Swanu Appeal For Socialism
An Open Letter to President Pohamba Dear comrade President, SWANU of Namibia wishes to greet you in a comradely spirit as we also wish you good health and prosperous new year.
Swanu’s call to you as Head of State is propelled by a dire need to uphold a noble fundamental principle entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia. Rest assured that it is not about political point scoring but genuine and sincere concerns with the plight of our fellow citizens.
There are however cardinal issues regarding the immediate future of Namibia that we consider that for now they are within your constitutional and executive powers that we know warrant your consideration, intervention and action.
You will recall that the National Assembly sometime ago has adopted a resolution on the Genocide Reparations Demand. Since then not much has actually transpired. We are convinced that all affected Namibians are eager to hear from Government as what progress in this regard is.
It is our considered opinion that the crimes committed against our people through genocide were done by the German State. Therefore, it is the duty of the Namibian Sate to demand reparations from the German State. Comrade President, you as head of state of Namibia, has that responsibility on behalf of the Namibian State and its people.
We are equally perturbed by the position taken by the Swapo-led government on the issue of repatriation of the skulls and other remains from Germany. It is not for the National Heritage Council to ask their counter-part organisation in Germany to return the skulls. Rather, it is the Namibian State to demand from the German State to repatriate the skulls and other remains. Moreover, among other things the German State must answer include:
• How many skulls and other body parts they took from Namibia and from which families;
• What was the purpose and for what benefits;
• What exactly did they do with the skulls all these years;
• What compensation has been negotiated to accompany the skulls?
It is within this context that Swanu wishes to exhort you in your capacity as President of Namibia to:
• Invite all stakeholders to a Reparation Demand Conference, that in our opinion shall include:
• All registered political parties
• Traditional leaders from affected communities
• Church leaders through recognised associations
• Relevant government Offices/ministries/agencies
• Identified interested institutions and individuals.
(b) It is expected that the Conference shall resolve to:-
(1) Constitute the Namibian Negotiation Team;
The Namibian Negotiation Team to:
(i) Propose negotiation time table to the German government;
(ii) Invite through the Namibian Government, the German government representatives to the First Round of negotiations;
(iii) Communicate the Framework of negotiations to Germany through the Namibian Government;
After the war of genocide (so-called Herero-German war), Emperor Wilhelm II declared all land owned by the Ovaherero forfeited to the German State, in the proclamation of 26 December 1905. And in 1923, the South African Government en-acted a law called Native Land Act. The early sixties experienced the entrenchment of all these past laws through the implementation of the Odendaal Commission recommendations.
The Transitional Government through all tiered structures compounded and entrenched the complexity of the Land Question. The Traditional Authorities Act has not helped the situation in any way. As it clearly confines powers of traditional leaders and indeed traditional practices to traditional areas as previously demarcated by Apartheid (homelands, that is).
No ideological re-alignments are currently taking place in Namibia, therefore in our view what is happening is just re-alignment of individuals in different political platforms. Thus the fundamentals remain unchanged. Swanu would like to remind you comrade President that there are Namibians starving because they have no land to till, some are thrown off farms and some have long been driven of the land of their ancestors. The resolution of the land question in Namibia remains the single most important issue on Swanu’s menu.
Since there are noticeable aberrations from the socialists underpinnings regarding land transformation as then understood by the Liberation Movement, an urgent Second Land Consultative Conference must be immediately convened. If constitutional provisions are a hindrance to this noble task then it must be amended, because the livelihood and interest of our people are paramount and are the raison d’etre for the existence of any government
Swanu requests you to:
• Constitute a Commission on the Land Question in Namibia. It is expected that some of the outcomes from the commission will include:-
• calling the Second Land Consultative Conference that must explore permanent remedies towards the perennial flooding in the Northern, North-Eastern and Southern Regions. The ecological impacts as evidenced by the alarming rate of deforestation, population pressure and past colonial military devastations can certainly not be addressed by means of land reform programmes;
• that the Second Land Consultative Conference will recommend that land transformation for purposes of equitable distribution of wealth and resources should be revolutionary and transformative in nature, tangible and visible results should be evident within a period of less than five years.
The plight of Khoisan/San, the first people of Namibia are of distinct and particular concern to us in Swanu and we believe to them too. These are in no doubt the most wretched of all Namibians. In most part of the country they have lost nearly every iota of any dignified access to existence. No access to their natural habitats in terms of food and other resources, cultural infiltration by others, limited access to general opportunities such as education, employment, health and so on.
We must approach this matter without losing sight of the point that Namibia is a country of extreme poverty, exclusion, injustice as far as access to land is concerned. In seeking those solutions, we must seek first and foremost to overcome injustice and exclusion and answer the legitimate demands of the poorest, in our great but complex and pluralistic nation.
Swanu requests Comrade you to:
• constitute a Commission that will look into the plight of the Khoisan/San so as to make recommendations that will be comprehensive in nature, because dealing with the needs of our fellow citizens on a piecemeal basis is not acceptable.
Therefore, we expect outcomes from such Commission to address interventions on:
Social welfare spending intended to support lower-income households. These programs might include cash assistance programmes such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) or cash payments under AFDC’s replacement, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); health programmes such as broad medical aid and state child health insurance programmes (SCHIP); and a wide variety of non-health service programmes providing child care, foster care, low-income energy assistance, and so on.
Evidence from all studies so far conducted on the evaluation of the effectiveness, equity and fairness of the resettlement programme suggest that the program has been and continue to be totally unjust, a dismal failure and off-target. Therefore continuing with this programme in its current structure and operation is a disservice to the nation and tantamount to misuse of state resources and a indication of lack of accountability.
Swanu requests you to:
• constitute a Commission on the Effectiveness of The Resettlement and Rehabilitation Programme;
• to call for immediate hold to the current process of the Resettlement Programme.
Given the precarious levels of abject poverty, joblessness, under-development, disparity between the rich and the poor all as a consequence of the current Political-Economic System operative in Namibia, it is time to re-look at the economic system best suited for Namibia. The advanced capitalist Governments recently realised the ills of capitalism and they had to take intervention measures hitherto abhorred as being socialist.
Swanu recognises the fact that Government, any government for that matter, is inefficient at production. However, Government has the advantage of playing the catalytic role and therefore provide conducive environment for both local and foreign investors. Above all, resource distribution is what any government can do with most efficiency. The basic means of production must be exercised in conjunction with the private sector until such time that Namibia has reached such high levels of socio-economic justice and reasonable equality and opportunities for all. The primary task in the socialist period is to develop the productive forces and gradually improve people’s material and cultural life. Poverty is not socialism, socialism means eliminating poverty. Unless you are developing the productive forces and raising people’s living standards, you cannot say that you are building socialism.
It is our submission that Socialism is the only antidote that can cure injustice, exclusion and poverty which are the products of private greed.
Swanu requests you to convene a National Debate on Socialism as the remedial system for the socio-economic precarious situation in Namibia.
We are aware that this could be costly, but we also know that this is budget preparatory time and considering the pressing nature of these issues, budgetary provisions could actually be made.