KM3 AIRPORT IS OUR PRIDE

Sir,

Recently, I had a chat with a motorist. When he pulled over at the filling station, he said: “How are you man. Do you use garage cards here?”
I replied to the affirmative.

Protocol at all filling stations denotes that we petrol attendants should greet customers and ask how we can be of help.
However, with this customer, when he parked, he abruptly greeted me and stated his case.
How I wish all motorists would treat us this way.

Anyway that is a story for another day. Today let us be relevant with trending news.
Everybody is talking about the newly-opened King Mswati III Airport and newly-wed Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini.
My customer and I discussed the new airport. It began like this. He wondered if our machine was cordless so that I would bring it to him to swipe after filling up his car.
I said Swaziland had not reached First World status and still lagged behind in terms of technology.

I told that him that in his country (number plate was South African) they used pocket pass (see that Nedbank advert where a man is talking to his client and when its time to pay the man just takes out his Nedbank pocket pass?)
In Swaziland, we have point of sale machines wired to cashier machines.
A customer has to go inside the mini store to pay or swipe his/her fleet, credit or petrol card.
We are far from achieving First World status, the way I see it.
So, my customer asked me to fill up his blue Renault.

The male motorist, in his late 30s, was in a good mood, judging by the way he treated me.
Our discussion digressed to the newly-opened airport.
I am the one who channelled it towards that direction.
I started: “As much as we are far from achieving First World status, we can brag about our new baby project airport. Sikhuphe is our pride. It is a project we can show off to the world that indeed we are getting there, as far as His Majesty’s 2022 vision is concerned.”

Before I could explain why Sikhuphe was a good investment for the country, he interrupted.
“Okay, Petrol Attendant, (I asked to him call me PA so as to let the conversation flow). What are you going to do with that airport? How many airlines are going to use it? In fact, Swaziland has wasted money on a white elephant project.”
I replied: “Let’s take your beautiful car for example. There could be something better than it. You could have built a big house, invested in a business or invested in furthering your studies but you bought your car.”
Like the good customer he is, he was not offended but emphasised that Sikhuphe was a project not worth investing in.
He said the government could have invested in other viable projects, not a new airport.

Before we could continue, the car was filled up. He went in to pay and left.
All the other passengers in his car waved me goodbye and could not stop laughing either at me or the driver.
They all said, “Goodbye Mr PA, Mr First World Status.”

As they left, I wondered why the educated class is still complaining about Sikhuphe. It is not only this motorist who has this view but many, including the editors of newspapers.
This has led to the populace who read the newspapers believing this.
Everybody and influential columnists are against it.
Let us be realistic here. The new airport has been completed. We need to be optimistic and support our goverment.
For Swaziland to reach His Majesty’s dream, we need to come to the party and stop the ‘pull him back’ attitude.

Let us be proud of this project and market it the way it needs to, so that it attracts a lot of tourists. That way, it will be marketed worldwide.
Now we are talking about Simunye Fun Fair and the BushFire festival.
The organisers responsible should make sure it is well marketed.
That said, I wonder why we are referred to as petrol attendants because we also fill up on diesel.

Pianoman
MBABANE

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