By Joseph Diescho
AN Afrikan proverb goes: ‘You do not test the depth of the river water with both your feet.’ What was anticipated to be a formula to bring about a solution in managing the politics of our diversity by the leading political party, SWAPO, has set in motion a whole host of conversations everywhere regarding where the country is going and who is going to steward the long march to Vision 2030. The champions of the 50/50 gender balance rhetoric have been left so stunned by the outcome that they are now looking for intelligible explanations for what was not anticipated. It would appear that SWAPO has more problems now than before the so-called panacea of gender balance was pretty much prescribed as non-negotiable. The attainment of the 50/50 quota prescription seems to be one step forward and three steps backwards. The outcome of the Pot Politics has clearly disfigured the top of the national leadership as we have known it since independence in 1990. The SWAPO leadership in the National Assembly and Cabinet that we will see next year, that is if the results of the electoral congress of last month is anything to go by, will be saddled with an unrecognizable, intensely mediocre and very ineffectual SWAPO leadership altogether to steward not only the House of Assembly but to steer the direction of socio-economic development toward the grand vision of 2030 about which the new leadership will know nothing or very little.
It is about time that those who consider themselves good citizens and in good standing with the values, and principles upon which this Republic was built, admit that the words coming from the majority of the people who care about SWAPO and who dare to voice an opinion suggest that the stability of our nation is at a crossroads.
The Land of the Brave, which has enjoyed peace and stability unprecedented on the Afrikan Continent, is entering a phase in its nation building trajectory unlike any other time since the dawn of democracy. Perhaps we have taken too much for granted in respect of how much we ‘had it good’ in this country over the last 25 years. We forget that this excellent state of affairs of peace and stability is thanks to the maturity of the leadership that put in place the foundations for a political and socio-economic system in the country. At the helm of the leadership that created this system we all enjoy today stood SWAPO, to be exact, beginning with the calibre of the members of the first National Assembly and Cabinet that the Founding President stewarded, at times through stormy waters.
The second-to-none leadership Namibia was blessed with since independence exemplified the following qualities, to say the least: (a) The leaders were role models of what the struggle for liberation was about and what Namibia could become as a leading nation in the SADC region, in Afrika and in the world. Young Namibians anywhere were proud of their leaders and looked up to them as icons to emulate because of what they represented, even the manner in which they comported themselves as in exceptional ways as the first class of the Republic’s national leaders. They had presence, stature, knowledge of the world and a keen sensibility to the issues of national interests and the development of One Namibia One Nation, such that people never felt shame or anxiety when a cabinet minister was to act or speak in their name inside and outside; (b) all Namibians, regardless of race, creed or political persuasion felt comforted and protected by any of the Cabinet Ministers standing in their name anywhere in the world and anytime; and (c) all Namibians felt at ease to defer their fate into the hands of their leaders because these leaders did not lack in education, experience, social standing and clout such that no one was anxious that they would embarrass the nation when representing the nation as custodians of the country’s values, national interest, and progressive vision.
It does not matter where one sits right now, the constant refrain everyone hears after the SWAPO Pot Politics electoral indaba is shock, disbelief and anxiety. Good citizens, including the most ardent SWAPO loyalists shake their heads in wonderment whenever the discussions of the leadership that emerged from the pot come up. They express their dismay not out of disrespect for those who emerged victorious from the boiling Pot at the Safari Hotel, but in the spirit that SWAPO could have done better had leaders thought through the issues by way of scenario planning. In the 21st century political world, better leaders theorise with possible scenarios that might emerge out of dynamic processes and develop Plans A, B and C for unforeseen outcomes and how to tackle unfavourable consequences. It does not appear that scenario planning was exercised here during the preparations and as a consequence, there is no clear direction on the way forward, save to try and locate the errors in past unfortunate intra-party experiences. This compromises continuity with change, and is clearly NOT good for the country that needs SWAPO’s leadership.
The Pot Politics produced one result. We got the 50/50 gender balance in the ruling party alright, but not much else to bespeak where the country is going. By all accounts the solution that the 50/50 gender balance brought created more problems in the nation’s body politic generally and for SWAPO specifically as the most important political party in the nation. The nation’s nervousness has to do with our dependency on SWAPO. The ‘gender thing’ as most people are now referring to it, seemed to have cheapened politics and reduced national development thinking to only one of the many markers of our diversity and strengths – male or female. The gender thing shows how little thinking went on to such an extent that (a) one of the party structures, namely the SWAPO Women’s Council remains one hundred percent female, which is a violation of the resolution that all party structures must abide by the gender balance; (b) no preparatory homework was done to retain an appropriate mix between age with experience on the one hand and youth on the other; and (c) sufficient spade work ought to have been done to make sure that quality was not sacrificed on the altar of gender political correctness.
The project of nation building along democratic values can certainly not be reduced to simple gender equality. The issues of development are vast and complex, and require clear thinking leadership and process management. Nation building requires deliberate efforts of establishing the self-evident values and beliefs upon which the nation’s systems are premised. These beliefs and values are the yardsticks by which people go through as rites of passage to get to the top of national leadership. In other words, it should not be easy to rise to positions of national leadership without demonstrating that one is a good citizen in line with these national values, not just as a loyal member of some political party and good at sloganeering. It would appear that in the ruling party this time around, there were no other standards to rise to the top except to be a boy or a girl and fill the quotas. If the most important marker of becoming a leader is just to be a man or woman in the right place at the right time, then the nation will face huge problems on our way to Vision 2030! We cannot say that any Tangeni and Kasiku can lead in Namibia as long as they stand next to someone of the opposite sex.
Even if all the political parties contesting this year for governmental functions attained the 50/50 gender balance, there will still be no guarantee that issues of national development will be addressed substantively, not by the looks of the leadership list that the most significant party had produced. One begins to wonder whether what we are experiencing is really about determining leadership or a consequence of mob psychology and the unthinkingness that goes with it. One of the consequences of mob psychology is that those who rise to the top suffer great inferiority complex such they are likely to become intolerant to dissenting positions, and have a proclivity to loot from the meagre resources of the nation because they are not sure how long they will stay where they are with access to such resources. Ignorance is NOT good company for a leader. One theorist argued many years ago that ignorance in power is more dangerous than wickedness in informed hands.
Saying this is not in any way a sign of disrespect to those who rose through the pot, but to express a love for the country beyond individuals. It is the country and its people we must think about, not just ourselves and what we can gain. Our nation deserves more and is entitled to get better leaders who know how to navigate the difficult road ahead in this day and age.
In better functioning democracies and economic systems that are advancing in the world, leaders emerge through the structures that require certain characteristics such as education, long service in smaller set-ups such as a law, business, regional government or diplomatic posting before individuals can aspire to rise to the top. Systems that cohere require of their leaders to go though some process of individual moulding, coaching and value-based capacity building as rites of passage from being the most junior to the commander. A novice goes through mentoring and socialization to understand and internalise the fundamental and self-evident values and ethics around which the nation coalesce in its search for maturity and better collective well-being.
There ought to be more standards to assist individuals to rise to high positions of leadership in the nation. Experience at a smaller scale for starters can help take on bigger issues. Above average literacy, numeracy and computing and the completion of higher education should be a standard to leadership. If education was not that important, then we may as well bring traditional leaders to the National Assembly as legislators and cabinet ministers. They would at least build palaces in their birth villages for relatives in their extended families. Proficiency in the English language ought to be a requirement in a country where English is the only official language. Otherwise contributions of well-intended individuals get lost in the translation or in the silence of members who open their mouths only when they eat.
We move forward by saluting the ruling party for championing a very noble and progressive agenda of gender equality, in spite of the difficulties it has unleashed, by sympathising with the ruling party in the dilemma it finds itself in while offering to assist in the healing of the self-inflicted wounds. The ruling party meant well but in the haste entered the snake pit with both its eyes wide open and the snake spat in the eyes which are now struggling to see a way out. Our next President, who is saddled with the current list from which to appoint the next most senior national leaders, deserves the support of all of us in this difficult challenge. In all honesty, some of the people on the list are simply not fit for the National Assembly or Cabinet, if the interests of the nation are to feature in the selection. We move forward as a family, with a remembrance that we have come this far by the foresight and sacrifice of those we now consider old and redundant. We move forward by remembering that the skirmishes and hiccups in the last 25 years are growing pains in our fast maturing democracy. As members of the same family, our differences here and there and from time to time are reminders that we must return to the fundamental values of our Republic, namely that this country, in its zebra colours, belongs to all who live in it—with equal rights and obligations. We move forward by being mindful that we never came into this world, into this country by party, but as human beings with a duty of care towards one another. The youth of Namibia need not be in a hurry, but pause and show grace to those who made it possible for us today to live in the most peaceful, most stable country on the Afrikan continent. For what it is worth, the youth ought to heed the poignant words of Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth: ‘Each generation must out of relative obscurity discover its own mission, fulfil it, or betray it.’