new ZIM$50 000 (an equivalent of N$1 400) note was being introduced apparently for the ‘nation’s convenience’, indeed? In fact, I hear these notes change their validity so fast that a Namibian student who came home for holidays last year lost ZIM$7 million when the notes expired.Can one imagine what load one could be carrying for a weekend’s shopping? I do not even want to imagine let alone think of it, and I hope our leaders are treading carefully enough not to put us in such an unimaginable situation, now or in the future.P N Mwetulundila WindhoekHow much did this visit really cost us? Windhoek life as we know it had to change overnight, because for the past few days there were unprecedented traffic delays; normal traffic flow could be disrupted at any time for the presidential motorcade to pass.Motorists must heave a big sigh of relief this week now that the visit is over.MPs apparently unceremoniously deserted a session of Parliament to go to the airport to welcome ‘Uncle Bob’, who in fact landed an hour late, we are told.Sighting a helicopter over the skies of the capital following the motorcade of the visiting President on Tuesday evening was a first for me.The fact that the national air carrier, which is battling for its own survival, reportedly suffered a N$50 000 loss was mind-boggling – apparently we are told one of its flights was told to either divert to Botswana or circle in the air, as the nation held its breath for Uncle Bob’s entourage to arrive in the Land of the Brave.The Windhoek City Police had their hands full clearing the roads, time and time again, in addition to having car accidents as they rushed through red traffic lights.Turning to Uncle Bob, wasn’t it funny to hear him pretending not to know the whereabouts of the many civil, mechanical, electrical and other engineers that Zimbabwe has produced; he asked on NBC TV “Where are they?” – as if he hadn’t chased them from the country! Was it not also refreshing to hear him admit that he has made more enemies than friends since the land reform, and to hear him say that people in Zim were now living ‘comfortably’ after the land distribution was rather shocking, to say the least.If people were living ‘comfortably’ in Zimbabwe, why would everybody be jostling to leave the country, by hook or crook? And if there was such comfort in Zimbabwe, why did her soldiers who were sent to man the Beit Bridge border post desert duties and run into SA, and in fact why did Big Brother resort to making use of 16 buses to send thousands of Zimbabweans staying illegally in SA back home? Anyway, while Uncle Bob and his entourage were having fun in Namibian diamond cutting and fish processing factories, and savouring the warm Namibian sun; a new ZIM$50 000 (an equivalent of N$1 400) note was being introduced apparently for the ‘nation’s convenience’, indeed? In fact, I hear these notes change their validity so fast that a Namibian student who came home for holidays last year lost ZIM$7 million when the notes expired.Can one imagine what load one could be carrying for a weekend’s shopping? I do not even want to imagine let alone think of it, and I hope our leaders are treading carefully enough not to put us in such an unimaginable situation, now or in the future.P N Mwetulundila Windhoek