Swapo, the sole custodian of the Namibian revolution that brought about independence, had a tough week. This after three members of the its youth wing had demarcated land in Windhoek’s leafy suburb of Kleine Kuppe last Sunday.
The youth claim their action was in reaction to the shenanigans surrounding the allocation of land by the City of Windhoek, in a manner that drew condemnation by Swapo and the government last week Thursday.
The ideals of the Namibian revolution are in the evening of their lives and Swapo, as the authentic driver of that revolution, must resurrect such ideals.
Molded in the crucible of nationalism politics, Swapo emerged as the surviving face of African nationalism radicalised through armed resistance to settler colonialism.
It is this dimension of generational politics, this trait of character, that the detractors of our revolution were unable to dispel with ease.
Swapo was more than just a movement. It was committed to a cause. A cause for equality, freedom and justice.
Upon hearing that Swapo were the winners of the first democratic elections in 1989, Namibians were branded stupid for handing the ruling mandate to what was regarded as a bunch of terrorists who ate human flesh.
Nobody could picture a Namibia under Swapo’s governance because, with their inexperience in administrating a nation, it was firmly believed that the country will be plunged into further poverty, anarchy and maladministration.
What continued to confound our detractors to date is that Namibia has continued to grow in leaps and bounds, both economically and politically.
But while our success as a country stretches across many facets of society, land remains at the centre of displeasure among many citizens.
History still owes us answers to the tough question of land. Despoiled of our land through a series of racial colonial measures, Swapo inherited a country with a heavily skewed land ownership.
A small population of whites owned nearly the entire arable land in the country. This was a slap in the face of the 27-year revolution that Swapo has led, and something had to be done to ensure that the sacrifices made by the sons and daughters of the Namibian soil – for nearly three decades – do not go to waste.
Swapo approached the land issue with utmost care and sensitivity and you have to give the former liberation movement credit for its conservative approach.
If recklessly handled, the issue of land could have plunged this country into total anarchy and chaos as has been observed elsewhere in African and indeed the world beyond.
It is sad, however, that while Swapo as a collective has been careful about the manner its government handles land, some of its officials have been reckless in its allocation.
The selective allocation of land to cronies, political friends and drinking-mates, in full view of the landless masses, poses a serious threat of anarchy than meets the eye.
Illegal occupation of land has been a regular occurrence in Windhoek, especially in the high-density area of Katutura where the poor and the low tier of the working class reside.
Such land grabs have often been treated in isolation, while ignoring the underlying factors that have driven even the most obedient citizens into taking law into their own hands.
Amupanda has paid the price of his irregular occupation of land in Klein Kuppe. But whether his suspension is eventually lifted or he is expelled from Swapo, truth remains that there’s need for radical interventions in resolving the land issue in our country. And this should be resolved as a matter of urgency.
The peace that Namibians are enjoying today as a result of Swapo’s revolutionary fortitude should be jealously guarded. To many landless Namibians out there, it’s either homeland or death.