Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro
WHEN we turned 20 years, as indeed I have been reflecting with every birthday anniversary of our Statehood, there could be no doubt about the cause for celebrating our independence. Even be it for the single reason of having on March 21, 1990, lowered the colonial South African flag to replace it with our own. Certainly this flag denoting our political or symbolic independence, however you may see it, is as much pivotal as any other kind or type of independence anyone may perceive. Especially economic independence for which as yet we have to work with the necessary conviction, vigour, willpower and determination in terms of achieving.
That is for those of us who still believe that the symbolic flag and political independence that we have attained on independence day is not intrinsic to itself but should be instrumental towards the attainment of many rights and freedoms, whether in a theoretical sense or in a practical material sense. That is why on the eve of our 20th independence anniversary I postulated that next time around when we are celebrating our independence anniversary, we must be bolder about the progress that we think we have made, and that the cause for celebrating should thus be justified not only in terms of the political independence only. But also in terms of real progress made socio-economically, foremost, as well as in other spheres like culture. This progress must not just be imagined but must be tangible, if you like, and/or measurable. In this sense various instances, national as well as international and reputable ones, testify to various measurable milestones that we have been able to achieve. One such is the World Bank that most recently affirmed Namibia’s economic progress albeit that in terms of the equal distribution of benefits from such economic progress our country remains suspect. The international verdict in terms of the country’s performance in the tourism industry has also been resounding. In terms of media freedom we are ranked first on the continent and for some time since independence, on this score, we have been on top of the world log, and the very top in Africa. In the world league we have even been beating some established western democracies to whom media freedom must and should by now come natural and as a matter of established culture.
But all such good and favourable accolades and indicators cannot be intrinsic in themselves but must eventually have a trickle-down effect. And this is where the problem is. The excuse given most often by our political principals for the glaring inequalities in the country is that the national cake is not big enough to take care of such inequalities, partly a factor of colonial legacies of the unequal distribution of the national resources of the country, but also now self-perpetuated because of the rampant greed, inefficiency, maladministration and misappropriation and misapplication of such resources that seem now to be a norm and culture within an independent Namibia.
Not also to mention ill-defined programmes, let alone lack of a clear development vision and mission, if not lack of a clear ideological philosophy to underpin our economic reconstruction, if not its total overhaul. Such lack of an ideological philosophy seems to be the biggest nemesis towards real economic progress because whatever grand development plans we may have in place are not defined by any ideological clarity but seem more a matter of trial and error.
As we celebrate our 24th independence anniversary, the verdict that seems to be coming from the streets and from civil society and the ordinary folk in terms of the performance of some of the key areas of government are mixed. Like in health and education. While there are acknowledgements that important milestones have been reached in these sectors there remain big challenges that seem even to negate if not altogether obliterate the milestones that have been reached.
“Our public schools are faced by many challenges, from personal problems at school level to bureaucracy at regional levels, lack of accountability and lack of strategic planning; all these things are affecting the delivery of quality services in our schools. The ministry has good plans on paper but the challenge is implementation,” opines the National Students Organisation (Nanso) president, Timotheus Angala, in an article on education which appears in our independence anniversary supplement. As much our health sector does not seem to inspire a very clean bill of health. “It is tough for people from my village to get to the clinic or hospital as we are far away from the facilities, people have to walk long distances to Mupini clinic, which is 25 kilometres away or if lucky the patient can be pulled in a sledge by cattle. We have no telephone network to call the clinic or hospital for emergency medical assistance, we are more than 500 people in our village and more in the surroundings but we still don’t have a clinic and pregnant women suffer a lot, and most don’t go for required checkups as they are discouraged by the distance. They even give birth at home and if they are lucky they might get a hike from a passerby,” comments one Hausikua foreman at Nkutu village in the Rundu Rural constituency, Kavango West about the delivery of health services in his area.
More often than not our political principals have been harping on the peace and stability that we have been enjoying since independence. And I am not sure whether this is accompanied by the requisite harmony and tranquillity. Not in the face of the killings that seem increasingly to be becoming a societal concern, as opposed to national. Societal as opposed to national because as yet one cannot with certainty speak of a Namibian nation at least until our “My Pride, My Country” campaign bears the necessary fruit in terms of fomenting and fostering that illusive entity called a Namibian nation.
But surely these are no reasons why we cannot pause and celebrate with the hindsight that a lot still needs to be done to ensure that the many wretched of the Namibian earth also equally enjoy the fruits of independence rather than being satisfied with the crumbs falling from the tables of the few privileged but who are supposed to be the servants of the people.