Tribalism continues to be a serious concern in Namibia, and it is every citizen’s duty to combat this growing scourge.
In a multi-ethnic society like ours, winning the war against tribalism requires the commitment of every citizen.
We must, however, hasten to state that the prevalence of ethnic diversity in our country is not to be blamed for simmering tribalism, but rather the use of identity politics to promote narrow tribal interests. Patronage too can add fuel to the flames of tribalism.
President Hage Geingob, speaking in Grootfontein earlier this week, reminded the nation about the dangers of tribalism. He urged all of us to condemn triablists with the contempt they deserve.
There are those who argue that tribalism is a result of arbitrary post-colonial boundaries that force different communities to live within artificial borders.
Maybe there is truth to this and authorities must step in to help arrest the situation. In Windhoek, for example, we continue to have – in Katutura – Wambo Lokasie, Herero Lokasie, Nama Teen, ‘Herero Mall’ and all these establishments that help people to be more tribally conscious than being nationalists.
Indeed, government has done little for 26 years to deal with such boundaries, created by the apartheid regime as part of its divide-and-rule tactics. Part of this strategy was to create animosity among native tribes so that they do not join hands to wage a common war against the coloniser.
Sadly, we failed to rename those areas and residents have developed a tribal sense that only their tribe should live in those locations.
Instead, we have cemented a feeling that every ethnic community should have its own territory, which reinforces ethnic competition.
The advancement of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter has helped provide turfs for cyber tribal wars – including regular attacks on people like Geingob himself because of his tribal origins.
Perhaps this should be a wake-up call to our legislature to speed up the enactment of the mooted cyber law that will inject order and restraint in the use of social media. It is our hope that the said law will help rein in racism and tribalism which have become regular content on Facebook and Twitter accounts of Namibians.
Kenya’s 2007-08 post-election violence revealed the extent to which tribal forces can quickly bring a country to the brink of civil war. The confrontations were so deadly that even current president Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for those killings.
Tribalism is so rife in our country that even political parties, with the exception of one or two, are tribally constituted.
But in the absence of efforts to build genuine political parties that compete on the basis of ideas, many African countries have reverted to tribal identities as foundations for political competition.
Leaders often exploit tribal loyalty to advance personal gain, parochial interests, patronage, and cronyism. Namibia cannot afford to sustain a society like that.
Talking about tribalism without pursuing a practical, sustainable intervention to combat it, is a waste of our country’s precious time.
Multi-sectoral stakeholders must sit around the table and hammer out a nationwide strategy to solidify relations between all tribal groups and instil a spirit of patriotism that enables all of us to see each other beyond our tribal identities.