Political Prospective

I’M thrilled to note that our relations with the Swapo Youth League seem to have reached a turning point! Not only is the leadership now reading The Namibian despite several calls for a total boycott, but they are doing so intensively (if their recent press conference is anything to go by).

In addition, The Namibian has become an important prompt for them, since they largely echo sentiments expressed in our news articles in regard to the movie ‘Where Others Wavered’! OF COURSE there remain a few troublesome areas, such as the relationship with me personally, for the Youth League colleagues haven’t quite come to terms with the fact that I’m as entitled to hold an opinion as they are, whether they agree with me or not, and that we don’t need to get personal in the process. But just in case Comrade Tjitunga Ngurare, the clone of Youth League Secretary General Paulus Kapia, thinks that among my many shortcomings I also have an aversion to personal criticism, I’ll list a few of his expressed sentiments about me: that I’m “blinded by hatred of the truth and objectivity”; I have “no credibility in the eyes of the majority”; I have become “irrelevant to my own soul”; I have a “hatred for sane reasoning”, a “twisted logic” and a “cancerous political quarrel with the Founding President”; I suffer from “missionary paranoia”; I display the “arrogant and racist overtones of an English expatriate”; I have “unpatriotic moles” on the set of the film; I run a “Eurocentric parasitic newspaper” with “dirty hands”….Anyhow, I digress from my main point, which is really that the Swapo Youth League, along with others, including people (yes, even REAL Africans) working on the set of the film, have serious reservations about the management of the entire project, which has led, among other things, to people not being paid on time and to establishments in town being owed big sums of money because the accounting processes have gone awry for one reason or another.If there hadn’t been problems, we couldn’t have reported them, so we are gratified that the Youth League has taken up these concerns in its own way – not that we necessarily agree with the remedial action it has proposed! Contrary to what they may imply about me, I have not trashed the movie in this column, but yes, I did take serious issue with the granting of a ‘bursary’ (which the Youth League calls a ‘scholarship’) by LL Diamond Company to former President Sam Nujoma.I believe that this is fair criticism given that this is a man who, in the words of the Youth League themselves: “embodies the aspirations, wishes and expectations of the struggling masses of Namibia who toiled and died for the total independence of the motherland”.It is precisely because of who he is and what he embodies for the people of Namibia that acceptance of this ‘bursary’ after receipt of a lucrative personal retirement package and a host of other perks and benefits, such as ‘gold card’ access to our wildlife and conservation resorts, is in such bad taste.I am also sure that at least some of the Namibian ‘toiling masses’ would agree with me.Neither have we been the only newspaper to report on problems with the movie.Others, including the Government publication, have given voice to the grievances of those the Youth League refers to as ‘moles’ in the production.Neither are we trying to “derail the movie’s train of progress and its place in history”! Quite the contrary.As I said earlier, if there hadn’t been problems, we couldn’t have reported on them.And problems there must be, since the Youth League themselves have proposed that Government itself should ensure the film’s completion.In arriving at this conclusion, the Youth League spoke to “all key stakeholders” (their own ‘moles’?).So, to conclude: we are happy that the Youth League has added its voice to those with concerns about the management of the project.We hope that this will contribute to a trouble-free and speedy completion of the movie.But just in case Comrade Tjitunga Ngurare, the clone of Youth League Secretary General Paulus Kapia, thinks that among my many shortcomings I also have an aversion to personal criticism, I’ll list a few of his expressed sentiments about me: that I’m “blinded by hatred of the truth and objectivity”; I have “no credibility in the eyes of the majority”; I have become “irrelevant to my own soul”; I have a “hatred for sane reasoning”, a “twisted logic” and a “cancerous political quarrel with the Founding President”; I suffer from “missionary paranoia”; I display the “arrogant and racist overtones of an English expatriate”; I have “unpatriotic moles” on the set of the film; I run a “Eurocentric parasitic newspaper” with “dirty hands”….Anyhow, I digress from my main point, which is really that the Swapo Youth League, along with others, including people (yes, even REAL Africans) working on the set of the film, have serious reservations about the management of the entire project, which has led, among other things, to people not being paid on time and to establishments in town being owed big sums of money because the accounting processes have gone awry for one reason or another.If there hadn’t been problems, we couldn’t have reported them, so we are gratified that the Youth League has taken up these concerns in its own way – not that we necessarily agree with the remedial action it has proposed! Contrary to what they may imply about me, I have not trashed the movie in this column, but yes, I did take serious issue with the granting of a ‘bursary’ (which the Youth League calls a ‘scholarship’) by LL Diamond Company to former President Sam Nujoma.I believe that this is fair criticism given that this is a man who, in the words of the Youth League themselves: “embodies the aspirations, wishes and expectations of the struggling masses of Namibia who toiled and died for the total independence of the motherland”.It is precisely because of who he is and what he embodies for the people of Namibia that acceptance of this ‘bursary’ after receipt of a lucrative personal retirement package and a host of other perks and benefits, such as ‘gold card’ access to our wildlife and conservation resorts, is in such bad taste.I am also sure that at least some of the Namibian ‘toiling masses’ would agree with me.Neither have we been the only newspaper to report on problems with the movie.Others, including the Government publication, have given voice to the grievances of those the Youth League refers to as ‘moles’ in the production.Neither are we trying to “derail the movie’s train of progress and its place in history”! Quite the contrary.As I said earlier, if there hadn’t been problems, we couldn’t have reported on them.And problems there must be, since the Youth League themselves have proposed that Government itself should ensure the film’s completion.In arriving at this conclusion, the Youth League spoke to “all key stakeholders” (their own ‘moles’?).So, to conclude: we are happy that the Youth League has added its voice to those with concerns about the management of the project.We hope that this will contribute to a trouble-free and speedy completion of the movie.