LET’S ALL take a deep breath, examine Namibia from a different angle, and refrain from bleating like lost goats.
Some loud detractors, mostly those dramatic, south-of-the-redline types, are busy throwing toys out of the cot because president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah chose to skip the regional Genocide Remembrance Day events.
She’s been called anything from “authoritarian, insensitive, and uncaring”.
The nation needs to understand our commander-in-chief operates in a completely different stratosphere.
She should not be condemned; she must be loudly celebrated.
Why?
Because Meme is executing a masterclass in political survival and planning her re-election campaign well ahead of time. Prioritising a sombre memorial over a lively cultural gathering isn’t a snub, it’s brilliant statecraft.
To those complaining about negative headlines like “NNN picks booze fest over genocide event”, thumbs down to you too! Have you no appreciation for hard work?
Let’s look at the calendar of a leader who knows exactly which side her bread is buttered on. Meme’s relentless, stealthy mission to smooch the voters and others who actually matter began right at the start of May, when she marked Workers’ Day in the Kunene.
She then moved swiftly on to the Omusati region to observe Cassinga Day on 4 May, before returning to the same region later in the month for the magnificent masterstroke that was the Omagongo Festival. Without breaking a sweat, she pushed north to Ohangwena for the Omaludi Agricultural Festival, and she wrapped up her frantic month at the Etunda irrigation scheme back in Omusati.
That is not a president avoiding her duties; that is a president who understands that the voting bloc of the far north remains the goose that lays the golden egg. Northern businessmen give generously to the party too and must also be heard.
Those pesky genocide descendants pushing for remembrance offer great emotional speeches, but do they offer the raw, unadulterated numbers needed to arrest Swapo’s violent electoral slide?
Reality check: Ever since the late Hage Geingob’s heyday when he swept 87% of the vote in 2014, Swapo has been on a slippery slope. By the time the 2019 elections rolled around, the percentages were scraping the bottom of the pot.
To make matters worse, Panduleni Itula and his IPC crew have been pretending they’re Arsenal – traditionally second, occasionally picking up a trophy, but always grabbing from Swapo’s traditional support.
Meme Netumbo didn’t get to the top by being a spectator. She saw Itula campaigning a whole year in advance and said: “Hold my omagongo”. By skipping the Genocide Remembrance Day and pitching up where the traditional marula beverage was flowing, she assured the northern heartland they are primo.
Let’s not forget that even Swapo secretary general Sophia ‘The Voice’ Shaningwa intensified her 2027 Swapo vice-presidential campaign the day NNN was sworn in last year, dishing out 30 000 Independence Day food parcels in Windhoek.
Accountability is for leaders who aren’t busy moving the party’s furniture around in anticipation of the 2027 congress. NNN knows what moves the country. She may not have an ancestral connection to the genocide regions, and she has never seen an oil block she isn’t willing to fire someone over, but she knows human nature.
Fermented marula juice brings joy, unity and, most importantly, crosses on ballot papers. So to the critics: Please kukut with your complaints. Our president is playing chess while you are playing backroom checkers. Long live the Omagongo strategy! Project re-election is well on the way.
Left field: Who needs a press conference, anyway? Today marks exactly the 442nd day Meme has been in charge without hosting a single media briefing to be held “accountable” by pesky journalists. And honestly, what an achievement.
News often deals with serious matters. Here we give you the other side of it.
