Dude, Where’s My Country?

WHERE is my country and which direction is it taking? This is the question that should occupy us as we enter the New Year – at least for all those concerned with the destiny of Namibia.

The heading for this column, some might recall, is a take of the 2003 book by Michael Moore with exactly the same title. In that book, Moore, a writer and filmmaker, attacks corporate America as well as President George W Bush for destroying the country by, among others, taking it to war with Iraq and destroying the social security safety net.I borrowed the title because it resonates in our own context where we have seen a disturbing movement towards the fusion of the public realm into the private one.And in an aptly titled opinion piece: ‘Namibia Pty Ltd’, published July 2006 in The Namibian, Henning Melber has captured this rather admirably.He argued that decolonisation in Namibia has been turned into private business.He wrote that what has been emerging is a crypto-capitalist, petty-minded self-enriching new black elite, which spends its energy on exploiting the public purse.What I usually call the parasitic class.Thus, contrary to Martin Mwinga’s rather confused piece titled ‘Shift in the Economic Power to Blacks’, published in New Era last year, what is occurring is a mesh of the old and new elites.The role of the new elite (the blacks) is to dig deep into the public purse, using political and tribal connections to service the private sector in which they are now shareholders through the widely recognised flawed policies of AA and BEE – which have been thoroughly analysed by myself and others and found wanting, although Government has been unable to switch gear because our policy-makers cannot mentally conceive of an alternative – this is how far they can go intellectually speaking.Not that there are no better policy alternatives in the marketplace of ideas.No.The problem, as Tjiurimo Hengari pointed out recently, is that most Namibians are simply allergic to competence.It’s better to employ a cousin, a fellow tribesman or a party cadre instead at the expense of a competent ‘outsider’, even if these guys can’t deliver.The case of the Social Security Commission, where a white Namibian was denied a job just because of his skin colour even though the panel found him the most qualified for the job, is testimony to this kind of behaviour.And we paid the price.Remember the N$30 million from the SSC that never returned? The Government has developed some fairly basic strategies which are meant to siphon off resources from the public realm to cater for the new elite.These range from the million-dollar loans that are never repaid to dishing out concessions, licences, quotas, tenders, public procurement contracts to the new elite, which are then shared with the old elite because the new elite doesn’t have the capacity to meet these contractual obligations.But I think that Mwinga’s contention that the Ovambos, and partly the Hereros, are the drivers of the economy or creator of wealth and the other tribes are simply passengers or consumers, has an ironic twist to it.And if one extends his logic, it might help us understand why Namibia has taken the direction it has since independence.The Ovambos, according to Mwinga, are imbued with entrepreneurial spirit and culture of risk taking.They are said to love money and to accumulate wealth for themselves and their communities.They are also said to have understood the relationship between money and political power and they have therefore capitalised on the political opportunities created in the country since Independence to build wealth for themselves and their families.And in their quest to achieve wealth they have manoeuvred many minefields and treacherous routes and have exploited every opportunity available in the country.Now given all these characteristics of the dominant group, one shouldn’t be surprised at the direction the country has taken.Namibia has virtually been turned into one big business entity controlled by a small clique of mainly Oshiwambo-speaking Namibians and their friends.They treat it as an economic milk cow, and all aspects of social and political life become secondary.This is perhaps stating the obvious, because after all, this is the spirit of capitalism which is at the core of the Ovambo group’s economic and social organisation, if we accept Mwinga’s hypothesis.All these values are counter to a mindset of shared values, responsibilities and compassion.Capitalism is, after all, about exclusion.My contention, contrary to Mwinga’s argument, is that most Namibians are not consumers of wealth or even passengers on the economic gravy train that runs between Windhoek and Oshakati; they are simply spectators standing along the railway line as the train passes-by at the speed of a Concorde.So, what has been emerging over the past 16 years is the intersection between tribe, race, gender and class in Namibia – and these are openly supported by the Government of the day.And this state of affairs is not likely to change in the new future unless President Pohamba gets a handle on the affairs of the country.In retrospect, I think the President has put too much trust in Ministers who have been unable to come up with new policies and alternatives given the fact that most of them have been in Government for the past 16 years or so.Maybe Pohamba made a mistake by keeping the same crop of tired ministers in his administration – which basically meant a continuation of many of Nujoma’s failed policies.Even the Prime Minister, for whom I have high regard, has now turned to the politics of symbolism.The ‘Young Turks’ in Government and at the countless parastatals are, in the meantime, literally stealing from the national purse on a daily basis.It is therefore appropriate, as we enter the New Year, to ask yourself whether you still have a country.Are you still a Namibian citizen?In that book, Moore, a writer and filmmaker, attacks corporate America as well as President George W Bush for destroying the country by, among others, taking it to war with Iraq and destroying the social security safety net.I borrowed the title because it resonates in our own context where we have seen a disturbing movement towards the fusion of the public realm into the private one.And in an aptly titled opinion piece: ‘Namibia Pty Ltd’, published July 2006 in The Namibian, Henning Melber has captured this rather admirably.He argued that decolonisation in Namibia has been turned into private business.He wrote that what has been emerging is a crypto-capitalist, petty-minded self-enriching new black elite, which spends its energy on exploiting the public purse.What I usually call the parasitic class.Thus, contrary to Martin Mwinga’s rather confused piece titled ‘Shift in the Economic Power to Blacks’, published in New Era last year, what is occurring is a mesh of the old and new elites.The role of the new elite (the blacks) is to dig deep into the public purse, using political and tribal connections to service the private sector in which they are now shareholders through the widely recognised flawed policies of AA and BEE – which have been thoroughly analysed by myself and others and found wanting, although Government has been unable to switch gear because our policy-makers cannot mentally conceive of an alternative – this is how far they can go intellectually speaking.Not that there are no better policy alternatives in the marketplace of ideas.No.The problem, as Tjiurimo Hengari pointed out recently, is that most Namibians are simply allergic to competence.It’s better to employ a cousin, a fellow tribesman or a party cadre instead at the expense of a competent ‘outsider’, even if these guys can’t deliver.The case of the Social Security Commission, where a white Namibian was denied a job just because of his skin colour even though the panel found him the most qualified for the job, is testimony to this kind of behaviour.And we paid the price.Remember the N$30 million from the SSC that never returned? The Government has developed some fairly basic strategies which are meant to siphon off resources from the public realm to cater for the new elite.These range from the million-dollar loans that are never repaid to dishing out concessions, licences, quotas, tenders, public procurement contracts to the new elite, which are then shared with the old elite because the new elite doesn’t have the capacity to meet these contractual obligations.But I think that Mwinga’s contention that the Ovambos, and partly the Hereros, are the drivers of the economy or creator of wealth and the other tribes are simply passengers or consumers, has an ironic twist to it.And if one extends his logic, it might help us understand why Namibia has taken the direction it has since independence.The Ovambos, according to Mwinga, are imbued with entrepreneurial spirit and culture of risk taking.They are said to love money and to accumulate wealth for themselves and their communities.They are also said to have understood the relationship between money and political power and they have therefore capitalised on the political opportunities created in the country since Independence to build wealth for themselves and their families.And in their quest to achieve wealth they have manoeuvred many minefields and treacherous routes and have exploited every opportunity available in the country.Now given all these characteristics of the dominant group, one shouldn’t be surprised at the direction the country has taken.Namibia has virtually been turned into one big business entity controlled by a small clique of mainly Oshiwambo-speaking Namibians and their friends.They treat it as an economic milk cow, and all aspects of social and political life become secondary.This is perhaps stating the obvious, because after all, this is the spirit of capitalism which is at the core of the Ovambo group’s economic and social organisation, if we accept Mwinga’s hypothesis.All these values are counter to a mindset of shared values, responsibilities and compassion.Capitalism is, after all, about exclusion.My contention, contrary to Mwinga’s argument, is that most Namibians are not consumers of wealth or even passengers on the economic gravy train that runs between Windhoek and Oshakati; they are simply spectators standing along the railway line as the train passes-by at the speed of a Concorde.So, what has been emerging over the past 16 years is the intersection between tribe, race, gender and class in Namibia – and these are openly supported by the Government of the day.And this state of affairs is not likely to change in the new future unless President Pohamba gets a handle on the affairs of the country.In retrospect, I think the President has put too much trust in Ministers who have been unable to come up with new policies and alternatives given the fact that most of them have been in Government for the past 16 years or so.Maybe Pohamba made a mistake by keeping the same crop of tired ministers in his administration – which basically meant a continuation of many of Nujoma’s failed policies.Even the Prime Minister, for whom I have high regard, has now turned to the politics of symbolism.The ‘Young Turks’ in Government and at the countless parastatals are, in the meantime, literally stealing from the national purse on a daily basis.It is therefore appropriate, as we enter the New Year, to ask yourself whether you still have a country.Are you still a Namibian citizen?