President Ian Khama, according to media reports, was alleged to have stormed out of the SADC meeting chaired by his boss His Excellency President Robert Mugabe, chairman of SADC, after giving a dressing down to fellow heads of state for trying to make South Africa the employment bureau for Africa. This arose when xenophobia, the spectre haunting South Africa recently cam up for discussion. The Botswana Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation indeed had already cleared the air on that one; but since we are doubting Thomases, we tend to believe unconfirmed juicy bits doing the rounds. The SADC chiefs’ fallout made sensational news waves we were eager to hear the story from the horses mouth.
Uncle Bob dismissed the rumours of friction between him and his deputy with the eloquence only he can master: “Botswana is the headquarters of SADC and we can come here in order to know what is going on or just to visit and acquaint ourselves with the processes. Do we have to mount a labyrinth of splendour in the environment of a state visit? No! My counterpart President Khama was kind enough to provide us with a sumptuous lunch.
