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Gaborone. — Only three Heads of State — Filipe Nyusi president of Mozambique, King Mswati III of Swaziland and King Letsie of Lesotho —attended Bot50 celebrations last Friday. While the event attracted high-ranking dignitaries from the United States and Britain, Sadc leaders were nowhere to be seen at the country’s highly publicised event. For a highly decorated country with a lot of enviable titles, among them Africa’s diamond nation and shining example of democracy, expectations were that African statesmen, especially from Sadc would descend on Gaborone en-masse in honour of Botswana’s enviable track record. However, that was not the case and the presidents decided to stay home with some mysteriously withdrawing at the 11th hour, among them Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Sources say the no-show by the presidents came as a shock to the government, although no one is ready to confirm that.
“We were expecting eight from Sadc but others cancelled at the last minute. What we can say is that it is normal for statesmen to be held up. We need not to politicise the issue,” minister of International Affairs and Cooperation Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi said on Monday in a brief interview with Mmegi.
Venson-Moitoi said it was normal of presidents to delegate, choosing to say we find nothing wrong with it. Venson-Moitoi, who has been nominated by Sadc member states for the position of AU Commission chairperson to be contested for in January, declined to make comments on the (President) Mugabe saga. In the last two weeks, the Zimbabwean Government through a government-controlled daily newspaper, had been calling on Botswana government to clarify their position on (President) Mugabe.
“We thus call on our brothers and sisters in Gaborone to set the record straight,” the paper said. Last week, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of International Affairs and Cooperation, Gaeimelwe Goitsemang, told Mmegi that the invite was extended to every statesman in the region, but declined to share the details of those who had already confirmed citing security reasons.
The Ministry’s protocol office later changed their statement to say that they did not have any information on the invited presidents. All eyes were focused on how President Mugabe would react to the invitation following an interview in which Khama had called on him to step down citing his old age and protracted rule of the Zimbabwean economy.
The Zimbabwean government spokesperson, George Charamba and his boss, Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Mumbengegwi could not be of any assistance to enquiries on President Mugabe’s non- attendance. — Mmegi online.
Online Reporter
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