Democracy in Namibia: Wind of Change or Withering Breeze

IN 1999 international scholars and players in civil society pulled together a manuscript titled ‘Southern Africa, The People’s Voices’ which took a bird’s eye view of perspectives on democracy in southern Africa, looking at seven southern African countries and using focus group research. These countries were Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

I was on this study and devoted work on the advent of democracy in Namibia and contributed a chapter to the manuscript. My thesis argument was that, the Independence of Namibia is a product of efforts by Namibians themselves, based on their own methods, and the movement towards democracy may therefore have to develop along this path at a pace, perhaps slower than expectations would have it.I concluded the chapter with the following: ‘…it is safe to say, as corroborated by studies, evaluations, surveys and the discussions contained in this article, that Namibia’s democracy is far more than a withering breeze and the country can be proud of having a democratic system, albeit with attendant problems, that is fast establishing a democratic culture and a free society … but the need for the political leadership, and society at large, to keep a finger on the pulse as far as issues of citizen participation, political apathy, crime and corruption are concerned, remains pronounced and quite a challenge to Namibia’s democracy…’The other day a fellow participant in the study, who now operates from North America, focused my attention on the study. He asked me whether I, today, ten years after the study, would still maintain the same positions on all or most of the issues raised then in my chapter on Namibia.When I dusted off my copy of the manuscript and revisited my chapter, I was not sure whether I would hold the same positions on all of the issues, except that I still hold true to my concluding observations in the study, namely that, the political leadership and society at large must keep their finger on the pulse on matters of citizen participation in the governance of the state, political apathy, crime, corruption and the need to take the nation-state forward on the path towards democracy and to do so as a unitary state.These challenges remain as true today as they were in 1999 and with the unsettling situation of political leadership succession still pervading all political formations in Namibia; all the challenges sited in the manuscript of 1999 remain intact, ten years after the study.In one of my several lives I ventured into some of the African States, passing as NDI’s senior consultant on democratic institution building, to facilitate dialogue among political parties in countries such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho.I was most intrigued by the political complexion of Lesotho and when I observed the modus operandi for political organisation in that country, and compared it to that of Namibia, I said to myself that, the parallels are indeed frightening, in particular with regard to the proliferation of political parties. The same trend can be said about countries such as Botswana.Needless to belabour, Namibia’s democracy has taken shape, not so much root, and the country has the potential to build a nation-state that functions beyond cultural barriers. But this noble potential seems to be thwarted by the nation’s unyielding cultural group consciousness, which phenomenon has established itself at the root of political formations and societal organizations across the spectrum of Namibian life. To this end, not even the church is beyond reproach.