Political Perspective

WE’VE seen some serious rift and division and even mayhem in Namibian politics before, but I doubt that it has ever been more chaotic than it is at present.

And most disappointing of all is that in all this madness, there are none who appear to have yet been able to rise above the fray and be the respected voices of sanity and reason and (perhaps it is not overly dramatic to say), a light in the darkness. From the internecine battles raging within the CoD to the somewhat less public mudslinging in ruling Party ranks, things in this country are verging on the anarchic.Throw the NSHR’s Phil ya Nangoloh and his Nujoma vendetta into the fray and we go from bad to worse.WHAT Joe Citizen is to make of all this, I honestly don’t know.And what example political leadership is setting to the masses is less than exemplary.In fact they’re breaking all the rules.Democracy is free speech, we all understand that, but ‘free’ speech has its bounds in responsible utterances and actions.Society can always deal with the occasional mavericks but when everything and anything is thrown into the mix by just about anyone, we have a chaotic situation.Usually it is the media that are called upon to commit to codes of ethics; often by the same people who now exhibit the attitude that ‘anything goes’ and expect the press to report on them accordingly.I’ve no problem, for example, with the NSHR’s submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold former President Sam Nujoma and three others responsible for the deaths and disappearances of Namibians in Swapo’s care in the struggle years.For that is their mandate – human rights.It’s a still-burning issue to which Swapo has failed to bring closure nearly two decades later, so it is not unexpected that this matter has now landed in the lap of the ICC.If Swapo is ducking and diving as a result of it, that is also their problem and they have to deal with the historical fallout of the Lubango Dungeons.Swapo’s silence on the whole matter has also been deafening, of course, but it stands to reason they probably know that at this stage “anything you say will be taken down and could be used in evidence against you …”But when Ya Nangoloh takes his also very personal vendetta with the former President into the public arena, it makes matters difficult for both himself and for others who would even ordinarily be supportive of the NSHR objectives.And Ya Nangoloh may well try to vindicate himself along the lines that Nujoma’s said enough nasty things about others (including the NSHR man) before, but two wrongs don’t make a right, and the NSHR should be taking the higher moral stance of refraining from indulging in the same kind of vitriol.Then our NUNW, already notorious for its speedy pronouncements on anything other than labour issues, enters the picture with its own inanities and accusations against Ya Nangoloh, and the Swapo Youth League, worst offender of all, calls for arrests and takes things from the sublime to the ridiculous! And so it goes on.The CoD of course, is not to be outdone.And their internal bickering is now openly on a public platform.The matter should really be about the recent Congress and the subsequent investigation which showed all was not well.But instead of sticking to the issues for the sake, if nothing else, of the scanty remains of unity within the Party, both sides are at it, the one in a serious state of denial and the other trying to force matters to a conclusion.Again, in the process, instead of sticking to the issue, all kinds of allegations and counter-allegations are being flung from one side to the other.To the extent that there appears to be little hope of ever resuscitating what was once a political party, from the tattered doldrums in which it now finds itself.Big question is: where do we go from here and what should be done in the various groupings to get matters on an even keel again? It would be good if there were at least a couple of non-aligned voices that could advise on the way forward in all the abovementioned disarray.But on this score too, the prognosis is bleak: those few independents who could make some sense of all this have been labelled as ‘enemy’ and if not silenced, then at least neutralised for the time being; the churches have never been more silent and it is glaringly obvious we don’t have a Desmond Tutu in the ranks! Perhaps it will fall on a few brave voices within the various parties and groupings (and if there are any) to try to force the leadership to concentrate on the major issues at hand and try and rebuild unity and consensus on the fundamental, rather than dwell on peripheral matters and mudslinging, which at the end of the day will only exacerbate any future attempts at reconciliation.From the internecine battles raging within the CoD to the somewhat less public mudslinging in ruling Party ranks, things in this country are verging on the anarchic.Throw the NSHR’s Phil ya Nangoloh and his Nujoma vendetta into the fray and we go from bad to worse.WHAT Joe Citizen is to make of all this, I honestly don’t know.And what example political leadership is setting to the masses is less than exemplary.In fact they’re breaking all the rules.Democracy is free speech, we all understand that, but ‘free’ speech has its bounds in responsible utterances and actions.Society can always deal with the occasional mavericks but when everything and anything is thrown into the mix by just about anyone, we have a chaotic situation.Usually it is the media that are called upon to commit to codes of ethics; often by the same people who now exhibit the attitude that ‘anything goes’ and expect the press to report on them accordingly.I’ve no problem, for example, with the NSHR’s submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold former President Sam Nujoma and three others responsible for the deaths and disappearances of Namibians in Swapo’s care in the struggle years.For that is their mandate – human rights.It’s a still-burning issue to which Swapo has failed to bring closure nearly two decades later, so it is not unexpected that this matter has now landed in the lap of the ICC.If Swapo is ducking and diving as a result of it, that is also their problem and they have to deal with the historical fallout of the Lubango Dungeons.Swapo’s silence on the whole matter has also been deafening, of course, but it stands to reason they probably know that at this stage “anything you say will be taken down and could be used in evidence against you …”But when Ya Nangoloh takes his also very personal vendetta with the former President into the public arena, it makes matters difficult for both himself and for others who would even ordinarily be supportive of the NSHR objectives.And Ya Nangoloh may well try to vindicate himself along the lines that Nujoma’s said enough nasty things about others (including the NSHR man) before, but two wrongs don’t make a right, and the NSHR should be taking the higher moral stance of refraining from indulging in the same kind of vitriol.Then our NUNW, already notorious for its speedy pronouncements on anything other than labour issues, enters the picture with its own inanities and accusations against Ya Nangoloh, and the Swapo Youth League, worst offender of all, calls for arrests and takes things from the sublime to the ridiculous! And so it goes on.The CoD of course, is not to be outdone.And their internal bickering is now openly on a public platform.The matter should really be about the recent Congress and the subsequent investigation which showed all was not well.But instead of sticking to the issues for the sake, if nothing else, of the scanty remains of unity within the Party, both sides are at it, the one in a serious state of denial and the other trying to force matters to a conclusion.Again, in the process, instead of sticking to the issue, all kinds of allegations and counter-allegations are being flung from one side to the other.To the extent that there appears to be little hope of ever resuscitating what was once a political party, from the tattered doldrums in which it now finds itself.Big question is: where do we go from here and what should be done in the various groupings to get matters on an even keel again? It would be good if there were at least a couple of non-aligned voices that could advise on the way forward in all the abovementioned disarray.But on this score too, the prognosis is bleak: those few independents who could make some sense of all this have been labelled as ‘enemy’ and if not silenced, then at least neutralised for the time being; the churches have never been more silent and it is glaringly obvious we don’t have a Desmond Tutu in the ranks! Perhaps it will fall on a few brave voices within the various parties and groupings (and if there are any) to try to force the leadership to concentrate on the major issues at hand and try and rebuild unity and consensus on the fundamental, rather than dwell on peripheral matters and mudslinging, which at the end of the day will only exacerbate any future attempts at reconciliation.