Sandton hotel snubs Mugabe’s deputy
The luxurious Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton made an 11th-hour cancellation last week of bookings for a high-ranking Zimbabwean delegation of ministers led by Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, forcing organisers of a two-day investment conference hosted by the Zim-SA Forum in Johannesburg to scramble to find alternative accommodation and venue for the summit at the Capital Hotel, a few kilometres away.
Radisson Blu Sandton general manager Volkan Vural said yesterday that the hotel had “declined” to host the Zimbabwean contingent led by Mnangagwa because of the possibility of protests.
“We have an obligation to ensure the safety of our in-house guests,” Vural said.
The Zim-SA Forum was left reeling, with some accusing the hotel of pulling a political and racial stunt.
“We had booked the hotel. There was a team which had arrived ahead of the vice-president and were already booked at the Radisson. They had come to assist with the security issues.
“On Thursday, two Zimbabwean ministers had already landed, ready to come to the Radisson. Some of our delegates from the United Kingdom had already checked into the hotel. They [Radisson Blu] told us the event had been cancelled. That was at the 11th hour. Claire [Mitchell, cluster director of sales & marketing] said the reason was that I had not told them that Robert Mugabe was coming,” said Anele Ndlovu, president of the Zim-SA Forum.
“We had told them up front that it was the vice-president coming, not President Mugabe.
“Remember, this is a hotel which prides itself on hosting people like Barack Obama, George Bush, many top world leaders, including some from this continent.
“Those are some of the people who attract the highest risk of security that you can imagine. We chose them because of that. We wanted our deputy head of state to be secure.”
The Zimbabwean pressure group at the centre of the storm, #Tajamuka, insists it did not pose a security risk to the Zimbabwean delegation.
The leader of #Tajamuka in South Africa, Shelton Chiyangwa, said the group was “harmless”.
“They didn’t want to be embarrassed by the protests of their own people. Mnangagwa doesn’t want to come face to face with his citizens based in South Africa.” – ANA