Political Perspective: Wild Words

‘INAPPROPRIATE’, ‘inadvisable’ and even ‘discriminatory’ are words which might aptly describe the controversial memo from Veronica de Klerk calling on unmarried female staff of Women’s Action for Development (WAD) not to fall pregnant.

Nevertheless, it must be said the memo did not pass internal muster in the organisation and so has not been implemented, and this fact seems to have been conveniently overlooked by the NUNW and Swapo Youth League and others jumping into the fray to condemn and denounce. CALL her what you will, but De Klerk is nevertheless a ‘doer’, and known as such, and people who are motivated and action-oriented are few and far between in Namibia right now, and often end up making themselves unpopular for this very reason.The memo, therefore, only added insult to injury.Among others, it called on unmarried female staff not to get pregnant, because there was no money for the organisation to employ substitutes while they were on maternity leave.The memo also proposed that those who did so should not be eligible for annual bonuses.So although De Klerk’s memo was seriously problematic and insensitive, coming as it did from someone who heads a women’s organisation, it was fortunately not put into practice at WAD, a fact that does not seem to have been taken into account by the NUNW, which made public the memo in the first place, as well as others who are now jumping on the anti-De Klerk bandwagon.It is absolutely correct for the WAD chief to be taken to task for discriminatory views.It is also unacceptable for her to foist her personal beliefs on the organisation she heads, for example, her sentiment that one must be married to have children.People are entirely within their rights not to choose wedlock, children or no children, and it is surely no business of hers whether these people are her employees or not.There are, after all, ways of doing things, and skills of diplomacy are surely essential to one who heads a women’s organisation.The memo, instead of being prescriptive and even downright offensive to some people, could have dealt, in a far more acceptable way, with the issue of women needing to realise that having children is a lifelong commitment.Nevertheless, one cannot help but wonder at the over-reaction of particularly the NUNW, on the one hand, and the Swapo Youth League on the other, which have both, without doubt, had their own brushes with undemocratic practices.SYL goes as far as to deny WAD’s right to exist because of the abovementioned memo, adding that the role of the ‘authentic representative’ of Namibian women is ‘successfully and satisfactorily carried out by the Swapo Party Women’s Council’, which is pushing things a little too far! Why does there need to be an ‘authentic’ voice for women anyway? There is surely room for a multiplicity of women’s organisations in society, many of which may have different areas of focus.Or is it just that the old ‘sole and authentic’ status of Swapo from the struggle years must be carried into the future? Matters have come to such a head that De Klerk herself has written to Prime Minister Nahas Angula to request his intervention in order to make it possible for “one of the few well-organised and very hard-working organisations to continue its work without unfair and distracting interferences which could jeopardise development …”De Klerk is also considering legal defamation action against the NUNW head for labelling her, among others, ‘cold’ and ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane’, so the situation is bound to escalate.The matter is a simple one.De Klerk was the apparent author of an extremely ill-timed and thoughtless memo.She does head a women’s organisation and must be accountable for her actions in that capacity, and so she needs to admit it was misguided, whether it was finally implemented or not.She has to separate her own from the guiding principles of the movement she leads and her conservative views on marriage and children born out of wedlock are best kept to herself and not foisted on women in general who may not share her opinions.If she is not prepared to do so, this may in fact interfere with the work of the organisation, and in which case she must move away from the helm.She should apologise to women for the inferences made in that memo, which is now in the public domain.But the NUNW and Swapo Youth League should try to keep their criticisms within reasonable bounds.Both are affiliates of the ruling party, and their own leader, the former President Sam Nujoma, is himself under fire right now, and they’d do better to conduct their own investigations in order to establish whether there is merit in these claims, rather than seek the ousting of those who head organisations not in their jurisdiction.CALL her what you will, but De Klerk is nevertheless a ‘doer’, and known as such, and people who are motivated and action-oriented are few and far between in Namibia right now, and often end up making themselves unpopular for this very reason.The memo, therefore, only added insult to injury.Among others, it called on unmarried female staff not to get pregnant, because there was no money for the organisation to employ substitutes while they were on maternity leave.The memo also proposed that those who did so should not be eligible for annual bonuses.So although De Klerk’s memo was seriously problematic and insensitive, coming as it did from someone who heads a women’s organisation, it was fortunately not put into practice at WAD, a fact that does not seem to have been taken into account by the NUNW, which made public the memo in the first place, as well as others who are now jumping on the anti-De Klerk bandwagon.It is absolutely correct for the WAD chief to be taken to task for discriminatory views.It is also unacceptable for her to foist her personal beliefs on the organisation she heads, for example, her sentiment that one must be married to have children.People are entirely within their rights not to choose wedlock, children or no children, and it is surely no business of hers whether these people are her employees or not.There are, after all, ways of doing things, and skills of diplomacy are surely essential to one who heads a women’s organisation.The memo, instead of being prescriptive and even downright offensive to some people, could have dealt, in a far more acceptable way, with the issue of women needing to realise that having children is a lifelong commitment.Nevertheless, one cannot help but wonder at the over-reaction of particularly the NUNW, on the one hand, and the Swapo Youth League on the other, which have both, without doubt, had their own brushes with undemocratic practices.SYL goes as far as to deny WAD’s right to exist because of the abovementioned memo, adding that the role of the ‘authentic representative’ of Namibian women is ‘successfully and satisfactorily carried out by the Swapo Party Women’s Council’, which is pushing things a little too far! Why does there need to be an ‘authentic’ voice for women anyway? There is surely room for a multiplicity of women’s organisations in society, many of which may have different areas of focus.Or is it just that the old ‘sole and authentic’ status of Swapo from the struggle years must be carried into the future? Matters have come to such a head that De Klerk herself has written to Prime Minister Nahas Angula to request his intervention in order to make it possible for “one of the few well-organised and very hard-working organisations to continue its work without unfair and distracting interferences which could jeopardise development …”De Klerk is also considering legal defamation action against the NUNW head for labelling her, among others, ‘cold’ and ‘cruel’ and ‘inhumane’, so the situation is bound to escalate.The matter is a simple one.De Klerk was the apparent author of an extremely ill-timed and thoughtless memo.She does head a women’s organisation and must be accountable for her actions in that capacity, and so she needs to admit it was misguided, whether it was finally implemented or not.She has to separate her own from the guiding principles of the movement
she leads and her conservative views on marriage and children born out of wedlock are best kept to herself and not foisted on women in general who may not share her opinions.If she is not prepared to do so, this may in fact interfere with the work of the organisation, and in which case she must move away from the helm.She should apologise to women for the inferences made in that memo, which is now in the public domain.But the NUNW and Swapo Youth League should try to keep their criticisms within reasonable bounds.Both are affiliates of the ruling party, and their own leader, the former President Sam Nujoma, is himself under fire right now, and they’d do better to conduct their own investigations in order to establish whether there is merit in these claims, rather than seek the ousting of those who head organisations not in their jurisdiction.