Open Letter To Speaker Gurirab

WELL, Mr Speaker of the National Assembly Theo-Ben Gurirab, would it not be much better if you look in the mirror before you look so far afield? (‘China-Nam must close ranks’ The Namibian 28 March 2012)

If you say China and Namibia must remain loyal to history why don’t you do it? Our most recent history, the history of the fight for independence, gets twisted more and more by the day and so it is with the history of the Herero uprising against Germany, or do you understand the matter differently, sir?What did ‘the West’ do that China did not do? China colonised other nations in the same way some European nations did and actually, China has still not given these people their liberty. Take the most prominent case for an example, Tibet, which was ‘conquered’ by China during the 1950s, its people slaughtered in a beastly way. What does China do today to people within its borders who demand freedom and liberty?And please look at what you and your peers do in Namibia! The mirror will tell you that your own people are still in the bonds of economic slavery, bonds you and your party attached to them with the help of China and North Korea and you still bind them even stronger. Now, what is your fuss about ‘others’, others who learned from their [wrong-] doing, who now refuse to ‘oil the pockets’ of corrupt African leaders, others who look at the suffering of the commoner in Africa and try to help him? The others you mentioned by name brought at least liberty to people who never experienced liberty – what they will do with the new freedom is their business, not ours or yours.Do the same, sir, and liberate your own people from poverty and ill education; also from the lies about our own history. And please, try to resist the deceiving offers of cash-without-tags-attached-to-it of China and resist the temptation of opening our doors to the immigration of thousands and more thousands of uneducated Chinese manual labourers flooding our Namibian workplaces.Resist the temptation of ‘easy’ personal riches, of pocketing what is not earned by you and go and preach this sermon to your party, a party which has lost its erstwhile good direction and once maidenly morals. Look at your party’s results after 22 years with both eyes open and then speak up again, please!Otto IBy e-mail