"I cannot proceed any further with your application I have to advise you that we consider Botswana to be an 'unsafe' country with regards to mail interception. Unfortunately, this means that we will be unable to open an account for you unless you can provide us with an alternative address in a 'safe' country." Jigger around with that statement any way you may wish but the implications remain enormous. In one go, a certain amount of not unjustified self-congratulation is hit hard. The country has been given excellent international ratings in many key areas but recognition elsewhere that our mail system is regarded as unsafe is a deeply worrying development not just for our own self-respect but because of the obvious implications for the prospects of attracting foreign investment. In this instance, the concern relates to external mail but I have heard many complaints about the disappearance of internal mail as well. Taken together with the recent disappearance of the President's baggage at the Johannesburg International Airport, the prospects for the next World Cup and for Southern Africa are looking wobbly. In addition to the insecure transmission of goods and materials by plane or post, the threat of violence presents a desperately uninviting image to the enormous numbers who should be expected to arrive in Southern Africa in four years' time, as they have just done in Germany. With that thought in mind, I refer to my second e-mail report, which cites the British Times newspaper in describing the injuries inflicted on Trudy Stevenson, MDC MP for Harare North. I met this remarkable lady when in 2004, as an IEC delegate I was attending a conference organised by the Electoral Commissions Forum of Southern Africa at Vic Falls to try and narrow the gap between the Zimbabwe government and the MDC. Two and a half years later, I get this report. "She (age 61) is in hospital with severe head injuries and a broken arm after being attacked by a mob described as 'supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai' when leaving a political meeting in the suburb of Mabvuku. Apparently she and several colleagues broke away from the MDC "in part over the violent behaviour some supporters of Tsvangirai and that the party is now 'in the process of imploding'. "Boulders the size of footballs rained down on her car, she was hit by a panga on the head and her attackers used such force in trying to drag her from the car they broke two bones in her arm. A pic of the car shows a complete wreck." Inevitably there will be any number of explanations of that horrific occurrence but no government in the region should be unaware that the story and the photo has gone around the world and into the homes of people who potentially are spending visitors for the next World Cup. If they know that even an elderly female MP in this region can be brutally attacked, they may decide that this is a World Cup which is better watched at home on TV. The loss of human rights is usually regarded by the rich world as being cost free but violence and injury in the geographical arena of the next World Cup, coupled with the insecurity of transmitted material, can readily be projected as a nasty deficit figure. Not knowing the difference between Zimbabwe and Lesotho, a soccer fan elsewhere might now assume that MPs, women, and people over 60 should keep well away. Those assumptions have the potential to break the bank.