How Zimbabwe’s tourism minister drove 300km to win back South African tourists

What started as a viral blast on social media by a frustrated South African traveller, blogger and influencer over an encounter with the Zimbabwe Republic Police was transformed into a feel-good story of accountability and engagement after Zimbabwe’s Tourism Minister Barbara Rwodzi personally intervened, drove more than 300 kilometres to meet the visitors and helped turn a critic into a champion for the country’s tourism potential.

Speaking exclusively to IOL from Zimbabwe, George Van Deventer, who lives in Keurboomstrand along South Africa’s picturesque Garden Route in the Western Cape, said he initially recorded and posted a video criticising his experience after he and his travel group were stopped at a police roadblock in Chipinge, describing the encounter as deeply concerning and out of character with the Zimbabwe under the current dispensation led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Van Deventer posted the video on the Facebook page of Trans Africa Self Drive Adventures and Tours, which has more than 700 000 followers. The clip was widely shared by local and international social media users, quickly pushing the issue beyond Zimbabwe’s borders.

Among those who amplified the video was Zimbabwean international journalist and social media influencer Hopewell Chin’ono, who commented that some requirements within Zimbabwe’s traffic regulations amounted to “a breakdown of common sense”.

Van Deventer said he and his partner, Malinki, spend most of the year travelling across the SADC region and have been visiting Zimbabwe since the early 2000s.

During the era of former president Robert Mugabe, police had become infamous along Zimbabwe’s freeways for extorting motorists, particularly those driving vehicles with South African registration plates, with travellers frequently fined for issues such as not carrying reflective jackets.

Following the change in political leadership under Mnangagwa, there was a marked shift in how tourists experienced road travel in Zimbabwe, with authorities pledging to clean up roadblocks and rebuild the country’s tourism image.

“Honestly, the last three or four years we have never been harassed or fined at these so-called checkpoints,” Van Deventer said.

“Whenever they see a foreign registration or identify you as a tourist, they usually just open up the roadblock and let you through.”

Against that backdrop, being stopped at a roadblock in Chipinge – around 300 kilometers from Harare – immediately struck Van Deventer as unusual.

He told IOL that the interaction took an unexpected turn when ZRP officers approached the vehicles and demanded to see four reflective warning triangles for each vehicle because the group was towing caravans. Van Deventer told them he had three triangles, while none of the other caravan-and-trailer combinations in the convoy had four, with some carrying only two.

His concerns deepened when local vehicles were waved through the roadblock while the tourists were subjected to scrutiny. He questioned why other motorists were not being stopped or checked for compliance, particularly those not wearing seatbelts, but said the officer could not provide an answer.

Matters escalated further when officers allegedly provided conflicting names and refused to show police identification. Tensions peaked when one of the women travelling with the group took a photograph of the officers after being advised at the Beitbridge Border Post to document any interaction where motorists felt threatened or unfairly treated. Van Deventer said officers threatened her with arrest unless the image was deleted.

Four members of the group were subsequently fined US$30 (about R560) each for not having the required number of warning triangles.

“The right thing for the police officers to have done is to just caution us, because it is not a criminal offence,” Van Deventer said. “It is a minor road traffic offence.”

He said he deliberately waited until the following day before responding publicly. “You never make a video when you are in anger or frustrated,” he said. “I made a very good video and asked if someone could just point me in the right direction to someone I can report this to.”

Less than two hours after posting the video, Van Deventer said he received a personal phone call from Rwodzi. “She called me personally on my phone, and she gave a sincere apology for what happened to us,” he said.

The intervention soon widened.

“Later on, the Minister of Home Affairs, Kazembe Kazembe himself phoned me on my number to ask all the details,” Van Deventer said.

In Zimbabwe, the Minister of Home Affairs exercises overall political oversight of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

He said the response quickly moved from words to action. “Malinki had taken photos without them seeing, so I forwarded the pictures to Minister Kazembe and Minister Barbara and the wheels started rolling,” he said.

The following day, Rwodzi travelled more than 300 kilometres from Harare to Chimanimani to meet Van Deventer and his group in person.

“She herself drove all the way from Harare to Chimanimani,” he said. “No blue lights, no bodyguards — just her driver. That is what impressed me the most”

Van Deventer described the meeting as sincere and high-level, saying officials openly apologised and acknowledged that the incident was unacceptable.

“This is definitely not the pickle of Zimbabwe currently,” he said. “The police as a whole, in all our experiences, are good people.”

He warned that unchecked negative experiences could quietly damage a country’s tourism industry.

“That person is going to point that down as a very negative experience and they will only say Zimbabwe is never going to see me again,” Van Deventer said. “Every ear that listens to them, they will say do not go to Zimbabwe.”

Tourism, he said, plays a critical role in supporting local communities.

“Wherever we go, we sow seeds of growth with our money that we spend — from the little vegetable stall on the road or the campsite where we stay, the restaurant we eat in or the fuel we put in,” he said.

Van Deventer reserved particular praise for Rwodzi.

“Minister Barbara, she is doing an exceptional job boosting tourism for Zimbabwe,” he said.

Rwodzi is a familiar figure to many South Africans, having previously served at the Pan-African Parliament in Midrand, where she worked closely with South African representatives, including Julius Malema. She was later recalled to Zimbabwe and appointed Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister by Mnangagwa, tasked with rebuilding a tourism sector battered by years of reputational damage. Her decision to personally drive more than 300 kilometres to meet the aggrieved tourists was widely seen on social media platforms as emblematic of that mandate.

Van Deventer ended with a clear message to fellow travellers.

“Zimbabwe is this unbelievable gem in the tourism crown of SADC,” he said. “My message to people is — pack your bags and come to Zimbabwe,” he said.

“Zimbabwe has so much beauty — from Matopos to the Great Zimbabwe ruins, Gonarezhou, Chimanimani, Nyanga, the Eastern Highlands, Vumba, the Victoria Falls, Mana Pools, Hwange National Park,” he said. “I can go on and on on all these unbelievably beautiful places.”