Political Perspective

IT’S time to ask ourselves whether we are still the Land of the Brave or are we fast becoming a nation of cowards.

Why is it that we cannot rid ourselves of this national tendency to intolerance? And if we still deserve to be called ‘brave’ then why don’t we prove it, rather than try to negate our own history, and more than that, the voices and concerns of our own people? Nearly two decades after Independence, the Lubango issue should no longer be one. After the story is told (and it has not happened yet!), we should simply accept that it did happen, was a sad chapter of our history which hopefully will never be repeated, in precisely the same way as we would never want apartheid back again! But why is it also that there are so few voices of sanity, no Tutus or Mandelas, to guide us through these difficult times? Namibians should accept the fact that despite the trappings of democracy, our people do not yet know our Constitution, have little understanding of what our Bill of Rights means.Granted, it is a learning process, but we should have gone further than we are at present.We should acknowledge too that the detainee issue has been on the public agenda for nearly 20 years, with those affected by this chapter of our history calling for acknowledgement and closure.They have been ignored, and national reconciliation has been the excuse for not revealing the past.These are our own people, not foreigners, not imperialists, who are seeking closure.We don’t need a truth commission to deal with it.We just need a courageous leader to stand up and admit it happened and why.The best person would be the Father of the Nation himself, the man who led the struggle for independence in our country and who has been acknowledged for this through an Act of Parliament.But if he won’t, there are other Swapo leaders who know the story and can tell it, and who, in their silence, make themselves complicit.It wouldn’t be quite the same as Nujoma doing it, but it would take a brave man or woman to speak out.In essence, but not in detail, we know what happened: yes, there were certainly apartheid spies in the ranks of the liberation movement.But in trying to root them out, Swapo became over-zealous, we all know that, and adopted a guilt by association line, which undoubtedly resulted in many innocents being rounded up.It reached high levels, even into the leadership ranks.There may not have been any ‘official’ orders to kill, but the torturers in turn went overboard in trying to prise confessions out of people, and so people died in detention.And lest we forget, there were no charges and no trials…But no one wants to hear it from me.It is former President Sam Nujoma who should speak to clear the myths and unravel the mystery.The answer to the NSHR submission is not for Swapo to rally the nation in defence of Nujoma, toyi-toyi in the streets and start calling for treason trials, investigations into non-governmental organisations, laws against the media and anyone else they decide to accuse, but to truthfully account for history instead.No one has committed a crime here, so there’s no need to call for witch-hunts, arrests, investigations and more stringent legislation.Certain people in the National Council, the Swapo Youth League and other branches are not doing themselves or the country any good by their anti-democratic stances.Phil ya Nangoloh himself has not contravened any laws, although he has on occasion lacked judgement and even good taste in some of his words and actions.And let’s not forget, the ICC submission may even be rejected.It may help to remind ourselves that Heroes’ Day is on August 26.The nation is still tasked with debating who our heroes are.In the process we’ve probably mixed them up with martyrs.Generally someone who dies for a cause is a martyr, rather than a hero.A hero has committed heroic deeds or actions, and not everyone who dies in battle can be defined as such.It would be good though, if on Heroes’ Day, we could remember all those who died in the struggle: whether on the battlefield on either side; or civilians at the hands of the apartheid forces; or those who were imprisoned by Swapo at Lubango.It would surely be the measure of what true reconciliation is about to commemorate them all.On Heroes’ Day, let us remember bravery – those who died for a just cause and even those who died in vain, or were wrongly accused or innocent victims.Let us demonstrate true reconciliation through remembering the victims of Lubango too.Let us try too, to put back the ‘brave’ into Namibia, for we’ve lost a good deal of it in the intervening years.Let us not resort to cowardly tactics and vilification of others but celebrate our differences and our democracy instead.After the story is told (and it has not happened yet!), we should simply accept that it did happen, was a sad chapter of our history which hopefully will never be repeated, in precisely the same way as we would never want apartheid back again! But why is it also that there are so few voices of sanity, no Tutus or Mandelas, to guide us through these difficult times? Namibians should accept the fact that despite the trappings of democracy, our people do not yet know our Constitution, have little understanding of what our Bill of Rights means.Granted, it is a learning process, but we should have gone further than we are at present.We should acknowledge too that the detainee issue has been on the public agenda for nearly 20 years, with those affected by this chapter of our history calling for acknowledgement and closure.They have been ignored, and national reconciliation has been the excuse for not revealing the past.These are our own people, not foreigners, not imperialists, who are seeking closure.We don’t need a truth commission to deal with it.We just need a courageous leader to stand up and admit it happened and why.The best person would be the Father of the Nation himself, the man who led the struggle for independence in our country and who has been acknowledged for this through an Act of Parliament.But if he won’t, there are other Swapo leaders who know the story and can tell it, and who, in their silence, make themselves complicit.It wouldn’t be quite the same as Nujoma doing it, but it would take a brave man or woman to speak out.In essence, but not in detail, we know what happened: yes, there were certainly apartheid spies in the ranks of the liberation movement.But in trying to root them out, Swapo became over-zealous, we all know that, and adopted a guilt by association line, which undoubtedly resulted in many innocents being rounded up.It reached high levels, even into the leadership ranks.There may not have been any ‘official’ orders to kill, but the torturers in turn went overboard in trying to prise confessions out of people, and so people died in detention.And lest we forget, there were no charges and no trials…But no one wants to hear it from me.It is former President Sam Nujoma who should speak to clear the myths and unravel the mystery.The answer to the NSHR submission is not for Swapo to rally the nation in defence of Nujoma, toyi-toyi in the streets and start calling for treason trials, investigations into non-governmental organisations, laws against the media and anyone else they decide to accuse, but to truthfully account for history instead.No one has committed a crime here, so there’s no need to call for witch-hunts, arrests, investigations and more stringent legislation.Certain people in the National Council, the Swapo Youth League and other branches are not doing themselves or the country any good by their anti-democratic stances.Phil ya Nangoloh himself has not contravened any laws, although he has on occasion lacked judgement and even good taste in some of his words and actions.And let’s not forget, the ICC submission may even be rejected.It may help to remind ourselves that Heroes’ Day is on August 26.The nation is still tasked with debating who our heroes are.In the process we’ve probably mixed them up with martyrs.Generally someone who dies for a cause is a martyr, rather than a hero.A hero has committed heroic deeds or actions, and not everyone who dies in battle can be defined as such.It would be good though, if on Heroes’ Day, we could remember all those who died in the struggle: whether on the battlefield on either side; or civilians at the hands of the apartheid forces; or those who were imprisoned by Swapo at Lubango.It would surely be the measure of what true reconciliation is about to commemorate them all.On Heroes’ Day, let us remember bravery – those who died for a just cause and even those who died in vain, or were wrongly accused or innocent victims.Let us demonstrate true reconciliation through remembering the victims of Lubango too.Let us try too, to put back the ‘brave’ into Namibia, for we’ve lost a good deal of it in the intervening years.Let us not resort to cowardly tactics and vilification of others but celebrate our differences and our democracy instead.