After a recent visit to Amsterdam, I have come to realize that the people of Tilburg are very special. People here are friendly and will often engage in conversation with a total stranger. They are warm and they have time for other people. By contrast, the people in Amsterdam are always in a rush. They move fast and they don’t talk to strangers. I suppose this is common to all the big cities of the world. But in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, people always have time.

One thing Harare does have in common with Amsterdam, however, is crime. In many shops in Amsterdam I noticed signs warning customers to beware of pickpockets. I have not come across this in Tilburg at all.

The reason for our sojourn to Amsterdam was the Prince Claus Fund 2003 Awards Ceremony, where a number of alumni, stretching across the globe from China to Brazil and including Turkey, Cambodia and Zimbabwe, were honoured for their contributions to culture and development.

It was a delight to meet Her Majesty Queen Beatrix, who attended the ceremony with her two younger sons, Prince Johan Friso and Prince Constantijn, who are joint honorary chairman of the Fund, founded in 1996 by their father Prince Claus.

Queen Beatrix was most interested in the reason for my being in the Netherlands, and we spent some time chatting about my experiences. She said she was proud that Dutch nationals and organizations such as the Tilburg Vrijplaats were involved in providing safe haven for people who are persecuted in their own countries. I was most honoured by her personal attention and amazed at how warm, friendly and down-to-earth she is.

At a dinner that evening, I had the privilege of meeting and spending quite some time in discussion with both Prince Johan Friso and Prince Constantijn. I was amazed by how unaffected they are by their elevated station in life. They are also incredibly well-informed, articulate and interested in everything.

I was struck by the stark contrast between the behaviour of these true royals and that of Zimbabwe’s political leaders – who are so aware of their status and behave with such pomposity and arrogance. The scene of the awards dinner – the fabulous Hotel de l’Europe – would have been bristling with machine-gun toting security guards, under-cover agents, police and officials if any member of the Zimbabwean ruling elite was to be present. Guests would have been subjected to humiliating body searches as they entered. And it is not only the leaders who behave so appallingly – so do their children, their distant relatives and their hangers-on.

When I mentioned this to Prince Johan Friso, his reply astonished me. “It is the people of the Netherlands who have allowed us to be free,” he said.

As the 400 guests thronged the citizens’ hall of the Royal Place on the Dam Square in Amsterdam, I was aware of a genuine respect and even love for the royal family, who mingled freely among them. What a contrast with Africa – where most of our leaders are despised and feared by the people. As a result of this fear, people will pretend to honour them in public, but behind closed doors we mock them.


All columns by Wilf Mbanga

Wilf Mbanga, one of the founders of the independent Zimbabwean daily newspaper "The Daily News", is currently living in Tilburg, the Netherlands. He writes about the differences between Tilburg and Harare. His column is printed weekly in "Het Brabants Dagblad".