Political Perspective

THERE’S a buzz about the newly registered political party to be known as the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), but mostly people are interested in who’s behind it.

Coming as it does a mere weeks before a watershed Swapo Congress, set down for November 26, the speculation is mainly about whether or not it’s going to attract some Swapo ‘big guns’ or just a name or two. At this early stage, it appears the new group managed to get the required 700 signatures to register the RDP but little is known about their policy platform and how it may differ (if at all!) from the ruling and other mainstream political parties already in existence.THERE’S no problem with respect to the plurality of political parties and the phrase ‘the more the merrier’ is an inherent facet of democracy, which has to do with giving people choices.But the fact that there are a number of parties with broadly similar platforms is more worrying, especially since politics in Namibia seems to be governed by personality rather than policy.Namibians overwhelmingly support Swapo currently, but if one asks many of them what the Party stands for, it would be unlikely that they could summarise its principles, goals and objectives.Ditto the Congress of Democrats (CoD) or Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) adherents for that matter.Generally Namibians support a party because of a cult or preference of some kind, mainly person oriented, rather than voting for what it stands for.Most of our political parties are centre-oriented, and therefore similar, since there is no great variance between their respective economic policies, for example: no socialist as opposed to capitalist agendas, but also no marked difference in other areas.I’d be surprised if the RDP was going to be any different.So what then distinguishes Swapo from the DTA from the CoD to the yet untested RDP? Very little, in real terms.The DTA simply inherited the opposition role from the struggle days when it represented the viewpoint largely promoted by the colonialists, for an ‘internal settlement’ at the time which could help avert the prospect of a Swapo government, then perceived by some to be ‘communist’ in intent.The CoD came into being because of disaffected Swapo members; and the RDP is unlikely to break with this tradition.This fact, though, should hardly come as a surprise.Most Namibians found their political raison d’etre in Swapo (a recognised former ‘sole and authentic’ representative of the Namibian people) as the party waging the liberation struggle, or DTA which was an alliance of those nervous about Swapo dominance for whatever reasons.The last historic fairly major difference between parties was the Swapo-Swanu divide in the pre-independence era.Then the two could be clearly distinguished, and their policies and allegiances were clearly not the same.But Swanu largely fizzled out as a political force to be reckoned with, and the newcomers such as CoD and others simply seemed to follow the Swapo trend, but gave it a different name.The response to the registration of the RDP is typical.People are asking not what the new party will stand for, but who its leaders will be.And this is where our parties, and our people, go wrong.Because if Namibians don’t demand and probe the respective platforms in order to make their choices based on the parties closest to their own beliefs and wishes and aspirations, then their political representatives themselves become lazy and, most often, don’t bother with the issue of policies at all.Simply because the people don’t demand it of them.The test for all political parties, and their strength or weakness at the polls, should be based on exactly these things – what do they stand for? What is their economic policy? How do they plan to create jobs? What are their goals with regard to education? Unfortunately our electorate doesn’t critically question any of these parties or policies.They simply support on the basis of prior allegiances, mostly still to do with the colonial area and which party took what side; rather than whether voting for party X or party Z is going to make a difference in their lives.And, importantly, to hold the parties in question accountable as to whether they achieve their stated goals or not.So in the context of the abovementioned, can or will the RDP make a difference? That will depend largely on them, and whether the ‘mother’ party goes after them with a vengeance with the aim to discredit, which in all likelihood will happen.And there’s going to be little love lost between them, that has already become clear.But if they decided to break with the characteristic political alignments and leadership cults, and go for strong policy platforms that have less to do with leaders and more to do with people and their needs, perhaps they can make a difference to the landscape.But I’m not placing any bets just yet!At this early stage, it appears the new group managed to get the required 700 signatures to register the RDP but little is known about their policy platform and how it may differ (if at all!) from the ruling and other mainstream political parties already in existence.THERE’S no problem with respect to the plurality of political parties and the phrase ‘the more the merrier’ is an inherent facet of democracy, which has to do with giving people choices.But the fact that there are a number of parties with broadly similar platforms is more worrying, especially since politics in Namibia seems to be governed by personality rather than policy.Namibians overwhelmingly support Swapo currently, but if one asks many of them what the Party stands for, it would be unlikely that they could summarise its principles, goals and objectives.Ditto the Congress of Democrats (CoD) or Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) adherents for that matter.Generally Namibians support a party because of a cult or preference of some kind, mainly person oriented, rather than voting for what it stands for.Most of our political parties are centre-oriented, and therefore similar, since there is no great variance between their respective economic policies, for example: no socialist as opposed to capitalist agendas, but also no marked difference in other areas.I’d be surprised if the RDP was going to be any different.So what then distinguishes Swapo from the DTA from the CoD to the yet untested RDP? Very little, in real terms.The DTA simply inherited the opposition role from the struggle days when it represented the viewpoint largely promoted by the colonialists, for an ‘internal settlement’ at the time which could help avert the prospect of a Swapo government, then perceived by some to be ‘communist’ in intent.The CoD came into being because of disaffected Swapo members; and the RDP is unlikely to break with this tradition.This fact, though, should hardly come as a surprise.Most Namibians found their political raison d’etre in Swapo (a recognised former ‘sole and authentic’ representative of the Namibian people) as the party waging the liberation struggle, or DTA which was an alliance of those nervous about Swapo dominance for whatever reasons.The last historic fairly major difference between parties was the Swapo-Swanu divide in the pre-independence era.Then the two could be clearly distinguished, and their policies and allegiances were clearly not the same.But Swanu largely fizzled out as a political force to be reckoned with, and the newcomers such as CoD and others simply seemed to follow the Swapo trend, but gave it a different name.The response to the registration of the RDP is typical.People are asking not what the new party will stand for, but who its leaders will be.And this is where our parties, and our people, go wrong.Because if Namibians don’t demand and probe the respective platforms in order to make their choices based on the parties closest to their own beliefs and wishes and aspirations, then their political representatives themselves become lazy and, most often, don’t bother with the issue of policies at all.Simply because the people don’t demand it of them.The test for all political parties, and their strength or weakness at the p
olls, should be based on exactly these things – what do they stand for? What is their economic policy? How do they plan to create jobs? What are their goals with regard to education? Unfortunately our electorate doesn’t critically question any of these parties or policies.They simply support on the basis of prior allegiances, mostly still to do with the colonial area and which party took what side; rather than whether voting for party X or party Z is going to make a difference in their lives.And, importantly, to hold the parties in question accountable as to whether they achieve their stated goals or not.So in the context of the abovementioned, can or will the RDP make a difference? That will depend largely on them, and whether the ‘mother’ party goes after them with a vengeance with the aim to discredit, which in all likelihood will happen.And there’s going to be little love lost between them, that has already become clear.But if they decided to break with the characteristic political alignments and leadership cults, and go for strong policy platforms that have less to do with leaders and more to do with people and their needs, perhaps they can make a difference to the landscape.But I’m not placing any bets just yet!