RUNDU – Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Peya Mushelenga, says Namibians must denounce nepotism and corruption such as employing or favouring people because they are from a certain ethnic group or are related to them. Most importantly, they must reject racism.
He made the remarks while officiating at the University of Namibia (Unam) cultural festival at Rundu campus on Wednesday that is being celebrated under the theme “Culture Our Way of Life”. The cultural festivity started on Wednesday and ends tomorrow.
He noted that people’s concept of who they are and how they relate to one another is largely determined by the group they feel they belong to, hence, the need to locate the social identity into a proper perspective and framework.
“Therefore, we do not doubt the potential today’s event has in leveraging efforts to consolidate democracy, peace and social harmony. Our inter- and intra-group behaviour should reflect inclusiveness, cooperation and the readiness to learn from one another, to share and accommodate one another’s positive cultural offerings, experiences and ethos,” said Mushelenga.
“Thus, we must also denounce nepotism and corruption, such as employing or favouring people because they are from a certain ethnic group or are related to us. Most importantly, we must reject racism, the idea that people of a certain descent are superior and their culture commands moral and superior virtues or that other people’s cultures are inferior. These divisions and perceptions of apartheid left our society with a terrible legacy but they should not be allowed to thrive in our independent Namibia,” he said.
“Therefore, dear students and employees of the University of Namibia at this campus, I urge you to cultivate and accommodate friendship based on mutual respect of one another’s culture, not on the basis of ethnic groupings and similar language orientation. Remember, we are building a ‘Namibian House’,” Mushelenga said.
Mushelenga further encouraged all to introspect their level of cultural awareness and assess their readiness to embrace other cultures as the university soldiers ahead towards building a unified, cohesive, and universal culture that each one will cherish and be proud of Unam.
“We need to be conscious that the delicate peace and stability we enjoy is solely dependent on the way we nurture our diverse cultures, as a society and as a university community,” he stated.
“I have no doubt that the higher we go in terms of educational attainment, the more culturally conscious we become that is and should be ‘our way of life’,” he concluded.