Jackson visit ‘was never on’

AFTER widespread speculation about the reason behind what would have been his third visit to Namibia, Michael Jackson, the self-proclaimed King of Pop, failed to arrive in Windhoek on Friday.

On Wednesday, State House confirmed that Jackson would hold “private talks” with President Sam Nujoma at midday on Friday, and that the media would be allowed to be present for his arrival. However, The Namibian received a call from a State House official on Friday morning to say that Jackson would no longer be meeting President Nujoma.It later emerged that Jackson was not coming to Namibia, or Africa for that matter.Jackson’s spokesperson, Raymone K Bain, told the Associated Press that an American-based Africa adventure tour company had requested the appointment with Nujoma, saying Jackson planned to visit Namibia as part of a 12-day African cultural tour.Bain said the travel company had acted without the singer’s permission.”I guess we will do our due diligence to look into how this happened,” she said by telephone from Washington.”These things do happen quite often.There are a lot of misrepresentations and misinformation.”Jackson has turned over his passport to the Santa Barbara Country prosecutors in California as a condition of his release after pleading innocent to child molestation charges and is not permitted to leave the US.A pre-trial hearing in the case is scheduled for April 30.”It is so awful how innocent people can be taken in by people who will just run with things without having the proper authorisation to do so,” Bain told the Associated Press.However, The Namibian received a call from a State House official on Friday morning to say that Jackson would no longer be meeting President Nujoma.It later emerged that Jackson was not coming to Namibia, or Africa for that matter.Jackson’s spokesperson, Raymone K Bain, told the Associated Press that an American-based Africa adventure tour company had requested the appointment with Nujoma, saying Jackson planned to visit Namibia as part of a 12-day African cultural tour.Bain said the travel company had acted without the singer’s permission.”I guess we will do our due diligence to look into how this happened,” she said by telephone from Washington.”These things do happen quite often.There are a lot of misrepresentations and misinformation.”Jackson has turned over his passport to the Santa Barbara Country prosecutors in California as a condition of his release after pleading innocent to child molestation charges and is not permitted to leave the US.A pre-trial hearing in the case is scheduled for April 30.”It is so awful how innocent people can be taken in by people who will just run with things without having the proper authorisation to do so,” Bain told the Associated Press.