This can be either a blessing or a curse (or both).

And at present it feels like the latter simply because the current political divide is tearing families and friends apart.

Given the nature of the problem driving the wedge, it is not only unacceptable, but also immature in the extreme and good leadership can go a long way towards healing the rift.

IT IS probably in the Oshiwambo-speaking section of our population - which makes up the overwhelming majority - in which the impact of the divide is being felt most strongly.

This is perhaps no coincidence because it is traditionally the heartland of the Swapo Party.

But the internecine antipathy that has both developed and gained momentum largely following the founding of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) by breakaway and expelled former Swapo leaders is cutting deep into that community and ways must be found to end this erosion.

The solution is a very simple one, and yet it seems that certain people do not want to recognise what is needed to stop a debilitating process that has absolutely no positives whatsoever for the community that it is ripping asunder.

It must be stated from the outset that while our Bill of Rights provides for freedom of political expression and persuasion (let me emphasise here that it is a RIGHT guaranteed to all Namibians) the ruling party itself, most notably, does not practice tolerance in the political sense, and it is a word that does not seem to be welcome in the Swapo vocabulary.

Whether it is Swapo which is intent on a witch-hunt of RDP supporters, or vice versa, both would be acting unconstitutionally and it is high time this realisation not only be driven home, but be vigorously advocated by all party-political leaders.

The onus rests more on Swapo to actively pursue this course for they have the power and the RDP does not.

Additionally, we are a multi-party democracy and the RDP has legal standing as a political entity.

So what then, an outsider may ask, is the beef? Swapo loyalties go deep and that is well and good for those who are lifers in the party.

For those who may choose other options or have other preferences, it should be equally acceptable.

Much (but not all) of the rhetoric in regard to the divide is played out in northern Namibia.

This is perhaps no coincidence, because Swapo knows well when and where to plant the seeds of division and hatred.

What better soil than in the fertile Swapo heartland? But I would suggest that they are, in the process, being exploitative.

In the sense that urban audiences would not be quite as receptive to their anti-RDP tirades because there are more worldly-wise people who are literate about their rights in a democracy.

The stories now abound of families at odds with one another; former friends who no longer speak; campaigns afoot to boycott businesses of RDP followers; and yes, even incidents of violence, the most recently reported being Mines and Energy Minister Erkki Nghimtina's set-to with his nephew over his political preferences.

The situation is likely to escalate if a spirit of tolerance is not openly embraced by what are virtual warring parties at this point.

Ironically, some of the most vocal in setting the opposing groups against one another are not exactly lifetime stalwarts of the ruling party.

Others may simply be defined as rabble-rousers, for there is simply no other expression which adequately illustrates their destructive behaviour.

Neither is the divide being fuelled because of political principles for there is scant difference between the two.

Swapo members don't have exclusive rights to patriotism either; and sometimes it is debatable whether they care about the country at all if they are prepared to sacrifice Namibia on the altar of narrow political interests.

It is, in short, an absolutely senseless fight.

It is high time that reason prevails and a leader who does not pursue the goal of tolerance cannot be worthy of the title and has no right to public office when he or she has sworn an oath on the Constitution they promised to uphold, yet consistently fail to do so.

I have no doubt that many true Swapo members have no problem with those who hold different political persuasions.

What is perhaps most frightening though, is that they fear to speak out and take refuge in cowardice, because they too may face ostracism from the mainstream.

It is time for the real leaders, if they exist at all, to say enough is enough and to end this madness.

Columns Of The Last 48 Hours

•  Let Us Heed the Voices of Sanity
•  Political Perspective
•  Andimba Ya Toivo's Political Morality: A Weapon To Transcend The Logic Of Cruelty
•  Rural Water Supply Reform: Success Story And Poverty Trap
•  From the Sidelines: Time for change