Divisive Pluralism On The Rise

ALLOW me space in your daily to comment or rather concur with the arguments raised in an article published in your newspaper on Friday, March 13 2009, titled ‘The Rise of Divisive Pluralism – A Failed and Dangerous Political Discourse’ by Bernadus Swartbooi, SPYL Secretary for Information and Mobilisation.

It goes without saying that the ugly face of ‘divisive pluralism’ as alluded to by the author, is already manifesting itself increasingly by the day with the mushrooming of tribal and/ or ethnic oriented parties such as the RDP, NUDO and of late the APP. Given the rise of these ‘fatalistic political enterprises’ as Bernadus would put it, one can’t help but to contemplate the adverse affects this will hold for a nation as young and fragile as ours lest we are prepared to engage the route Kenya and others have embarked upon in the past.The surge of ethnic or tribal oriented parties in Africa to surface when everything else seem to fail is nothing new, in fact it’s the very same disturbing tendency that has kept this continent on the backburner of developing countries the world over. History, at least in the African context, relates that such counterproductive trajectories encompassing nothing other than bitterness and hatred of a few individuals who, by failing to garner the support of their compatriots and that of the electorate, attempt to engage in ethnic and tribalistic warfare this continent is so familiar with. We have seen it in Zimbabwe with the Zanu-PF and MDC, in South Africa with the ANC and COPE and now in our very own country with Swapo and the RDP. Hence the need for institutions such as the Electoral Commission and other voter educationalists like NID to educate the voting public on crucial aspects related to each and every party standing for the upcoming elections and in future so that the electorate is well versed when making his or her choice when it comes to voting. This will be of cardinal importance with regard the ‘born frees’ of this country who still stand clueless and confused as to who to vote for because of a lack of information or lack of sound and clear manifestos of some parties whose aim is nothing more than to garner enough votes so as to assure them a seat or two in Parliament. These ethnic and/or tribal oriented parties play a partisan role and thereby impede when it comes to the legislation of key policies and framework of national interests. Swapo is the only true multi ethnic party, diverse in all its structures from sections up to the national level; the only party with a well-established and functioning structure with visions and missions, goals and concrete achievements. Benedick M LouwKeetmanshoop