Chronicle SMS/WhatsApp
EDITOR — I would just like to add to a letter you received from Tennyson Sibanda, published in The Chronicle on July 27, 2017, concerning the numerous police roadblocks in Zimbabwe.
We visited your beautiful country in July this year and met amazing people and were privileged to experience some of your stunning scenery and wildlife. We listened to countless stories of hardships among your National Park employees and were only too grateful to be able to contribute in some way towards the upkeep of the parks and the upliftment of its people. Everyone, from camping sites in Hwange and Mana Pools, to a hotel in Bulawayo, made us feel most welcome.
That is, until you got to drive on your roads. To say that we felt continually harassed and intimidated, is an understatement. There were roadblocks every 30 minutes, and manned by the nastiest personalities possible. We had been forewarned about the issue, so had ensured that we had all the correct requirements for our vehicle and that we always drove at least 10km under the speed limit. My husband greeted each official in as friendly and respectful manner as possible, but still this did not help. In our journey from Mana Pools down to Bulawayo and out of the Plumtree border post, we were stopped 51 times in one day! By stop number 30, or thereabouts, when my husband had completely run out of humour, he explained to the official that we would no longer be coming back to this country to support its tourism industry and economy, but would spend our money in more tourist-friendly countries like Namibia and Botswana, where-upon the official promptly burst into tears!
He said they had to extort bribes to survive financially, because the Government does not pay them enough.
Unfortunately, by chasing away prospective tourists, the Government is going to earn even less revenue and be able to afford even lower salaries. So all that these officials are doing is killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Toursim in Africa can have huge potential to uplift the economy.
They are doing exactly the opposite of what common sense requires. If you want to attract tourists to your stunning country, then treat them fairly and encourage them to return.
So unfortunately, we will now be one of the many tourists who cannot return to your wonderful country until you have sorted out the harassment and intimidation on the roads. My sympathies lie with all the locals who must face this abuse daily.
I thank you for your attention, and hope that you can exert some influence on the ‘powers that be’, so that they can realise how by changing this one small thing, they can entice tourists back to your country once again and in so doing help to uplift the economy.
Kind regards Doreen Butterworth, Plettenberg Bay, South Africa