Political Perspective

THAT encouraging spurt of democracy within Swapo ranks, signalled by the 2004 decision of the Central Committee to nominate three candidates for the position of Presidency, and widely heralded as the start of an internal democratisation process, seems to have died an ignominious death.

It seems to be back to the reactionary politics of old with the resolve by the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) to support the single candidature proposal of President Hifikepunye Pohamba, to “prevent internal discontent between comrades and to ensure maximum unity among Party cadres”. ‘GUIDED democracy’ is what they now euphemistically term the abandonment of an open contest for top positions in the Party.And it will be a sad day if the SPYL proposal holds sway, as it undoubtedly will do.Granted, the decision to hold the three-candidate election for Swapo’s choice for head of state (and which culminated in the election of President Pohamba) caused fallout within the Party, but that’s not necessarily the end of the world.The path towards democracy is not always a smooth one but is just so much better than the top-down party dictates that the SPYL now wants brought back so that the ‘interests’ of the Party “reign supreme over personal interests of individual members”.And who determines the ‘interests of the Party’ in the first place? Is it not a select few of the ‘individual members’ whose grassroots voice the SPYL now wants to stifle at Congress? Almost everything about the Youth League is undemocratic and it is a great pity, because in most societies it is the voice and actions of the youth that propel a country forward and not backward.They are clearly not a forward-thinking and progressive movement.Unfortunately this is there for all to see when they take to the platform.It would be better for all if they simply abandoned the pretext of being a youth movement because it’s little more than a glorified Sam Nujoma fan club.According to the August congress resolutions, they even want to start a Swapo Party school, so that they can ‘train’ hundreds more of the youth with “political education that can contribute towards vigilance against the forces of darkness that are constantly working to undermine the party …”Then they also want the Swapo Pioneer movement to go into operation in all 13 regions of the country to ensure the “heirs of the Namibian revolution are brought up in the revolutionary spirit”! Heaven help us all! Will someone please tell the Youth League we fought a liberation war, but sadly, we’ve never had a revolution, least of all with regard to ideas! Their August Congress resolutions make for heavy reading, and it is small wonder that President Pohamba himself was visibly irked by some of their endless demands, and their veritable litany of complaints.What they are asking for, in a nutshell, when they demand that “Swapo Party cadres in positions of authority (should) ensure that SPYL enterprises are supported …”is tantamount to the already discredited ‘jobs for comrades’ pitch which has already landed our country in a lot of trouble, with the mess at some of our parastatals the result of just this policy.It is clear too, that when it comes to ‘international relations’, that SPYL knows little to nothing of the world we live in.It seems their universe starts with Namibia and ends in Zimbabwe, with a bit of Cuba thrown in.For all they could come up with is the usual solidarity with Zimbabwe and Cuba, but nothing about the rest of Africa (do they even know where Darfur is?) let alone the world.So all this, one imagines, leads up to their dream of ‘guided democracy’ for Swapo.In so doing they belittle the intelligence of the majority of their members, who surely have the right to decide who they support without needing to be told.But still they want only four preferred candidates, as they refer to them, for the four top posts in Swapo, as they don’t want a “repeat of the 2004 extraordinary congress”.And unfortunately, since they’ve already been given their instructions to this effect, it will probably mean that is just what happens, and so Swapo regresses again! If the Swapo youth really want to leave their ‘footprint’ as they claim, they should be the incubator of innovation, progress and creative zeal and at the very least, the SPYL should divest themselves of their oppressive way of thinking and acting that serves to inspire no one, least of all those they pretend to lead.’GUIDED democracy’ is what they now euphemistically term the abandonment of an open contest for top positions in the Party.And it will be a sad day if the SPYL proposal holds sway, as it undoubtedly will do.Granted, the decision to hold the three-candidate election for Swapo’s choice for head of state (and which culminated in the election of President Pohamba) caused fallout within the Party, but that’s not necessarily the end of the world.The path towards democracy is not always a smooth one but is just so much better than the top-down party dictates that the SPYL now wants brought back so that the ‘interests’ of the Party “reign supreme over personal interests of individual members”.And who determines the ‘interests of the Party’ in the first place? Is it not a select few of the ‘individual members’ whose grassroots voice the SPYL now wants to stifle at Congress? Almost everything about the Youth League is undemocratic and it is a great pity, because in most societies it is the voice and actions of the youth that propel a country forward and not backward.They are clearly not a forward-thinking and progressive movement.Unfortunately this is there for all to see when they take to the platform.It would be better for all if they simply abandoned the pretext of being a youth movement because it’s little more than a glorified Sam Nujoma fan club.According to the August congress resolutions, they even want to start a Swapo Party school, so that they can ‘train’ hundreds more of the youth with “political education that can contribute towards vigilance against the forces of darkness that are constantly working to undermine the party …”Then they also want the Swapo Pioneer movement to go into operation in all 13 regions of the country to ensure the “heirs of the Namibian revolution are brought up in the revolutionary spirit”! Heaven help us all! Will someone please tell the Youth League we fought a liberation war, but sadly, we’ve never had a revolution, least of all with regard to ideas! Their August Congress resolutions make for heavy reading, and it is small wonder that President Pohamba himself was visibly irked by some of their endless demands, and their veritable litany of complaints.What they are asking for, in a nutshell, when they demand that “Swapo Party cadres in positions of authority (should) ensure that SPYL enterprises are supported …”is tantamount to the already discredited ‘jobs for comrades’ pitch which has already landed our country in a lot of trouble, with the mess at some of our parastatals the result of just this policy.It is clear too, that when it comes to ‘international relations’, that SPYL knows little to nothing of the world we live in.It seems their universe starts with Namibia and ends in Zimbabwe, with a bit of Cuba thrown in.For all they could come up with is the usual solidarity with Zimbabwe and Cuba, but nothing about the rest of Africa (do they even know where Darfur is?) let alone the world.So all this, one imagines, leads up to their dream of ‘guided democracy’ for Swapo.In so doing they belittle the intelligence of the majority of their members, who surely have the right to decide who they support without needing to be told.But still they want only four preferred candidates, as they refer to them, for the four top posts in Swapo, as they don’t want a “repeat of the 2004 extraordinary congress”.And unfortunately, since they’ve already been given their instructions to this effect, it will probably mean that is just what happens, and so Swapo regresses again! If the Swapo youth really want to leave their ‘footprint’ as they claim, they should be the incubator of innovation, progress and creative zeal and at the very least, the SPYL should divest themselves of their oppressive way of thinking and acting that serves to inspire no one, least of all those they pretend to lead.