Swapo And Minimalist Thinking
By: Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari
SOUTH Africa’s political life for the past week has been dominated by the African National Congress’ (ANC) national policy conference. Of the 13 policy documents under discussion, looking at diverse issues ranging from organisational renewal to foreign policy, much of the controversy focussed on the document titled: The Second Transition: Building a National Democratic Society and the Balance of Forces in 2012.
The title, as outrageous as it is in some respects, speaks about the need for a certain type of conversation about the ANC and the vision it has for South Africa.
For us, the most important lesson with regard to what has been happening at the ANC Conference does not necessarily have to do with the substance or the lack thereof with regard to the key document.
It has more to do with the intellectual vitality and learning in a political organisation.
Undoubtedly, the debates at the ANC conference are also informed by the looming elective conference at Mangaung in December.
However, the fact that an old political organisation speaks about itself and the country it leads is more than encouraging for the future of South Africa.
Enter Swapo. In a few months time, Swapo will also hold an elective congress at which crucially a candidate will be chosen to contest the presidential elections in 2014.
To this end, the party rank and file has been in motion, preparing and positioning for the congress but largely in terms of form and not necessarily substance.
But what has been disappointing is the dearth of a robust intellectual debate with regard to what the forthcoming congress should mean for a political party, which has been in power for the past 22 years.
Instead, what we have seen are archaic and simplistic notions of what Swapo’s candidate should be in terms of form or what the candidate should look like.
In terms of form, much of what has been said by some of the key figures in Swapo, the person should be from the Tanganyika group.
Those who are clamouring for this position have the right to do so.
As individuals who are embedded in that history, they are factionally inclined to do so.
But my worry has more to do with the absence of a robust debate with regard to what Swapo is and what it is not at this point in its history.
Moreover, my worry also relates to the absence of key candidates with regard to the burning issues that should dominate the public domain in the lead up to the elective congress.
Yet, Swapo as an organisation is in need of new software and political renewal.
This call for the new, instead of the old in the form of the history of the Tanganyika group, is what should be at the core of the men and women seeking office.
To do so would certainly demand a good dose of courage from the candidates and their teams.
Importantly, it would also demand substantive intellectual depth and resources from the rank and file of the ruling party.
After all, Namibians are looking to Swapo for a more complex debate as a means of renewing a country that has become an orphan in terms of ideas.
In light of the dominance of the ruling party in many domains, the hope we may have at this point going forward, is a political party that is forward looking and self-critical.
Sadly, Swapo has been minimalist in thinking, wanting to move forward in terms of form, but always hesitant when it comes to the substantive aspects of a modern political party and its ideas.
Two weeks ago, I spoke about Swapo as an idea. An idea as encompassed in a political party must be nurtured as a means to transform society.
Swapo will cease to be relevant if it does not seek, like the ANC, to remain at the cutting edge of ideas through a robust and informed conversation about policy and leadership.
* Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD-fellow in political science and researcher at the Centre for Political Research at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.