It Is Disheartening and perhaps even undemocratic that today in Namibia, after 35 years of freedom and independence, the ugly head of tribalism still shows itself.
No single tribe will be spared from the effects of this issue because it has been around for so long, yet as a nation we have been turning a blind eye.
Instead of having exercised ongoing efforts and having mechanisms in place to fight tribalism, we have rather been supporting it systematically.
Why this is done is unclear, and one wonders what benefit is derived from being tribalist.
This systematic style of tribal support has created an attitude of ‘my tribe is better than yours’.
Today, as the nation finds itself in this very uncompromising situation, instead of asking ourselves where we went wrong, we are finding scapegoats.
Very recently, the Hardap region, and in particular my hometown of Mariental, has been in the spotlight as tribalism showed its ugly head.
Throughout my school career there, I schooled with a mixture of different tribes and never experienced tribalism.
I did, however, experience racism at the hands of the previously advantaged white minority, but I never held any grudges because it was the system back then.
However, for serious issues of tribalism to manifest in an independent and democratic Namibia, we need to do proper introspection and find the root causes of this evil.
Shifting blame or trying to label tribes will only allow for the further sprouting of many small tribal seedlings all over Namibia.
The government must take the lead, and, together with traditional authorities, churches and civil society role-players, conduct proper research on tribalism.
This might help us to better understand what tribalism is and its impact on society, the economy and politics.
We must identify the underlying issues that stir up emotions to such an extent that tribes have all these serious concerns with one another.
We should perhaps consider tabling a bill because we all know that tribalism is alive in Namibia.
Just like corruption, it is a serious cancer which will eat away at the nation’s social fabric, which future generations will find very hard to restore.
– Alvenus Dreyer
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