Thread: Namibia: Peace, Democracy and Development?

Mie1

Are you in a different timezone, burning the midnight oil, or suffering from insomnia?

No matter. I am in agreement with your sceptisism of our "achievements" the past 20 odd years.

That said, I'm going to bed now. It makes me sleep better (if at all) if I know other people wrestle with the same thoughts as I do.

We should make a point of getting opinions shared on forums like these on the table of MP's every day.

If they can read, they may just get into touch with the much loved "grass roots" peepols.

.....or is Grass Roots a term only reserved for use with a particular politically critical group??

Namibia: Whither the Shine in Country's Peace, Democracy and Development?

Tangeni Amupadhi

Countering the motion: 'This House believes that Namibia is a shining example of post-colonial peace, democracy and development.'

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

It is sad indeed, taking this position and being the bearer of bad news. But we have to speak some home truths. Have you heard that hammers were selling very well at Namibia's hardware stores last year after our founding president, Sam Nujoma, said whites, especially the English, must be clobbered in their heads? And just what was their crime? Alleged criticism of the ruling party and the Namibian government.

This might sound like a bad joke, but it is the material comedians are presented with from public rallies addressed by our most revered political leader. Such jokes remind me of the time during apartheid, when the best way to deal with ghastly realities was to make light moments of those conditions to avoid national depression and insanity.

The truth is Nujoma's call, made at a SWAPO (South West Africa People's Orgnisation) elections campaign rally in September last year, was a continuation of anti-democratic, anti-peace, fervour not only by the first president of democratic Namibia, but by many other leaders of the former liberation movement, which has been in power for 20 years.

Please, do let me dwell on a few examples, which have continued to wipe the shine off any aspiration we harbour to be the barometer for post-colonial peace, democracy and development.

JUDAS ISCARIOT AND SATAN:

The Namibian head of state, President Hifikepunye Pohamba, at a public meeting in February 2008, called his erstwhile comrades Judas Iscariots. These were people who, after several years complaining they were being witch-hunted and hounded out of the SWAPO, left the party to form the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). The message the president was sending was unequivocal, as you'd imagine in a country with 90 per cent Christian following. Such a label means nothing less than a call to SWAPO followers to destroy the devil. Small wonder then that violent scenes broke out in Windhoek and some northern parts of the country during the elections campaign last year.

My team member has told you about the violent attacks that SWAPO supporters inflicted on opposition members who dared holding meeting in the areas traditionally regarded as strongholds of the ruling party. These SWAPO supporters were not ignorant, ordinary followers acting on their own. In fact, they were putting into practise a warning by Namibia's prime minister, Nahas Angula, that this newly-formed opposition party should not be allowed to campaign in places he identified as 'no-go areas' for any politician but SWAPO.

And when the ruling party leadership were asked to condemn the violence and the notion of no-go areas in the interest of peace, democracy and development, guess what they did? Instead of promoting a contestation of ideas, they feebly called on their members to restrain themselves and strongly criticised the opposition for 'provoking' SWAPO members by campaigning and holding meetings the so-called no-go areas. Even trees were marked off as belonging to SWAPO. Talk about shining examples of post-colonial peace, democracy and development. The opposite is more apt.

MINISTER SHOOT SON:

And have you heard about the shooting incident last year? A senior minister in the Namibian government, a law-maker, fired at his son. Yes, with a gun and live ammunition. He was apparently blind with anger because the 20-year-old joined an opposition party.

Asked by a newspaper reporter why he had resorted to firing squad measures, he said: 'I raised him with my SWAPO money, now he wants to go to RDP? He knows that I am working and getting my money from SWAPO. It irritates me so much that I breed someone with my SWAPO money and then he defects to the opposition, let him go and be educated by RDP.'

It is scary enough that a father would draw a firearm on his son because the young man joined another political party. But that shouldn't stop you asking what SWAPO money this minister was talking about. Is it the funding that the then liberation movement received from its anti-apartheid supporters all over the world or is he talking about his government salary that comes from taxpayers' coffers?

Anywhere in a peaceful and democratic world, such a leader would have done the honourable thing. As it is, he remains in cabinet and I don't remember him being charged with the crime of drawing a weapon and shooting at someone, albeit his flesh and blood.

There are broader general examples of anti-peace, anti-democratic measures the country's politicians take to discourage dissent.

ECONOMIC STRANGULATION: ADVERTISING BAN

Ten years ago, the government at cabinet level banned all state advertising in The Namibian newspaper. The Namibian is not only the biggest and most widely read paper in the country, it is also the newspaper that ideologically aligned itself with SWAPO and the broad anti-apartheid movement.

Yet the SWAPO-government had the temerity to do what apartheid rulers did - ban state advertising from appearing in The Namibian. And this they put in writing. The reason, listen to this, 'because of unwarranted criticism of government policies'. This would have been funny if it were not a decision of a democratically-elected government.

To date, no government money is allowed to buy a copy of The Namibian. The ban, however ineffective, remains in place as a political message that criticism of the government comes at a cost. That wipes further shine of our democracy, peace and development.

BUSINESS BOYCOTT

The Namibian newspaper is not the only entity that has had to incur the ire of its former comrades because of dissent. Several businessmen in the former war-zone of northern Namibia are finding out the hard-way the price of leaving SWAPO, especially to support opposition politics.

Several of these former SWAPO members have seen their businesses crumble after their customers were instructed by SWAPO leaders to stop buying from them because they dared to support opposition parties. Unlike The Namibian newspaper, these businesses operate in an area totally dominated by SWAPO, where mob-rule can severely punish anyone who deviates from the popular view. Economic strangulation has worked as intended.

The same economic strangulation has been used in the form of political patronage. Many Namibians of notable intelligence have been denied the opportunity to work in the civil service because they were not 'loyal party cadres'. And no proof is needed that a person is indeed an opposition party member. For nowadays, we have 'hibernators and saboteurs', you see. Jobs go to comrades. And these jobs for comrades are offered without regard to competence. Mind you, I'm not referring to politically sensitive positions, but to civil service positions below that of a permanent secretary, for instance.

In Namibia this day, dogma has replaced rationality.

How much of the shine would you think such incidences have already taken off any possible exemplary stage that Namibia has been through for post-colonial peace, for democracy and for development?

Examples are plenty to support our position that Namibia is not a shining example of post-colonial peace, democracy and development. The state-funded media for instance, are a classic example of Stalinistic propaganda.

Even Namibia's former prime minister, Hage Geingob, cautioned in his doctoral thesis about a trend that was emerging in Namibia towards a concentration of power in one person. It was a subtle jab at founding president, Sam Nujoma, and Geingob went as far as comparing the tendency to the likes of Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Kamuzu Banda of Malawi. Geingob said we were at the cross-roads. I'd argue that instead of power being concentrated in an individual it is concentrated in a small group. That, in itself, does not auger well for peace, democracy and development.

DEVELOPMENT

Land resettlement has become largely the preserve of the privileged, few black elite. And many take the land more for the pleasure than productivity, in the process threatening food security for the country. That my learned friends does not augur well for peace and stability.

EDUCATION

Worrying still is the education system that spews onto the streets 50 per cent of its grade 10s and 12s every year. On the whole, we are sowing the seeds of disaster instead of being a shining example.

SOLIDARITY

I bemoan the loss of solidarity by the elite. Here I refer specifically to solidarity with the poor and the most vulnerable in society.

I therefore argue, without the fear of contradiction but with sadness - Namibia is not a shining example of post-colonial peace, democracy and development.

Ladies and gentlemen, the only reason you and I can support this motion tonight, is if we take the lowest common denominators - Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Angola, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Our beautiful, beloved 'Land of the Brave' deserves better. We should aim to be the best!

Tangeni Amupadhi is editor of lnsight Namibia. Tangeni Amupadhi was second speaker to Henning Melber at a discussion organised by the Friends of Namibia and the Royal African Society at the Houses of Parliament in London, 18 March 2010.

As an American who has had a long term (4 year) interest in Namibia and believes that it is a part of Africa that we (Americans) never see - because it is NOT broken and tragic - I love to see these thoughts from citizens on the leaders and motivations of their leaders.

This reflects on a people who know and care about their future. Here in America, things have not been about progress but polarization and fear as soon as Bush came into office. Now with Obama, the opposition is still rousing up fear and uncertainty and doubt using religion as a motivator.

It is painful and tragic.

Obviously we cannot all have the same opinion, but some opinions should be taken with a pinch of salt.

I completely agree with Amupadhi's analysis, and would go even so far as saying that SWAPO is not really ruling our country. When last did the current SWAPO Government publish any official and serious policy document, be it a draft or white paper, about any issues that are of public concern and require Government intervention? The simple fact is that our country is ruled by a small group of well-connected individuals with people in the right positions and the power to keep others out of these positions. They are prepared to use force to defend their posts, whatever the price. Many of these people simply happen to be members of SWAPO, others are not, and you may as well call them the Namibia Nationalist League and they would win any election if they kept intact as a group and waged a campaign. They communicate with each other by means of secure, encrypted mobile and radio communications. They use the resources and structures of the State to keep one step ahead of anyone who tries to lay claim to any part of their empires. Namibia does not have a constitutional order. It is a country run by a so-called nomenklatura similar to that in the former Soviet Union. The nomenklatura were a small elite group within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in all spheres of those countries' activity: government, industry, agriculture, education, etc. and Namibia is no different except for token election, a token rubber-stamping Parliament, a cowed public broadcaster, a vilified opposition, etc. Personally I think it is high time to call a spade a spade that Namibia is a democracy on paper only. The members of the nomeklatura protect each other, and know all the dirt about each other. They are not accountable to the public, but only to each other insofar as this keeps the group intact. Why do you think there is no official enquiry into the GIPF saga and the millions that disappeared? Why? Why have we not had official enquiries into so many other matters? Why? Because they would expose the workings and members of the nomenklatura and hold thhem accountable in some way or form. Sure, our country is peaceful on the surface but underneath it is being strip-mined and squeezed by a small band of individuals who have only their own interest and that of the group at heart.

Good take Richardo, Mie, Zav ....an interesting and 99% accurate piece from Tangeni indeed....Else am starting to wonder if the whole world and its states are not indeed runned by their respective own fair share of what Richardo terms "The nomenklatura "........

Very true, Juikk. In many countries it is exactly the same but you know in many others there is a good chance these people cannot operate the same way as I describe it above. There is oversight, independent Judiciary, professional Police, civil society who always keep an eyeon what this nomenklatura is up to. With us, we are far away from that and Government people know. Why has no "big fish" been caught with corruption? I mean rally big fish? Are they all clean? In other countries the big fish also get caught here it is only the small fish, the messengers, the teamakers? So its true innocent until guilty but today we read in Namibian that CID is overworked and has no resources. Of course if they are not independent they will get pressure to invetigate small fishes where the case can be closed quickly. How can they chase the big fish, the Nomenklature. This is different in Europe and America. They don't care who the big fish are and have the means to chase them.