It became an opportunity to gauge the oneness of this small nation, which we believe is still intact, seeing from the crowds that thronged the dam site eager for their brethren to be recovered from the water.
The drowning of the three men came at a time when the country was in the clutches of a cold spell as a result of snow in neighbouring South Africa where it covered the entire country for the first time in more than a century. The wintry weather made it difficult for the divers to go deep into the water in search of the three men. Ultimately, however, the first body was recovered on Tuesday and the second yesterday, ebbing the anxiety of members of the public who were growing increasingly restless. But when this sorrowful chapter in our lives has been somewhat overcome, Tuesday evening will stick out as one of the worst moments in the tragedy when WUC officials refused to shed light on a number of critical aspects of the accident, including the boat that the three men were using when they disappeared, the presence of crocodiles in the dam and its environs, and whether the men had had the right safety equipment for working in a large body of water that Gaborone Dam is. Most such fundamental questions were met with a hostile "No comment" from the WUC officials who seemed determined to live up to their reputation for poor communication. We appreciate the challenges that the officials and the police faced during the search, and the pressure that came with public expectations. However, withholding information from the public has never worked well for any public institution, especially in the face of disaster. Withholding information often leads to speculation that can damage the image of any organisation. To be more to the point, the manner in which the WUC officials handled this tragedy depicts an organisation that does not care about the public on whose behalf they work.
