• ARMAS ABDUL MALIK SHIKONGOTHE Confidente newspaper of 16-22 August 2018 ran a story that reads “Swapo to nip succession wrangles in the bud”.
The headline story features a montage of four pictures of top Swapo leaders, namely Hage Geingob, minister Netumbo Nandi- Ndaitwah, former minister Pendukeni Iithana and former minister Jerry Ekandjo.
The paper reported that at the next extraordinary congress, Swapo shall be considering the following resolutions: “reward system for cadres, adopting socialism, ancestral land rights, and strict adherence to disciplinary procedures”.
The reporter writes that according to his sources, “the party has observed a worrying absence of a clear official Swapo ideology and hence resolved that: “Swapo party adopts the ideology of socialism with Namibian characteristics where the role of the state is, amongst others, that of a developmental state within a market system”; further reporting that “the party is further directed to amend its constitution to provide for a socialist ideology”.
Last time I checked, Swapo was already a socialist aspiring party, as a liberation movement. However, with political independence on 21 March 1990 and the Namibian Constitution having been adopted as the supreme law of the land, I thought Swapo as a ruling party was forced to adopt a “mixed economy” ideology by default. When did Swapo change its constitution to adopt a new economic ideology other than “scientific socialism”?
What I find interesting about this newfound desire for Swapo to be a born-again socialist is the fact that Swapo knows that it is the Namibian Constitution that is the supreme law of the land, not the Swapo constitution. Yet, the party would like to change the Swapo constitution so that the party can “adopt socialism?
What about Article 98 of the Namibian Constitution?
Article 98 of the Namibia Constitution stipulates the principles of economic order as follows:
(1) The economic order of Namibia shall be based on the principles of a mixed economy with the objective of securing economic growth, prosperity and a life of human dignity for all Namibians.
(2) The Namibian economy shall be based, inter alia, on the following forms of ownership (a) public (b) private, (c) joint public-private; (d) co-operative; and (e) co-ownership; small-scale family”.
After adopting socialism, will Swapo then start to advocate the subsequent nullification or change of Article 98? Will those characteristics include Christianity, seeing that most Namibian people, over 90%, are of the Christian faith, who profess their belief in the Bible as their book of guidance? What would be the implications for the Namibian state as a secular state?
This should not be far-fetched, seeing that the Bible does not have any significant ideological problem with divinely guided socialism. Before I explicate faith-based socialism in the Bible, let me offer one definition of socialism.
Socialism is understood to be a system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange of goods are regulated by the community or state as a whole. It is often juxtaposed with capitalism, a system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange are controlled by each individual, or a privately-owned corporation.
We know that “redistribution of wealth” is a key socialist concept, and it means that wealth is taken from the “rich” and redistributed to the poor so that it is spread out more equally in society. After the next extraordinary congress, will the Swapo economic elite lead by example by becoming the very first to redistribute their recently acquired wealth to equitably share with the poor after the Swapo constitution is changed back to socialism with Namibian characteristics?
Namibia being a majority Christian nation which professes a religious belief in Jesus Christ, in the New Testament Bible it is also reported in several places that Jesus said that, after loving God, the supreme commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself (see Matthew 22:25–40; Mark 12:28–31; Luke 10:25–28).
The Old Testament Bible, believed by devoted Jews, Christians and Muslims to contain the superior law from God Almighty states as follows:
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).
Another fascinating passage that can easily be taken as advocating Biblical socialism in the New Testament reads as follows:
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had a need” (Acts 4:32–35).
This seems like Swapo leaders have religiously been reading and carefully studying the Bible, and Acts 4: 32-35 would be enough to convince and convert the party back to socialism – with Namibian characteristics!
And, finally, will Swapo logically go all the way and also change the Namibian Constitution and remove secularism as the adopted Namibian political ideology to be able to fully reflect the dominant demographics of Namibian society? That would be something that will have my 100% moral support. Let me wish Swapo the very best, as that will surely be very extraordinary.
