THERE’S a burning need for us to revise our Namibian vocabulary and even eliminate some words and phrases altogether – some rhetorical phrases that recur repeatedly, to the extent that they have lost all meaning, some promises-promises statements from politicians that are always touted but never acted upon, and other words that are excessive and even meaningless.
I refer in particular to political-speak, which is simply taking up space in time that could be better utilised in other ways! THINK for example how much ink (in newspaper parlance, the word ‘toner’ applies) is used up on printing of the word ‘honourable’. Why do we need it at all? Other countries, and more importantly, other democracies, don’t bother with this title at all.Elected leaders are people just like anyone else and don’t need to be called ‘honourables’ in order to engender respect.What irks me most is when they call themselves that.”It’s honourable so-and-so speaking”, for example.Who do they think they are? It’s about as tasteless as members of the legal fraternity who insist they be called ‘advocate’ outside the courtroom – inaccurate and unnecessary.The first 10 minutes of the President’s State of the Nation speech yesterday was taken up with the acknowledgement of ‘honourables’.Can’t we now break with this verbiage once and for all? Another word which has lost its meaning altogether in a democratic Namibia, although it has a certain ring to it, is of course, ‘comrade’.The word is a derivative from the struggle era, and refers primarily to fellow members of a political party, particularly those with Communist or Socialist bent.This may have been true prior to our independence, but anyone who today describes the ruling party in anything but the most brutally capitalist terms, is truly in need of help! And somehow it’s almost sickening to hear the wealthy elites refer to one another in those terms.Let’s lose the word now.Then of course there are the phrases primarily used for scapegoating purposes and/or to take the attention away from the real national problems which leadership is failing to address.Watching ululating crowds at Swapo meetings applaud a leader promising that the “white racist, colonialist forces will never again take control of our country”, as if this was some sort of revelation, is saddening to say the least.May I now state as a fact that this will never happen again, and we all know it, so there’s no need to even mention it anymore.And yet I am well aware that the phrase will conveniently be trotted out again and again …because it gets populist sentiments going and distracts the attention of the people from the real issues at stake.Another favourite is ‘we must root out corruption tooth and nail’.Even the President uttered this phrase during his State of the Nation address.This should have the effect of making any would-be thief or scamster quake in their boots, but I’m afraid again, it has lost all meaning because we are simply not practising what we preach.And I don’t need to go into more detail here.Who really believes we are making even a dent in this scourge, despite all the promises of ‘Zero Tolerance’ and Anti-Corruption Commissions and the like? Not many, I am sure.And people may take serious issue with me on this one, but the ‘One Namibia, one nation’ is also presently patently without truth, except on the most superficial level.We are divided, like it or not, and the ethnic divides are deepening, rather than the contrary.But don’t take my word for it, just think about what I’ve said.’Crime must be nipped in the bud’.Another phrase that’s too little, too late.The bud has now blossomed and we have to tackle the problem on that level.In short, there are words and phrases in use that simply no longer have meaning.Our former President had a number of favourites which are well known and they usually concerned the ‘imperialists’ and ‘colonialists’ and the ‘fight against hunger, poverty and disease’ which was another of his choice phrases.Often politicians talk too much and too long, and if they lost some of the verbal trimmings, they would be more likely to say things of more substance to the people of this country.So let’s hear them say it and in so doing, they’d take the country forward rather than keep taking us back into the past, which is exactly where it should be.Why do we need it at all? Other countries, and more importantly, other democracies, don’t bother with this title at all.Elected leaders are people just like anyone else and don’t need to be called ‘honourables’ in order to engender respect.What irks me most is when they call themselves that.”It’s honourable so-and-so speaking”, for example.Who do they think they are? It’s about as tasteless as members of the legal fraternity who insist they be called ‘advocate’ outside the courtroom – inaccurate and unnecessary.The first 10 minutes of the President’s State of the Nation speech yesterday was taken up with the acknowledgement of ‘honourables’.Can’t we now break with this verbiage once and for all? Another word which has lost its meaning altogether in a democratic Namibia, although it has a certain ring to it, is of course, ‘comrade’.The word is a derivative from the struggle era, and refers primarily to fellow members of a political party, particularly those with Communist or Socialist bent.This may have been true prior to our independence, but anyone who today describes the ruling party in anything but the most brutally capitalist terms, is truly in need of help! And somehow it’s almost sickening to hear the wealthy elites refer to one another in those terms.Let’s lose the word now.Then of course there are the phrases primarily used for scapegoating purposes and/or to take the attention away from the real national problems which leadership is failing to address.Watching ululating crowds at Swapo meetings applaud a leader promising that the “white racist, colonialist forces will never again take control of our country”, as if this was some sort of revelation, is saddening to say the least.May I now state as a fact that this will never happen again, and we all know it, so there’s no need to even mention it anymore.And yet I am well aware that the phrase will conveniently be trotted out again and again …because it gets populist sentiments going and distracts the attention of the people from the real issues at stake.Another favourite is ‘we must root out corruption tooth and nail’.Even the President uttered this phrase during his State of the Nation address.This should have the effect of making any would-be thief or scamster quake in their boots, but I’m afraid again, it has lost all meaning because we are simply not practising what we preach.And I don’t need to go into more detail here.Who really believes we are making even a dent in this scourge, despite all the promises of ‘Zero Tolerance’ and Anti-Corruption Commissions and the like? Not many, I am sure.And people may take serious issue with me on this one, but the ‘One Namibia, one nation’ is also presently patently without truth, except on the most superficial level.We are divided, like it or not, and the ethnic divides are deepening, rather than the contrary.But don’t take my word for it, just think about what I’ve said.’Crime must be nipped in the bud’.Another phrase that’s too little, too late.The bud has now blossomed and we have to tackle the problem on that level.In short, there are words and phrases in use that simply no longer have meaning.Our former President had a number of favourites which are well known and they usually concerned the ‘imperialists’ and ‘colonialists’ and the ‘fight against hunger, poverty and disease’ which was another of his choice phrases.Often politicians talk too much and too long, and if they lost some of the verbal trimmings, they would be more likely to say things of more substance to the people of this country.So let’s hear them say it and in so doing, they’d take the country forward rather than keep taking us back into the past, which is exactly where it should be.
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