Thread: Talking about multi-party democracy

Comrade_00007!!!!

It also means that he has a "darn" good speech-writer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But yes, I agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can salute a man like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yo Pietro - is your exclamation mark (!) key on your keyboard stuck? Was just wondering because all your very interesting posts are always pulled away by a whole chain of da stuff. Nothing against it, but let me know if you need tips how to get it unstuck ...

Geek, give it to him. He'll need a new keyboard one of these fine days.

I agree totally with the sentiments regarding Cde President Pohamba. Told you we made a good choice ...

... is our President contradicting himself? How principled is he, really? If the media is to be believed, Pohamba made some pretty undemocratic comments in Oshiwambo at a recent SWAPO rally in the North of our country. It is reported he said the following:

Addressing a rally of SWAPO Party supporters on February 23 2008, Namibian President Lucas Hifikepunye Pohamba branded those former SWAPO Party members who joined the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) party as ‘traitors like Judas who betrayed Jesus and misled people’. Other SWAPO Party leaders who also addressed the said rally inter alia urged SWAPO Party supporters to deprive RDP members of economic opportunities and to deny them access to water as well as to boycott businesses owned by the RDP supporters.

And then there are a score if issues raised by the National Society of Human Rights. If only a couple of these incidents are tru, we should indeed all be worried: http://www.theshebeen.org/press-rele...incidents.html

How democratic is that kind of behaviour? This two-faced behaviour is very worrying, because it shows the true nature of our "leaders" - talking democracy when it is convenient, and reverting to intolerance and violence when it is not. It does not become a President of a democratic Republic to make such utterances, if indeed he made them.

I don't know about you, but unless our leaders - the President included - are not prepared to walk their talk, all the promises of democracy seem a bit shallow and empty, don't they? This continues to be a source of insecurity for our Republic, and it undermines confidence in our society, our political system, our economy.

Any outsider will think to himself: "Now how can this be? I thought Namibia was really democratic, and now this happens......!". Of course we know why it happens, but that neither makes it acceptable, nor appropriate. Neither is it democractic behaviour or right.... What do you think?

It may sound parochial and somewhat patronising, but all politicians, at times, talk "down" to the people. President Pohamba will always have a different speech for some areas more rural in nature and a another different speech for the urban areas. I get the idea he aims his "arrows" in such a way that he is ensured of the greatest possible support from the electorate of the region he finds himself in .......

If that makes sense?

It does indeed sound patronising and parochical, and I'm sure that is exactly what it is. After all: Rural Namibians don't really understand political tolerance and peaceful coexistence, right. Neither can rural Namibians distinguish between what is right and what is plain wrong, right - never mind what a democracy is all about? I mean how could we expect them to after 15 Years of Indepencence, right? We're a young Republic, so we need to be patient, right?

With all respect, Oneword: I disagree strongly. If we accept this then it plainly means that there are two fundamentally different views of democracy in our country: One the "official" line if you want, the other the "what we think is right for the country" line. The offical line wants us to buy into rule of law, constitutionalism, etc.. the other is clearly opportunistic and subversive in the sens that it is not underpinned by the "official" line.

It is a parallel political paradigm and universe, in which political actos know that under certain circumstances it does not matter an inch what the Constitution says, or the laws of the country. There is no self-censorship, and neither is it required since the actors impose their own paradigm on the situation. And no-one will keep them from doing it since the offical public bodies like the police are also actors in this paralell universe.

So if the call goes out to be politically intolerant, then that is what happens. Who cares about the Constitution? Who cares about rule of law and political tolerance? I mean: In which mature democracy do you hear the President say that supporters of Party A should boycott businesses of supporters of Party B?

This is a fundemantal problem in our body politic. We don't walk the talk. If Pohamba was a true democrat and presidential, he would speak like a true democract. He would preach tolerance, respect, freedom of choice....There should not be a different lines for urban or rural areas, or arrows, or whatever. He would walk his talk

Comrade_007! I agree! But that is the way it is! Up North they say what they think the people want to hear and in Windhoek they are more circumspect. Tatekulu did it, why should Pohamba not do it, too!

It's not "bollocks; it's the way it is!

I have listened to enough of the speeches to tell the difference over the years!

I think we're missing each other - I agree with your analysis. You are right about the reasons why he's doing it. I'm saying it is unacceptable and undemocratic and intolerant and subversive of our Constitution and not becoming of a true democrat and the President of a supposedly democratic Republic.

As the saying goes: You can't have your cake and eat it.

Comrade_007! We agree! 100% or even more!