The Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times” is upon us. Most of the voices in the debate about the current constitutional amendments are NOT happy voices. Interestingly most people are not against change, they are for change, but they do not quite comprehend what is changing, from what to what and who is to benefit from the change. For the first time since independence, there are expressions of fear all around that there are hidden agendas behind the changes to the constitution, and this is not good for a nation that was on a march to greatness. Insight Magazine, one of the best publications in Afrika in our time, offers this poignant alert: ‘Disarming Democracy: It’s time to be worried. Very Worried’. Dwellers in the Land of the Brave are whispering and talking softly, often behind the backs of their hands for fear of being noticed, that something is definitely not right.
Now the list of the 96 strong SWAPO team headed for the National Assembly and by extension cabinet is out. At a glance, the list looks an assortment of men and women making a very weak cast of an otherwise very good movie script. It matters not how polite one is but the team from the ruling party, the liberation movement which defined politics in Namibia so far leaves much to be desired. The outcome of the POT POLITICS is a POTPOURI of untested SWAPO supporters who came in at the expense of veteran and quality leadership that SWAPO has been known for. In the very least one can safely say that though the old world is dying, the new is definitely not yet born. This leaves us in a very serious interregnum – neither here nor there!
It would appear that the ruling party did itself a big disservice by not setting standards for the leadership within its changing ranks. There ought to have been set standards and set merits for people to rise to positions of leadership as MPs and cabinet ministers. This would have assisted the process to weed out those who clearly are not able to serve the nation given where the nation has been brought by SWAPO so far inside the country, in the SADC region and as a world player. In other words, it is one thing to be a good Swapist, but it is quite another to lead. As the latter requires more than loyalty to the party or being the quietest in meetings. To be an MP or cabinet minister in Namibia ought to require an understanding and appreciation of where the country is at in terms of its values, priorities and national grand agendas, not just party procedures and the art of wearing party colours at the slightest provocation.
Namibia has national interests that are far bigger than any party’s interests in the short, medium and long terms. It would appear that the cohort that the ruling party has produced this time is of the type and nature that will lead to be told what to say, when to say so and how to say at all times, and this is through no fault of their own. They have just not been schooled to become what the Greek Plato teacher called philosopher kings, namely those few members of society who have a more informed and deeper understanding of the needs of the society. With due respect, most of these new leaders are drilled enough to mouth a few relevant SWAPO slogans at the right times, but lack a grasp of the pertinent issues affecting Namibia in today’s world.
To give them a mandate to lead now is not sufficient as leadership ought to be organic to be effective. In the absence of clear standards understood by all aspiring role players, the only criterion that was used was gender. This is perilous and the campaigners of the gender balance have cheapened politics to the extent that the country is now losing out on quality. Good and value-laden standards would allow people to rise to positions of leadership and enable the process to determine the extent to which compromises are appropriate, reasonable and necessary. In that way a system can sustain and reinvent and recharge itself in a new direction and with new innovations and energy. This is not what we are seeing now in this game of upmanship for the sake of self-glory and perilous to the nation that deserves better.
If one were to take a count of opinions on the streets and dirt roads of any place in Namibia, the majority of the people who would have something to say would be against the changes as they are articulated at the moment. At the moment, most eyes are focused on SWAPO, the custodian of what is Namibia today. It is in this context that people shake their heads in disbelief about what is going on. Of all parties, people expected more from SWAPO in terms of the quality of leaders it is able to bring forth as part of its process of reinvention. What they see is a metamorphosis that could render SWAPO unrecognizable. This is mostly due to the fact that people feel that they have not been taken into confidence as participants in the process of change, and people question how a handful of people had arrogated to themselves the right to think and act on their behalf. This phenomenon is a regular occurrence in Afrikan politics where the political elite colonise the political space and cannibalise it for their own glory ala La politique du ventre – the politics of the belly. There is always a great temptation on the part of the political elite to disguise their contempt of the voters in the name of representativity by arguing that because they were elected, they carry the mandate to alter things for the voters. This always leads to instability. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki once agitated against this kind of representative politics when he decried how politicians treat citizens as ‘voting cows’, and warned those who are sycophants who corrupt otherwise good leaders with self-serving praise and warnings against threats to stop being iimpukane – meaning flies that flock to eat on the carcasses of democracy.
While we must guard against being alarmist, we cannot at the same time ignore the consternation and the rumblings of dismay, disappointment, dread and disenchantment all around us. Those who ignore cries of anguish do so at their own peril. At the very least, we ought to consider the murmurings of dissatisfaction in our nation as a good warning and as part of strengthening our democracy and as a necessary process of building a nation – nothing more nothing less. Those who have a conscience must reach out to our leaders and whisper the truth to them before the Gods Get Angry!
The controversial constitutional amendments for 2014 are now a fait accompli, even though there is no consensus on the part of the political parties represented in the National Assembly on the one hand and the general voting citizenry on the other. There is no evidence that the citizens have been consulted sufficiently, save through their elected representatives in the legislative houses who are divided on the efficacies and the urgency of the amendments. It would appear, however, that the ruling party consulted the opposition leadership who in turn did not take the messages to the people in order to cause popular participation. Consultations seem to be going on right now, even though they mean nothing in the scheme of things as die koeël is deur die kerk! This means there is a problem in the body politic of the nation and this is cause for concern when one looks at it from the perspective of the peace and stability and the necessary cohesion that the country has enjoyed thus far.
What are we learning? Without prejudice, we are hearing citizens say that they do not know enough about what is going on, and why. Citizens are saying that if the amendments were about introducing change then it must be change for the better and for all, not just for a few. Citizens are asking for information from their elected in all political parties to make them understand the changes and the speed with which the changes are effected. Citizens have the right to know how the changes will bring improvements to their own lives and not just the lives of the few. For instance, it is fair for citizens to demand explanations about how increasing the top government bureaucracy is positive change and better for all: how more blue light motorcades, more bodyguards, more guarded houses, more family security for a few, how a huge salary bill for the government officials will be better life for all – when hospital and health care facilities are in decay, when the main airport in the country is an embarrassment, when the education system is neither here nor there, when schoolchildren go hungry and the quality of teachers deteriorate day by day, when the police and military officers are underpaid – how all these can be positive changes and better life for all! The case has yet to be made to countenance the existence of an Executive President, an Executive Vice-President, Executive Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister plus more than 25 ministers and over 20 deputy ministers with permanent secretaries in a country with a population of just two million people is a better life for all!
The necessary and sufficient explanation ought to proceed from the logic that the population has increased exponentially over the last 25 years such that things have changed so dramatically to account for a more bloated and top-heavy state bureaucracy. Saying this is not oppositional politics but a language of constructive conversation if we as a nation want to safeguard our peace and stability and grow our economy realistically in tandem with our potential and resources at our disposal. Otherwise the changes, good though they may sound, smack of politics of self-aggrandizement. Furthermore, 2014 is different from the previous times of the first and second amendments. Generally change has a different meaning today than at the time the first two amendments were proposed and passed at least in three major respects: (a) the consciousness of the citizens has risen and voters are less gullible and more critical today; (b) the expectations are different and much higher especially from the youth and women folk; and (c) politics is no longer just about liberation and there is a demystification of heroes and sheroes from exile. The country has seen political parties that formed on the promise of change yet nothing really changed. Virtually all opposition formations came yet there is little to account for any substantive change, save for new party colours and uncalled for hostility towards the ruling party. That is not change for the better. These parties came to change politics, SWAPO politics, yet SWAPO today is stronger than before, even stronger than during the first democratic elections in 1989. There is a saying: ‘If it aint broke don’t fix it.’ In this context even hard-core SWAPO loyalists are beginning to say that these changes could actually make SWAPO look less than caring, indifferent to the plight of the ordinary people and moving in the dreaded direction of Afrika where leaders think more of themselves and their security rather than the wellbeing people they purport to represent.
“With due respect, most of these new leaders are drilled enough to mouth a few relevant SWAPO slogans at the right times, but lack a grasp of the pertinent issues affecting Namibia in today’s world.”
“The outcome of the POT POLITICS is a POTPOURI of untested SWAPO supporters who came in at the expense of veteran and quality
leadership that SWAPO has been known for.”
“It would appear,
however, that the ruling party consulted the
opposition leaderships who in turn did not take the messages to the people in order to cause popular participation.”
“While we must guard against being alarmist, we cannot at the same time ignore the
consternation and the rumblings of dismay, disappointment, dread and disenchantment all around us.”