The Need To Reconstruct Pacon

AS 2009 gets underway, Namibians have reason to be proud about our humble contribution to and appreciation of the African continent.

To my knowledge, Namibia is the only country that flies the African Union flag and sings the African Union Anthem along with its own national flag and anthem. Indeed every young person in our country reasonably knows how to sing the AU Anthem. This small but significant step was made possible by the Pan-Africanist of all times, Founding President Sam Nujoma, who is also the Patron of PACON.
It is with patriotic nostalgia that I recall that day in August 2002 in Johannesburg when President Sam Nujoma of Namibia and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe shared a historic platform to condemn the then Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, for the neo-colonialist agenda of England in Zimbabwe. There was a thunderous applause to this Pan-Africanist intervention. Today, all will agree that such unanimity on the Pan-Africanist position is rare amongst African leaders. In fact only President Robert Mugabe is left to fight the Europeans alone while the rest are unable to even address the media to condemn the Israeli genocide against Palestinians or the neo-colonialist maneouvres of Britain and America in Zimbabwe. Be that as it may, the yearning for Pan-Africanism must never die off and should never be extinguished either in Africa or its Diaspora. The need for articulation of the ideals of Pan-Africanism and its relevance in modern Namibia gave rise to the founding of the Pan-African Centre of Namibia (PACON) in 1999.
There are no other post-independence indigenous institutions that have elicited as mixed a response to their establishment as PACON seems to have done in the year 1999. Some, especially the neo liberals, capitalists and new black elites, saw it as a threat to their grip on the monopoly of enclosed economy, hidden under the guise of national reconciliation. They, in their real or imagined fear of the creation of a pan-African institution heaped cries of ‘new swart gevaar’ and critiqued the philosophies of Pan-Africanism and Nkrumaism, as wasted and centered on backwardness. In some instances, the fear among the right wing media and liberals was that the newly-created institution for Africans would sway Namibians to be more Afrocentric, assimilate and fulfill the ideals of Pan-Africanism and as Thabo Mbeki would say, begin to ‘define Africa’, informed by our own conditions and challenges by the organic native intellectuals.
The rise of the organic arrogant intellectualism, which operates independently from the margins of white capital and indoctrination from Paris, London and Washington, was not needed in Namibia, some cried. But there was also an increased support for PACON at a number of gatherings organised to raise the consciousness for the institution in our society. I remember for instance one such occasion where Prof. Barney Pityana was delivering a lecture on racism, which even the Editor of The Namibian newspaper attended in support of the cause.
In trying to define the Namibia in which we wish to live, as analysed by Bernardus Swartbooi in an opinion piece, ‘The Pains of Nation Building: Crossing the Turbulent River’ in New Era, on Friday, 9 January 2009, the epoch-making historical mission of PACON was thought to be: Nation building and patriotism, research and documentation of indigenous history, culture, art, heritage and the indigenous knowledge systems. More so, the strengthening of the relations between the Africans from the continent and the Diaspora was a central theme in the absence of a Diaspora Unit both in the Office of the President and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Only time will tell whether the Office of the Presidency, Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will realize that the links of commerce and trade, tourism and other forms of cooperation is more opportune with the Africans from the Diaspora rather than our usual ‘white’ friends in the capitals of the United States, Israeli, France, Britain and Canada. The Conference on the ‘African Origin of Civilisation and the Destiny of Africa’ which convened from the 24-25 May 1999 in Windhoek, provided a clear road map for what the newly-created institution would stood for, its work line and operations and a crisply articulated vision and mission. It is my contention that PACON was founded amidst a glimmer of hope as far as the project of democratisation of African countries was concerned and the need to established Afrocentric institutions which would enhance the project of countering the centuries-old lies and distortions of African history, culture and heritage by the West. A small number of institutions and individuals in Namibia carried the flame of restoring African pride and dignity, especially amongst the youth, such as the Pan-African Students Society of the University of Namibia, and the Founding President of Namibia.
Now, fast forward to 2008/9: if you read any news story on PACON in a newspaper, chances are you will find a story that saddens you, a story of how a once promising pan-African institution has been corrupted by greed, egos, selfishness, intricate battles for the soul of the institution and ultimately the betrayal of the collective trust bestowed on them to realize the vision of a United States of Africa. I will borrow the title of a book written by Mark Gevisser about Thabo Mbeki to describe PACON the institution as ‘The Dream Deferred’ and its leadership as ‘Unfit To Govern’. Compounding the controversy of PACON is the fact that its leaders are not only unfit to govern but are on an unprecedented spree for the accumulation of ‘Perilous Power’, again to borrow from Noam Chomsky. The critical question is what happened and how do we respond to the challenges posed by PACON? What makes the impotent current five-person team of PACON Board of Directors to hold onto power for a decade? This must be among one of the most fossilised boards of directors in contemporary Namibia.
In 2008 PACON had virtually come to a halt. There had been no activity whatsoever organised, and the only sign that PACON existed, at least theoretically, was its statement issued on Africa Day, the 25th May 2008 by its Chairperson Johannes Tjitjo.
It is now time to close the chapter on PACON, which due to inactivity, has ceased to play any meaningful role and to justify further public expenditure. The Government spends N$200 000 per annum on this institution and does not even demand an audited annual report.
This is complete carelessness by the Ministry of Youth, especially its chief policymakers, to allow state resources to be wasted randomly. If the objectives of PACON have ceased to be realized by practical action, then a thorough audit is required. Clearly PACON, in its current state, is irrelevant and its continued existence unjustified.
On 30 January 2008, Minister John Mutorwa met the prominent delegation from the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) in the presence of Andre Strauss, and the parties agreed that there was a need for PACON reform. Before that, the SPYL leadership, flanked by Andre Neville, an Acting NANSO Secretary General, met the Prime Minister on the same agenda. The Prime Minister and Hon. Mutorwa are both serving in the Eminent Persons Board of PACON, which Board never met in the past eight years or so to advise PACON on its pan-African drive. This depicts that there is no seriousness on the part of the fossilized Board of Directors and the Eminent Board members alike, to change the status quo.
The SPYL and the National Youth Council leadership later met the incumbent Minister of Youth, Hon. Willem Konjore on the June 9 2008, to inform the new Minister of their displeasure with PACON and how they had veered off from the historical mandate initially bestowed upon them. In an unusual manner the normally conservative Minister, especially as far as youth matters are concerned, agreed to arrange a consultative meeting between the SPYL leadership and the PACON Board. To date the meeting has not been convened.
This clearly raises doubts
whether the Minister and his Permanent Secretary understand the meaning and the context and content within which PACON ought to operate. In this regard, PACON is a painful eyesore in the context of nation-building.
In my opinion, the PACON leadership denies students and researchers, political analysts, historians and anthropologists and those who want to write books under its banner, and literally pushes them away. It is my hope that as part of a New Year’s Resolution, that the line Ministry will turn a new leaf in making PACON return to its original mission and vision of carrying out a Pan-Africanist agenda envisioned by its founders and Patron, Dr Sam Nujoma. Any attempt, as currently being alleged, to make PACON a full-fledged Directorate at the Ministry of Youth, with a view to appoint a suspended employee of the National Housing Enterprise as a Director, will not save the face of the institution and will further lead to animosity and will seen as an employment creation for close friends and relatives. This will not be in the interest of PACON in particular or Pan-Africanism in general.
PACON has been reduced from the initial nine Board members to a meagre five. It is characterised by unique and frightening theoretical and practical weaknesses. Highlighting these practical and theoretical vulnerabilities, Herold Binda and Emma Molelekeng, in opinion pieces last year admitted that the institution has remained in a state of complete paralysis. The Board has run out of ideas but it would be unfair to dismiss outright the individual capacities of each Board Member, who are professionals in their own right. However, the desperate attempts last year to write letters to some prominent youth leaders and Pan-Africanists, to co-opt them to serve to fill the vacuum would appear to be an admission that things have indeed fallen apart at PACON.
This admission on the part of the Board should propel them to unselfishly promote the interests of PACON above personal considerations. By extension, the line Ministry should endeavour to do the same. It will be remembered that sometime last year, Yours Truly was summarily dismissed, without any explanation whatsoever, from the position as a Personal Assistant to Minister Reverend Willem Konjore, Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture. This came at the height of an intense debate as to whether the status quo should remain at PACON or drastic changes be implemented to advance the ideals of Pan-Africanism in Namibia.
Among the contributions I made was on the need to revamp PACON, as well as preaching uncompromising and unwavering commitment for the empowerment of all our people.
It is thus my contention that PACON is a very important institution that needs to be nurtured and supported by all in our society including our white compatriots who regard Namibia as their only home. Perforce to state the above, there is a perception that Namibia’s strategic location in southern Africa has failed to earn it the role it deserves in the last five years on the international scene. PACON in this respect is an important institution to re-energise our African values in pursuit of Pan-Africanism.

* The writer of this opinion piece, Henny Hendly Seibeb, is a prominent SPYL activist. The views contained in this article are his own.