Political Perspective

I’VE taken issue with both Prime Minister Nahas Angula and NUNW Secretary General Evilastus Kaaronda in the past, and now that they’re doing battle against one another, I’m not taking sides quite as categorically as others are.

Their public set-to, though, goes something against the grain for Swapo stalwarts, who are constantly told to ‘air their dirty washing’ within ruling Party structures rather than out in the open; and one wonders what lies behind the current conflict between the two. IN a sense I’m not uncomfortable with Kaaronda’s rumblings around the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) salary issue because that’s more in keeping with what a unionist should be doing, rather than meddle constantly in the purely political domain, as the NUNW chief tends to do often.Also, it probably is a matter that gets the national adrenalin pumping from time to time and particularly when there’s a scandal involving one or other parastatal, and then simply falls off the agenda when the furore has blown over.And it is true, as Kaaronda alleged, that many of these SOEs make losses, don’t perform, retrench workers, and then are bailed out by Government.The Prime Minister lashed out in uncharacteristic fashion, reminding Kaaronda that Swapo had founded the Union and that the NUNW leader needed to produce his Swapo membership card and ‘struggle credentials’.He also called him a ‘running dog’ who should note that like many before him, “those who incite him to launch unwarranted attacks on other people will use him and drop him when convenient”.That may well be so, but in taking a ‘wild guess’ at just who Angula was referring to as Kaaronda’s ‘handler/s’ leads one straight to Swapo itself, and if so, then this again demonstrates that all is not well in the mother of all political parties in Namibia, not least of all as far as the Prime Minister himself is concerned.That he himself may be ‘dead meat’ as someone recently suggested is not too far-fetched, because all indications are that if you’re out of favour, you’ll be dropped like a hot potato.So, much as though that’s what Angula predicts will happen to Kaaronda, it appears that might be his fate as well; that he himself will be considered to have served his purpose, and that he’s unlikely to be in his current post this time next year.So the Angula/Kaaronda clash is in some ways also between the old guard and the new.The face of Swapo is changing.The demand for ‘struggle credentials’ will soon become irrelevant as those who took part in the war of liberation are either approaching or already way past retirement age.There’s a new breed of younger people who want their place in the sun.It is undoubtedly something that should have started happening even earlier, but our obsession with the ‘comrade’ label and of course, the obligatory ‘struggle credentials’ suppressed the up-and-coming.We might see a slightly different picture emerge at the forthcoming Swapo Congress, and the Central Committee at least will undoubtedly feature fewer of the old faces and more of those who probably consider themselves to be more ‘Swapo’ than the sole and authentic founders and all die-hard Sam Nujoma supporters to boot.To a large extent they’re the new elite of those who’ve probably made money from the fruits of the struggle and all the BEE deals that have emerged as a result.They’re full of fire and brimstone and they know where their bread is buttered and are in the process of their ascendancy, irking the likes of the old stalwarts such as Angula and others.So the Prime Minister can see the writing on the wall, in many ways.In his reference to the ‘running dogs’ there’s no question that he’s talking about the Kapias and others who felt they had to prove their loyalty in their extremism, and who, largely as a result, received their come-uppance.But politics is a dirty game by all accounts, and even decades of loyalty to a cause or an individual isn’t necessarily going to buy you a place in Heroes’ Acre.So the Angula-Kaaronda battle is superficially about the issue of SOEs, but deeper down it’s got more to do with new alliances forming prior to Swapo Congress and those who are going to be jettisoned in the process.IN a sense I’m not uncomfortable with Kaaronda’s rumblings around the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) salary issue because that’s more in keeping with what a unionist should be doing, rather than meddle constantly in the purely political domain, as the NUNW chief tends to do often.Also, it probably is a matter that gets the national adrenalin pumping from time to time and particularly when there’s a scandal involving one or other parastatal, and then simply falls off the agenda when the furore has blown over.And it is true, as Kaaronda alleged, that many of these SOEs make losses, don’t perform, retrench workers, and then are bailed out by Government.The Prime Minister lashed out in uncharacteristic fashion, reminding Kaaronda that Swapo had founded the Union and that the NUNW leader needed to produce his Swapo membership card and ‘struggle credentials’.He also called him a ‘running dog’ who should note that like many before him, “those who incite him to launch unwarranted attacks on other people will use him and drop him when convenient”.That may well be so, but in taking a ‘wild guess’ at just who Angula was referring to as Kaaronda’s ‘handler/s’ leads one straight to Swapo itself, and if so, then this again demonstrates that all is not well in the mother of all political parties in Namibia, not least of all as far as the Prime Minister himself is concerned.That he himself may be ‘dead meat’ as someone recently suggested is not too far-fetched, because all indications are that if you’re out of favour, you’ll be dropped like a hot potato.So, much as though that’s what Angula predicts will happen to Kaaronda, it appears that might be his fate as well; that he himself will be considered to have served his purpose, and that he’s unlikely to be in his current post this time next year.So the Angula/Kaaronda clash is in some ways also between the old guard and the new.The face of Swapo is changing.The demand for ‘struggle credentials’ will soon become irrelevant as those who took part in the war of liberation are either approaching or already way past retirement age.There’s a new breed of younger people who want their place in the sun.It is undoubtedly something that should have started happening even earlier, but our obsession with the ‘comrade’ label and of course, the obligatory ‘struggle credentials’ suppressed the up-and-coming.We might see a slightly different picture emerge at the forthcoming Swapo Congress, and the Central Committee at least will undoubtedly feature fewer of the old faces and more of those who probably consider themselves to be more ‘Swapo’ than the sole and authentic founders and all die-hard Sam Nujoma supporters to boot.To a large extent they’re the new elite of those who’ve probably made money from the fruits of the struggle and all the BEE deals that have emerged as a result.They’re full of fire and brimstone and they know where their bread is buttered and are in the process of their ascendancy, irking the likes of the old stalwarts such as Angula and others.So the Prime Minister can see the writing on the wall, in many ways.In his reference to the ‘running dogs’ there’s no question that he’s talking about the Kapias and others who felt they had to prove their loyalty in their extremism, and who, largely as a result, received their come-uppance.But politics is a dirty game by all accounts, and even decades of loyalty to a cause or an individual isn’t necessarily going to buy you a place in Heroes’ Acre.So the Angula-Kaaronda battle is superficially about the issue of SOEs, but deeper down it’s got more to do with new alliances forming prior to Swapo Congress and those who are going to be jettisoned in the process.