A Reversal Of Democratic Politics In Namibia: Apocalypse Now?

IS Namibia consolidating its democratic transition or witnessing a reversal? If recent comments by Hage Geingob on the Special Advisors and Regional Governors Appointment Amendment Bill are anything to go by, then we are certainly witnessing a closure of the democratic space orchestrated by the ruling party (Swapo) – more specifically by its leadership. The reasons are many. But the main one is, of course, fear – fear of losing power.

Power is crucial in the context of African politic. Because once you have political power, then you, your family, friends and your tribe can ‘chop’ – politics of the belly.There is a lot to chew over in the Trade and Industry Minister’s speech but I will pick up on the more fatty and juicy parts. And then I would proceed to put this whole issue into the much broader conception of African politics – the Africanisation of African politics, if you like. Minister Geingob last week told Parliament that it was necessary to ‘strengthen the unitary nature of the State and to remove the possibility of any antagonistic, divisive or tribal tendencies creating unrest’. What unrest he is talking about perhaps only exists in his creative imagination. Let us, however, turn to the more substantive issues the he touches on: unity and tribalism. Briefly on the issue of unity. Geingob seems to have a rather narrow understanding of what unity ought to encompass and has thus confined it only to the political aspect whereby the regime maintains an iron fist on an acquiescent populace. There is neither social nor economic unity in this country 20 years down the line because the Swapo ruling elite and the small coterie of economic class are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The social and economic gap is really widening and that doesn’t bode well for national unity. Thus the dream of one ‘One Namibia One Nation’ has remained just that – a dream. This is a crucial issue that Government should be addressing instead of being pre-occupied with petty issues, at least from the perspective of the ordinary people who are more concerned with ‘bread-and-butter’ issues.But it is on the issue of tribalism that Geingob, and others in the Namibian Cabinet, prefer to play ostrich politics. We have had tribalism right from the word go in 1990. Remember those first appointments of our ambassadors and high commissioners back then? They were almost invariably drawn from the one ethnic group – Oshiwambo-speaking Namibians. It was only after the intervention of one of Namibia’s most outstanding Parliamentarians, Moses Katjiuongua, that former President Sam Nujoma had to change his tune. Katjiuongua’s point was that Namibia should build on and project a sense of unity in diversity which the Namibian Cabinet now wants to jettison. In retrospect we have gone back to the Nujoma years. A cursory look at the list of leading diplomats shows a disturbing trend whereby one ethnic group still enjoys the virtually exclusive privilege of being posted to our missions abroad.Other people have also noted that President Pohamba’s latest Cabinet, his ministers and deputies, permanents secretaries, directors, CEOs of parastatals, army and police bosses (with a few cosmetic changes here and there) are all occupied by one tribe. This is not coincidental. Or is it?These are the real issues that people like Geingob and others in the political hierarchy should seriously be addressing otherwise our society will be living within a lie. I have never quite understood why Namibians at the leadership level are reluctant to engage in truly far-reaching debate on many of the controversial issues that affect our society today instead of engaging in some flights of imagination about perceived future ‘tribal unrest’ which would be unleashed should communities continue to elect their governors and which the current Bill is ostensibly trying to preempt.If the current Bill sails through Parliament, which it will given the fact that ‘Cabinet is the Legislature’ in Namibia, it will become one of the most un-democratic pieces of legislation in years. In this case we will be moving away from a system of electoral politics to one of appointments. The President becomes the sole elector. The end result would be a system of political lackeys. Thus a new group of spineless politicians is being added to the existing list. That’s bad for democracy because it destroy the spirit of independent engagement and free debate because your benefactor is watching you. What develops then is a culture of ‘see nothing, hear nothing and do nothing’. That’s why our system can’t function because our ministers don’t have the leeway to think independently – they have to think within the box, so to speak.But all these are understandable. Because what we are witnessing here is the Africanisation of Namibian politics taking its cue not only from our colonial legacy but also from Swapo’s own political culture especially that part that was associated with exile politics which was built on suspicions, control and at times, even violence. Thus, after failing the democratic argument, the Swapo leadership realised that the democratic language it tried to appropriate for itself is no longer working; it has now turned to what it knows best – the politics of patrimony and control, using state resources to accomplish that. Thus in a sense we are reaping the fruits of a ‘non-democratic’ transition to democracy, the 1989 elections notwithstanding.

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