Let’s Review Our National Holidays

SOONER or later this country will have to decide whether it is a necessity to commemorate national days by declaring public holidays.

It has become economically burdensome, and time has already shown that people do not especially revere these occasions. May is one of the worst months in this regard.Next week, for example, the working week is dislocated by a national holiday on Tuesday, May 1, which is celebrated here as Workers’ Day, and Friday, May 4, which is Cassinga Day.This essentially means that people either take the whole week as annual leave (since there are officially only three working days in it) or will capitalise on taking two long weekends.Either way, the country’s economy is the big loser.Making matters worse, in some cases, certain companies have decided to close down for the week.The point of a public or national holiday is obviously to commemorate historic or religious occasions of one kind or another.If this purpose is not being served, then surely we must reconsider the merits of these days in the national interest? It has been well documented over the years that, for example, Labour or Workers’ Day is celebrated only on the most minimalist scale.Workers’ rallies are poorly attended, if at all, and if this is the purpose of the day in question, then we should seriously review the necessity for making this a national day.Likewise Cassinga Day on May 4, a day that has been commemorated since Independence because of the massacre of an estimated 600 Namibian refugees in Cassinga, Angola, on that day in 1978 by South African forces.How many Namibians, especially our youth, even know what Cassinga Day is? They should.But we are certain that a substantial number of them are completely ignorant as to why we have a public holiday on that day at all, let alone remember those who died in the fight for our freedom.We would again, in this instance, question the necessity for a countrywide shutdown, since those who want to commemorate would do so in their own way, and wouldn’t require a public holiday for the purpose.Namibia’s labour laws have given Namibians ample annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave and various other kinds of leave, and so public holidays merely contribute to the excess of having more leave days per year per individual than many other countries in the world, even those with liberal benefits in this regard.This in turn will undoubtedly have a negative effect on our economy, which we need to build and strengthen if we wish to take the country to a higher level of development.We also need to point out that Namibia, despite being widely regarded as a ‘Christian’ country, is secular in terms of our Constitution, and our observance of Christian holidays does not necessarily fit the picture.Other religions are not similarly observed.Point is that we need to keep national holidays to a minimum, and ensure they are those kinds of days that are inclusive of the whole population and not just certain sectors of it.We would propose that since Namibia has increased various leave benefits through the revised Labour Act, that we then incorporate public holidays, if we insist on having them, as part of this annual leave allocation.We have no doubt that a move such as this would save the country millions upon millions of dollars.In saying this, we do not intend to be disrespectful of those who sincerely commemorate religious and other historic days of remembrance.Quite the contrary.As we stated earlier, they would and could continue to observe such in their own way.For example, another commemorative day that falls this week is annual Press Freedom Day on May 3, but this is not a holiday.It does not mean that the media will not mark what is a particularly vital day in the calendar of this country (since a meeting here in 1991 with the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration is what gave rise to the commemoration of this day).In addition, media freedom advantages all people in a democracy, and most journalists on public holidays in any case, like many other essential services.There is therefore no reason why our lawmakers, and indeed our country as a whole, cannot seriously take stock of the loss of financial life-blood that such national holidays cost us, and review our options.May is one of the worst months in this regard.Next week, for example, the working week is dislocated by a national holiday on Tuesday, May 1, which is celebrated here as Workers’ Day, and Friday, May 4, which is Cassinga Day.This essentially means that people either take the whole week as annual leave (since there are officially only three working days in it) or will capitalise on taking two long weekends.Either way, the country’s economy is the big loser.Making matters worse, in some cases, certain companies have decided to close down for the week.The point of a public or national holiday is obviously to commemorate historic or religious occasions of one kind or another.If this purpose is not being served, then surely we must reconsider the merits of these days in the national interest? It has been well documented over the years that, for example, Labour or Workers’ Day is celebrated only on the most minimalist scale.Workers’ rallies are poorly attended, if at all, and if this is the purpose of the day in question, then we should seriously review the necessity for making this a national day.Likewise Cassinga Day on May 4, a day that has been commemorated since Independence because of the massacre of an estimated 600 Namibian refugees in Cassinga, Angola, on that day in 1978 by South African forces.How many Namibians, especially our youth, even know what Cassinga Day is? They should.But we are certain that a substantial number of them are completely ignorant as to why we have a public holiday on that day at all, let alone remember those who died in the fight for our freedom.We would again, in this instance, question the necessity for a countrywide shutdown, since those who want to commemorate would do so in their own way, and wouldn’t require a public holiday for the purpose.Namibia’s labour laws have given Namibians ample annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave and various other kinds of leave, and so public holidays merely contribute to the excess of having more leave days per year per individual than many other countries in the world, even those with liberal benefits in this regard.This in turn will undoubtedly have a negative effect on our economy, which we need to build and strengthen if we wish to take the country to a higher level of development.We also need to point out that Namibia, despite being widely regarded as a ‘Christian’ country, is secular in terms of our Constitution, and our observance of Christian holidays does not necessarily fit the picture.Other religions are not similarly observed.Point is that we need to keep national holidays to a minimum, and ensure they are those kinds of days that are inclusive of the whole population and not just certain sectors of it.We would propose that since Namibia has increased various leave benefits through the revised Labour Act, that we then incorporate public holidays, if we insist on having them, as part of this annual leave allocation.We have no doubt that a move such as this would save the country millions upon millions of dollars.In saying this, we do not intend to be disrespectful of those who sincerely commemorate religious and other historic days of remembrance.Quite the contrary.As we stated earlier, they would and could continue to observe such in their own way.For example, another commemorative day that falls this week is annual Press Freedom Day on May 3, but this is not a holiday.It does not mean that the media will not mark what is a particularly vital day in the calendar of this country (since a meeting here in 1991 with the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration is what gave rise to the commemoration of this day).In addition, media freedom advantages all people in a democracy, and most journalists on public holidays in any case, like many other essential services.There is therefore no reason why our lawmakers, and indeed our country as a whole, cannot seriously take stock of the loss of financial life-blood that such national holidays cost us, and review our options.

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