It is unfair and outright stupid for one to blame others for not fully meeting the expectations of one when it comes to addressing national socio-economic issues in their entirety. Yes, challenges such as those related to grand corruption, mismanagement, poor planning, lack of accountability and poor prioritisation, etc. have most probably contributed to hampering well-meaning developmental initiatives that were aimed at improving the welfare of citizens over the years. However, a bit more insight is required for one to consider before erroneously running to quick conclusions and blaming others unnecessarily.
This piece of writing draws on analogies involving the history of scientific discoveries and inventions to put its arguments in a local political context. For science to be where it is today, with all the modern electronics and different technological advancements, it took a long struggle against all odds of philosophies, experimentations, trials and errors, theory developments, guesswork, failures, disappointments, tragedies, etc.
But even with the level of science success that is witnessed today, science is still having a long way to go before its mission is fully attained – whatever that mission might entail. Therefore, the history of political and economic struggle in Namibia and much of Southern Africa must be seen in that context. History teaches its disciples that Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi, Chief Samuel Maharero, King Nehale lya Mpingana, King Mandume ya Ndemufayo, King Ipumbu ya Tshilongo and many brave men and women at their time were the early anti-colonial resistors. In the face of the enormous problems and challenges that they faced at their time, these anti-colonial resistors have done their part, and they have laid a strong foundation upon which those who followed them could improve on.
They have done the best they could do within the limits of their knowledge and capacities. Therefore, it is unfair and outright stupid to blame these early anti-colonial resistors for not fully uniting the Namibian people and coming up with a national Constitution, for example. Similar comparisons can be made with the history of philosophy and science, the early philosophers and scientists included – people like Socrates, Aristotle, Confucius and a bit later Galileo Galilei, Sir Isaac Newton and many other brilliant minds at their time.
In the face of the enormous problems and challenges that they faced at their time, these philosophers and scientists have done their part and they have laid a strong foundation upon which those who followed them could improve on. They have done the best they could do within the limits of their knowledge and capacities. How can one, in their right state of mind, blame Sir Isaac Newton for not sending people to the moon, for example? History further teaches its disciples that Anna Mungunda, Nelson Mandela (on the other side of the Orange River), Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, Sam Nujoma, Robert Mugabe, Kenneth Kaunda, and many brave men and women at their time were the freedom fighters who bravely confronted the minority-rule system. In the face of the enormous problems and challenges that they faced at their time, these freedom fighters have done their part, and they have laid a strong foundation upon which those who followed them could improve on. They have done the best they could do within the limits of their knowledge and capacities. Looking at science, people like Thomas Edison, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Albert Einstein, and many other brilliant minds at their time have done their parts. How can one, in their right states of mind, blame Einstein for not founding Facebook or Google, for example? The ball is now in the courts of the current generations to do their parts. Therefore, instead of blaming others for not doing enough, the current generations must innovate creative ideas and come up with practical solutions to contribute to solving the issues facing society today. The blame game is not progressive.