Political Perspective: Old Guard Need To Step Aside

TIME for the ‘old guard’, like former President Sam Nujoma and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, even Angola’s Eduardo dos Santos, to step aside in southern Africa.

With or without resistance, former Presidents Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia and Hastings Banda of Malawi, for example, moved on; and of course, a former President with the stature of Nelson Mandela of South Africa, the latter with no protest at all. But then we’ve got the reactionary side of the ‘old guard’ such as some of the abovementioned, who don’t seem to realise that their time is over.Why do I say this? Mainly because several of the liberation era leaders have been unable to make the transition to modern, democratic African societies.Their ideas and their ideologies are outdated and not necessarily in keeping with a new, hopefully more positive image for the continent, and more specifically, the SADC region.You hear Nujoma; you listen to Mugabe, and it’s the same old tirade against ‘imperialists’ and ‘neo-colonialists’, ‘whites’, ‘homosexuals’ and the like.Eduardo dos Santos less so, but perhaps he’s not as much in the news because of the information divide between Portuguese- and English-speaking countries of the subcontinent.Mugabe is always at it.Forever indulging in the blame game.Nujoma does it too, and even though he is no longer president of his country, as the others are, everyone is aware that he’s notoriously reluctant to relinquish the reins of power altogether.Recently again, our former President launched an attack on ‘reactionaries and divisive forces’ allegedly attempting to undermine and reverse the country’s hard-earned gains of freedom and independence.In an apparent reference to the Zimbabwe situation he noted with ‘concern’ how ‘imperialists’ were bent on mobilising ‘opportunists and political renegades’; and he further warned that Namibia would not tolerate ‘neo-colonialism’.Neither he nor Mugabe is taking his country forward with this kind of hate rhetoric.At the end of the day, it is simply a case of genuine and patriotic Namibians or Zimbabweans disagreeing with the views of the heads or former heads of state.It is as simple as that.And it is because of these dissenting voices (for that is all they are) that the wrath of the ‘old guard’ is brought to bear.Worse than that, it is the camaraderie between this ‘old guard’ that is holding southern Africa back.Dos Santos’s response, for example, to the situation in Zimbabwe, is to send in 2 500 Angolan troops, apparently to assist Mugabe in further trampling the rights of the people of that country.Hardly a progressive contribution to changing the deteriorating situation there! And perhaps because he is not a member of the ‘old guard’, President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia had the courage to call for an end to the non-policy that is called ‘quiet diplomacy’ and a ‘fresh start’ to SADC relations with Zimbabwe! One is just surprised that other ‘new’ members of the presidential club in southern Africa, Botswana for one, have not followed Mwanawasa’s lead.If for once Nujoma and Mugabe, for example, could cease making blanket threats against those they perceive to be antagonists, and come out into the open and say who they think these ‘enemies’ are among their own people, it would help those who blindly follow them to see that these perceived threats probably don’t exist at all! In our own country it’s easier to see whom Nujoma is referring to, even though he won’t name them, and it is among others, the media (particularly this newspaper), the NSHR and other groups who criticise undemocratic practices, either here or elsewhere on the subcontinent.But neither this newspaper nor most of those against whom Nujoma launches his verbal attacks can even remotely be termed ‘reactionary’, ‘imperialist’ or ‘neo-colonialist’.Quite the contrary.But both Nujoma and Mugabe will persist, and this fact alone shows that they are unable to change with the times; not equipped to take their countries forward into a more positive future without finding excuses and scapegoats for their own mistakes.We need new leaders in southern Africa who are progressive-minded; who not only tolerate opposition, but encourage dissenting viewpoints as an important facet of democracy.Take away freedom of speech and debate and discussion and we are left with that which we fought against in the first place – an undemocratic, autocratic and draconian regime.Surely nobody in southern African countries that have moved on want to go back there.And those still languishing under dictatorships want to be free to speak out.It is a right worth fighting for.But then we’ve got the reactionary side of the ‘old guard’ such as some of the abovementioned, who don’t seem to realise that their time is over.Why do I say this? Mainly because several of the liberation era leaders have been unable to make the transition to modern, democratic African societies.Their ideas and their ideologies are outdated and not necessarily in keeping with a new, hopefully more positive image for the continent, and more specifically, the SADC region.You hear Nujoma; you listen to Mugabe, and it’s the same old tirade against ‘imperialists’ and ‘neo-colonialists’, ‘whites’, ‘homosexuals’ and the like.Eduardo dos Santos less so, but perhaps he’s not as much in the news because of the information divide between Portuguese- and English-speaking countries of the subcontinent.Mugabe is always at it.Forever indulging in the blame game.Nujoma does it too, and even though he is no longer president of his country, as the others are, everyone is aware that he’s notoriously reluctant to relinquish the reins of power altogether.Recently again, our former President launched an attack on ‘reactionaries and divisive forces’ allegedly attempting to undermine and reverse the country’s hard-earned gains of freedom and independence.In an apparent reference to the Zimbabwe situation he noted with ‘concern’ how ‘imperialists’ were bent on mobilising ‘opportunists and political renegades’; and he further warned that Namibia would not tolerate ‘neo-colonialism’.Neither he nor Mugabe is taking his country forward with this kind of hate rhetoric.At the end of the day, it is simply a case of genuine and patriotic Namibians or Zimbabweans disagreeing with the views of the heads or former heads of state.It is as simple as that.And it is because of these dissenting voices (for that is all they are) that the wrath of the ‘old guard’ is brought to bear.Worse than that, it is the camaraderie between this ‘old guard’ that is holding southern Africa back.Dos Santos’s response, for example, to the situation in Zimbabwe, is to send in 2 500 Angolan troops, apparently to assist Mugabe in further trampling the rights of the people of that country.Hardly a progressive contribution to changing the deteriorating situation there! And perhaps because he is not a member of the ‘old guard’, President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia had the courage to call for an end to the non-policy that is called ‘quiet diplomacy’ and a ‘fresh start’ to SADC relations with Zimbabwe! One is just surprised that other ‘new’ members of the presidential club in southern Africa, Botswana for one, have not followed Mwanawasa’s lead.If for once Nujoma and Mugabe, for example, could cease making blanket threats against those they perceive to be antagonists, and come out into the open and say who they think these ‘enemies’ are among their own people, it would help those who blindly follow them to see that these perceived threats probably don’t exist at all! In our own country it’s easier to see whom Nujoma is referring to, even though he won’t name them, and it is among others, the media (particularly this newspaper), the NSHR and other groups who criticise undemocratic practices, either here or elsewhere on the subcontinent.But neither this newspaper nor most of those against whom Nujoma launches his verbal attacks can even remotely be termed ‘reactionary’, ‘imperialist’ or ‘neo-colonialist’.Quite the contrary.But both Nujoma and Mugabe will persist, and this fact alone shows that they are unable to change with the times; not equip
ped to take their countries forward into a more positive future without finding excuses and scapegoats for their own mistakes.We need new leaders in southern Africa who are progressive-minded; who not only tolerate opposition, but encourage dissenting viewpoints as an important facet of democracy.Take away freedom of speech and debate and discussion and we are left with that which we fought against in the first place – an undemocratic, autocratic and draconian regime.Surely nobody in southern African countries that have moved on want to go back there.And those still languishing under dictatorships want to be free to speak out.It is a right worth fighting for.