Focus

Walls and bridges represent different functional and symbolic meanings. Walls represent barriers and bridges stand for connection, opening and passage. Bridges are meant to connect people and places, whereas walls are meant to prevent/block entry by unwanted outsiders or even animals. The Berlin Wall was meant to separate the two former Germanys East and West because of the ideological divide of the time. 

In an opinion piece published in the New Era newspaper of 6 March 2020, under the abovementioned title, the three gentlemen responded to my critique of their original piece (The Namibian, 20 December 2019).  In their response, they showed respect and I return that courtesy. 

The invisible coronavirus has reached Namibian shores after leaving a trail of devastation in China, Europe and the world at large. In Namibia, priority should be on protecting lives and saving our economy. The main emphasis should be on containing and mitigating the disease itself. President Geingob demonstrated decisive leadership on managing Covid-19 and this offers hope to control its impact.  

Now that we are celebrating 30 years of independence of our country it may be important to just briefly reflect on some issues of those years, particularly what still persistently and disturbingly are still haunting us.

Today, when the young and the born-free, those born after Namibia’s independence in 1990, enrol at schools and institutions of their choices, little does it come to their minds that it was not as easy as that during the years of colonialism and apartheid. Today, black and white students enrol for degree programmes such as medicine, law, engineering, humanities, social sciences, pure sciences and education at higher education institutions without segregation.  They do this at will depending on their passes at high school level.

Last week Saturday, large groups of manifestly one tribal youth sections upped the game by demanding the immediate stepping down of President Hage Geingob, in a tribal manner which left no doubt that they are a tribal grouping seeking the ouster of a democratically elected leader simply because he is not of their origin.