Is it an Ivory Tower or White Elephant?
Airport elephant ivory sculpture bleeds CAAB’s coffers
Sir Seretse Khama International Airport’s ( SSKA) alluring and expensive decor - the elephant ivory sculpture - is a burden for the financially struggling Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana ( CAAB), Botswana Guardian has established.
Good as it is, since it promotes Tourism and Wildlife, the sculpture however occupies prime space of approximately 6m x 7m ( 42 square metres) inside the airport terminal hall thereby denying CAAB at least a rental of P240, 000 per year according to current rental rates.
The Authority only gets P20 000 in monthly rental for the space, and the current audit shows that the Authority has made a loss of 98 percent.
Further, the sculpture owned by the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Tourism was designed about seven years ago at a cost of P200 000 by several artists, with the assistance of Thapong artists.
The artists’ names are displayed alongside the sculpture. Information reaching Botswana Guardian indicates that the then presidency and minister, using the fact that government is shareholder at CAAB overruled the Authority’s wish of hiring out the space to the highest bidder whom they had already identified in the form of a motor dealer.
This became a burden because not only is the Authority losing the much- needed revenue to keep its operations going, the same Authority is expected to provide security for everything within the SSKIA area of operation including the sculpture which can easily be stolen if not well protected.
Elephant tusks are in high demand especially in Asia where they are used for different things including for medicinal purposes.
It goes without saying that the sculpture and the Forevermark jewellery shop, which trades in diamonds, are the most attractive sites inside the terminal hall.
The existence of these two inside the airport hall are in a special way the pride of the country as they appeal to the tourists in many respects and tell the story that Botswana is indeed a diamond as well as wildlife country.
However, what separates the two is that the Forevermark store - the only one of its kind on the African continent - pays rental and for security reasons, there are no pictures taken inside the store, while the elephant sculpture is enclosed and people are free to take pictures at will.
At the unveiling ceremony former President Lt. Gen. Ian Khama said the sculpture is made from ivory collected from elephants which died out of natural causes. He said the sculpture serves to raise the nation’s collective consciousness about the plight facing the African elephant.
It is estimated that of the 600 000 elephants left on the African continent, Botswana is home to one third of them. Further, the placement of the sculpture is highly symbolic as it represents the international dimension or magnitude of illegal ivory trade.
Speaking in an interview, CAAB Spokesperson, Modipe Nkwe confirmed that they are not getting revenue for the space occupied by the sculpture.
He confirmed that the sculpture was placed through the request of the Ministry of Wildlife, Environment and Tourism and the circumstances prevented the usage of the space for commercial purposes as the shareholder had already earmarked the space for the promotion of tourism and wildlife. Nkwe said CAAB was at the time in the process of soliciting potential clients for space occupancy.
The space was exclusively earmarked for car dealerships to showcase their newest models in the market.
The reasoning behind this was that since tourism is a second revenue earner for the country, Botswana will benefit more if the sculpture is showcased at the Airport - a point of entry.