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U-turn on ‘lords and peasants’ independence menu

Officials refuse to own up to embarrassing gaffe
Following backlash, government has shelved its plan to serve VIPs a better, more extensive menu than ordinary citizens at the Independence Day celebrations next week.
Tuyeimo Haidula
Government has backtracked on its controversial decision to provide more and better food to VIPs compared to the ordinary citizens attending the Independence Day celebrations, slated for Outapi next week.

The two menus are contained in a 27 February letter - bearing the State House letterhead - addressed to Omusati governor Erginus Endjala, as the chairperson of the regional preparatory committee being instructed to hire 12 companies to provide catering services at the event.

Endjala was instructed to source 10 companies to serve public attendees with potato salad, butternut, rice, fried beef and fish.

He was under further instruction to identify two companies to cater for the VIPs, whose list of food items is longer – and perhaps more sophisticated – than those to be served to the commoners in attendance.

For VIPs, Endjala was directed to find caterers to provide Greek salad, potato salad, steamed carrots, butternut, maize pap, mahangu pap, baked fish, fried beef and game stew.

The letter has since been leaked, angering many people on social media who lashed out at government for its ‘elitist tendencies’.

Just one day

“Is it really [that] hard for these people to act and eat like the common person just for one day?” one person asked on Twitter.

Another remarked: “The public must come to its senses - they are only important when it's election time. No cares about the people, especially the poor.”

State House, from whence the letter originated, ducked responsibility.

“Please speak to George Simataa [at the Office of the Prime Minister] who is the coordinator of these activities,” press secretary Alfredo Hengari said.

Simataa, the secretary to Cabinet, also deferred questions on the matter.

“While I am the chairman of the national preparatory committee, there are also chairpersons of various subcommittees. I suggest that you address your questions to the chairperson of the catering committee,” he said.

‘It was a proposal’

Speaking to Namibian Sun yesterday, Endjala said the letter addressed to him about the menus was a proposal, not the final directive.

He said as a committee, they looked at the budget and reviewed the food options.

He could not say how much had been set aside for the celebrations, adding that the final amount will be known by tomorrow.

“We have realised that the proposal was far-fetched from the reality. The menu was revised and the public will now have more food than the VIPs,” Endjala said.

He further noted that he engaged the authors of the letter and told them that in the Omusati Region, the people who are collected with buses to grace the occasion are the "real VIPs".

“For us, the VIP is the public. Not the people we have invited. We want to assure the Namibian people that the revised menu is different and they should come and see with their naked eyes that I am not lying to you and I am not saying this to brainwash them.”

Last year’s independence celebrations, held in Swakopmund, also sparked huge public outcry due to the manner in which ordinary members of the public were treated.

“Ministers are going to eat, they sleep in hotels. And we have to stand at the gate for a brötchen and a cooldrink to benefit from the N$2.5 million,” The Namibian reported a source as saying.

No money

Endjala also used the platform to dismiss rumours that they have a budget of N$10 million, which he said had been circulating on social media.

He added that they are already struggling with the basic setup because of a lack of funds.

“We are already constrained due to the funds. The perception that there is so much money being pumped into the celebrations is not true. As we speak, we have been struggling to get a grader to level the sand at the venue where the event will be held because there is no money.

“We got one today [Tuesday] from [the Roads Contractor Company], which is helping out,” Endjala said.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-24

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