Why Racism, Tribalism Thrive in Namibia

When schoolchildren dressed up as black kffrs for Halloween, the German private school in Windhoek, which some of them attend, was exclusively singled out for criticism.

Conspicuously absent from the public discourse was the role of the children’s parents.

By now the topic has been overtaken by other discussions and might only flare up again if something similar occurs.

DHPS has been in the crossfire over racism for decades and has thus become an easy target whenever racial issues occur.

The school has tried to take steps to encourage multiracial harmony. It has been advised to adjust its curriculum, and has brought in teachers and principals from outside Namibia believing they’ve been exposed to other racial and culturally progressive environments.

Critics argue they have not gone far enough.

Well, the racial discord is not a problem confined to DHPS.

Racism in Namibia is similar to tribalism as has recently been observed when some young Namibians disparaged Miss Namibia as not representing them.

Racial and tribal divisions have become more pronounced in independent Namibia. Even people who during colonial days would call for an end to tribal and racial identity now openly pronounce that they are more proud of their ethnic origin than being Namibian.

The ‘One Namibia, One Nation’ project has no champion when ministers like James Sankwasa comfortably use their official role to campaign for Swapo using the tribal card.

“People in the [Zambezi] region are saying we don’t want Swapo because it belongs to Owambo people, and [then] run to other parties that are [run] by the same Wambos,” he recently argued.

Innocuous as it might seem, Sankwasa’s remark is left hanging, ready to carry forward. It’s similar to insidious and loose talk by national leaders that ‘whites’ are hoarding Namibia’s riches at the expense of blacks.

In essence, people who should know better play the race and tribal card to incite disharmony.

Meanwhile, hardly any advocacy and national programmes are promoted to help different cultural and language groups to appreciate that they face the same challenges and that no amount of wholesale apportioning of blame along racial or tribal lines will solve problems.

The sooner Namibians realise that the difference in their melanin, language and cultural behaviour are artificial determinants of the allocation of resources, the better we can start to tackle substantive disparities like income inequities.

But it takes national leaders to break down these barriers instead of using racial and tribal differences to grab public resources for themselves.

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