Mugabe joke causes political ruckus

By Tileni Mongudhi    

A joke involving Zimbabwe President, Robert Mugabe, Namibia’s Founding President, Sam Nujoma and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, caused a stir at the recent Swapo politburo meeting as well as at a SADC dinner recently.

The joke was narrated by well-known comedian and businessman, Lazarus Jacobs, while acting as Master of Ceremony during a dinner of the recent SADC Council of Minister’s meeting in Windhoek.

As the joke went, “Dr Nujoma and Mugabe visited Queen Elizabeth of England and during dinner, Dr Nujoma saw President Mugabe taking cutlery and putting it in his jacket. Then Dr Nujoma attempted to do the same but was spotted and immediately said it was African magic, meaning if he puts it in his pocket it will come out in President Mugabe’s jacket.”

The Zimbabwean delegation did, however, not think the joke was funny. Although there was no formal complaint, Zimbabwe Deputy Ambassador to Namibia Alfred Mutiwazuka, said “the joke was in bad taste”.

He said Zimbabwean Foreign Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and Ambassador Chipo Zindoga sat through the dinner but were not happy with the kind of jokes made by Jacobs.

He said other delegates did not look amused by the jokes either. Mutiwazuka added that he did not know what happened afterwards since the Zimbabwean Government or the Embassy did not launch a complaint.

The joke is said to have brought about a square-off between Trade and Industry Minister, Hage Geingob and Foreign Minister, Utoni Nujoma, at the recent Swapo party politburo meeting.

A heated confrontation allegedly broke out between the two after Nujoma is said to have blamed Geingob for allegedly inviting Lazarus Jacobs, who made the joke as MC at the SADC minister’s dinner recently.

Nujoma is said to have expressed unhappiness over the jokes and said they were made in bad faith. Geingob is said to have defended himself.

Sources close to the ruling party said Jacobs had narrated the same joke in the presence of both former President Nujoma and President Mugabe before and no one complained.

Jacobs, however, refused to comment saying that it was just a misunderstanding since some of the visiting ministers did not know he was a comedian as he was only introduced as a businessman. He said everything was fine after it was explained to the ministers that he was an entertainer as well.

Utoni Nujoma refused to answer Informanté’s calls or respond to a text message sent to his phone. Geingob said he had no fight or quarrel with his colleague and rubbished the allegations.

“I did not have a fall out with him. We are tired of these sources that cannot be revealed. They tell you lies and you write those lies,” he said before hanging up.  Informante.web.na