GOVERNMENT has urged hotels and lodges to accommodate all guests who visit their premises regardless of their color or race or country of origin.
Tourism and Arts Minister Jean Kapata said hotels and lodges should remain open to all guests without segregating based their client’s color, country of origin or race.
Ms Kapata noted that the Government had been receiving numerous reports where some hotels and lodges did not allow Zambians to access them.
She said this in Livingstone on Saturday afternoon in a speech read for her by Livingstone District Commissioner Omar Munanje during the official opening of Oriental Swan Hotel which is owned by Chinese investors.
Oriental Swan Hotel has invested K15 million to set up the Hotel in Livingstone and created 100 jobs during the construction phase from 2013 to this year while additional 30 permanent jobs would be created.
“I want to take this opportunity to make it known that the Government has been receiving numerous reports that there are some hotels and lodges that do not allow Zambians to access such entities.
I want to urge the management of Oriental Swan Hotel to remain open to all people regardless of their color, race or country of origin,” Ms Kapata said.
In October 2013, Labour and Social Security Minister Fackson Shamenda directed Mr Munsanje to probe allegations that some hotels and lodges in Livingstone were championing racism.
This was after a Zambian couple and a clergyman from Lusaka were allegedly denied access to Camp Nkwazi, situated about 20 kilometres (km) from Livingstone town on grounds that the trio was black.
Meanwhile, Ms Kapata said setting up of Oriental Swan Hotel in Livingstone would boost the tourism industry of the City.
She said the Patriotic Front (PF) Government had, since coming into power in 2011, ranked tourism as one of the top priorities that should drive the economy forward through job creation and poverty reduction.
She said Zambia and China had enjoyed a cordial relationship over a very long time since the country attained its independence in 1964.
Zambia’s First Republican President Keneth Kaunda said it was pleasing that Chinese investors had sought to invest in the country’s various sectors namely, health, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, finance, general trading and tourism.
In a speech read for him by his daughter Cheswa Kaunda Silwizya, Dr Kaunda said opening of Oriental Swan Hotel would deepen the relationship between the people of China and Zambia as well as Africa in general.
Oriental Swan Hotel managing director Xuan Yabiao said his Hotel was committed to contribute to the development of tourism industry in Livingstone and Zambia at large.
He said the Hotel would ensure that Zambian and Chinese employees worked together in a more coordinated and harmonious manner.
Livingstone Mayor Milford Maambo said the tourist capita was proud to receive investments which were beautifying the city and creating employment to the local people.
“We want to thank Oriental Swan Hotel for bringing quality infrastructure and creating jobs in Livingstone.
Here in Livingstone, we have partnered with the private sector to beautify the city and we invite you to partner with us to improve our city,” Mr Maambo said.
Senior Chief Mukuni of Kazungula District in Southern Province said tourism operators in Zambia had started attracting tourists from Asia as the continent had more people compared to Europe and United States of America (USA).
“A hotel like this one is preparing Asian tourists to feel comfortable when they come here in Livingstone and Zambia,” he said.
Sad this is happening even now, advice to anyone that is turned down on these grounds…report it, don’t waste time complaining to friends and colleagues report it straight to the authorities.
I do not know why Zambians fail to see that racism is rife in the country and we remain second class citizens in our own country.
You just have to listen to a white South African talking to his Zambian employees, or indeed the treatment we give anyone looking remotely foreign. Even our own President is stuck in that mindset and I draw this from his comments in Parliament whenever he made reference to Guy Scott. At one point he was saying “I imported this white man to come and help us with development” and then “our Zambian Ministers are better dressed than the White man”…Then we wonder why these racist minds find solace in our very own country.
Its not only lodges and hotels,its many other places.I was in zambia last year and was meeting a business partner at Rapsodys Arcades,being just a few mins from my home,i just jumped into my car,in shorts and sleepers.When i got to that place,the guard was like “uyenda kuti nama sleepers and shorts?” I explained to him that i was unaware of the dress code and all that,as i was talking to him,a group of WHITE guys walked into the same place wearing flip flops and shorts,to my surprise,the guards let them in.Here is his reason for not letting me into Rapsodys,my ADIDAS sleepers were a fire hazard according to the guard.Thats Zambia for you.
The truth of the matter is that a lot of communities from outside Zambia escape intolerance in their own countries and come and exercise the same thing in Zambia. It is clear to see how some lodges either price the locals out of contention or simply play the hostile card. Government has not helped either; in Namibia, for example, there are special discounts if you are a local and this kind of mitigates this useless behavior. We need to f.o.o.lproof our society because talking like this has NEVER been known to help. They will snigger and go back to the very things you, Kapata, are telling them not to do. Enact it as a law to abide by more specifically.
we are at the point where we recognize that the RACIST MUZUNGU is a cancer on this continent and that they should be expelled from all indigenous lands…they should be driven back into the mountains from whence they came and held there until around 2040 which is when they are expected to become extinct on this planet and I pray to my ancestors that their god and their religion dies with them…for they have defiled and destroyed Mother Earth and her indigenous children LONG ENOUGH!
#Zambia 4 Zambians, be realistic my brother. How many native Zambians own proper lodges offering services of international standards? I am not talking about cheap guest houses!
The other lodge Honourable you should look at is Lufupa in the Kafue national park( formerly Busanga trails owned by Map Patel) when you want to make a booking they ask you to book through south Africa, how can I pay through RSA when am in Zambia and a Zambian. I have been going to the Kafue NP for the past 30 years and never experienced such. The only friendly camp is the Kafwala wildlife camp and chunga owned by ZAWA , please Madam look into it with urgency before like my brother Zambia 4 Zambians says the cancer spreads. soon they will stop us using the toilets at Manda Hill.
All of them should be named so that Zambians protest.
Don’t blame white lodge owners, we Zambians of native origin lack the culture of traveling. Most Lodges in Lower Zambezi, Kafue, Livingstone and South Luangwa have tiered rates – very low for citizens, regional and international and weird enough all enjoying the same service without discriminating. It is a shame that some middle class Zambians don’t support domestic tourism, a holiday to them is shopping and boozing in Johannesburg. Zambia has so many camps in its national parks priced for every category of guests but we Zambians choose not utilize the facilities.
Visit us at Tongabezi Lodge, will give you the best amazing treat ever………..
ba LT…picture of the building could have made more sense……
I don’t think there is any political will to eradicate racism in tourism sector. By now the OP or undercover detectives could have come up with solid evidence to enable some of the culprits face prosecution as a deterrent to others…….
Tourism ministry should somehow encourage investors to come up with names with a Zambian touch…..
This is the Reason Zambians will always remain behind.
Any Racist found guilty of discriminatinig against Zambians, should have their Hotel /Lodge shut down, & KICKED OUT OF ZAMBIA within 48hrs Maximum!!
This behaviour is illegal in Countries where these Clowns come from, so why do You condone it & just talk Minister. Unless there is action, these Racists will NOT fear You, a Muntu munyama.
They Dont get away with this behaviour anymore in Zimbabwe.
I think your reasoning is misplaced. Let Zambians step up their game to build lodges and employ their fellow citizens.
Arrest any person regardless of creed if the show or practice prejudice. It is 2014, There is actually a lot more revenue coming from Asia and Africa than South Africa. It is time to step on these snakes.
Kabili ba LT you should have given us a picture of this Oriental Swan thats being glowingly talked about here
The trouble with the current Zambian gov’t is that they rushed to call in ‘investors’ particularly whites. What we have developing is akin to what happened in Kenya. Western whites created areas for themselves, and an industry benefitting themselves. In the 80’s burglaries and murder of whites by poor blacks was endemic. They create these closed societies in our countries because of African gov’ts allow this.
This is allowed because our ‘higher’ society suffer from inferiority complexes. There is an expression likening these types of blacks as Oriel cookies (an American biscuit that has two black biscuits with a white filling in the middle). They look black but white inside.
‘Oriel cookie blacks,’ are a great problem for ordinary citizens in that they help to increase racism of their fellow blacks by rejecting their own cultures. They want to belong to the white culture or be adopted into that culture. This is about them being more acceptable to whites. This not so foreign to Africa. Remember apartheid South Africa issued ‘honorary white’ status to some blacks or Asians.
These blacks, want to sound white and take elocution classes to drop their accents and be more white. This just Neo colonialism replacing the former colonialism, except this is now being fostered by our gov’t. Zambians sleep walked into this situation by Sata’s cunning. A white VP, inviting SA and Zimbabwe whites and adding to this western investors, making an explosive…
It is not acceptable nor enough, for Ms Kapata to make a call. We need gov’t to prosecute racists, and above all they need to know they will be thrown out if they make these practices. We need favouring legislation for black Zambians so they too can enjoy their resources.
Most of these investors only see Zambia as a money machine. Recently shocked when I studied the website if a boating company called The Queen Elizabeth offering tours up and down the Zambezi. I found they had offices in UK, USA and Europe BUT did not appear to have offices in Zambia. This means they make money here and pay staff elsewhere while using Zambian resources for this business. The only blacks I noticed were Black Servants prominently shown in subservient roles.