Pub Night

Upon arrival in Gabs to run our brewery, one of our first and most important orders of business was to open a pub in the main boardroom, open to all monthly paid employees from 5 pm to 6 pm every weeknight.

Within a few weeks of opening, our faithful secretary, Wally, announced in his heavy German accent, “Ve must haff pub nicht.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I responded.

What he was talking about was inviting guests from around Gabs to have a drink with us in our new pub,

I was conscious of the fact that there was some resentment in the town now that we had been installed as partners in the brewery business. There were all sorts of rumours floating about. In particular, many thought we were in the process of introducing an apartheid-style regime at the brewery, though nothing could have been further from our minds, of course.

So Wally organised a weekly Pub Night, where we would invite guests, mainly from institutions in Gabs such as The Ministry of Finance, The Ministry of Commerce, the University, and so on. There were also large Chinese and Russian embassies in Gaborone, whose staff, usually chaperoned by their Ambassadors, happily came along.

These embassy staff were obvious there listening posts, since they were either unable or unwilling to have embassies in apartheid South Africa. Most of the embassies – British, American and so on – were regular guests; and even the non-drinking Libyans were persuaded to come when Yusuf, our Jordanian engineer, told them we also produced soft drinks.

Soon, it became de rigeur for all the movers and shakers in Gabs to get an invite to Pub Night at the brewery.

And of course, given most of our own people who drank in the pub were local Motswana, all the silly rumours regarding an apartheid-style regime at the brewery just stopped.