There is a greater propensity for foreign students in a foreign country to gravitate toward one another. This was indeed the case for us in 2011 at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Dr. Gideon Niitenge, now the ELCIN Presiding Bishop, was at the time studying toward his PhD in Theology. During one of our discussions,...
The January trial of the 1896 Redline case demonstrated that if colonialism in Namibia was in an accident called independence, it only sustained minor scratches. These were easily fixed at Lady Pohamba Private Hospital. In 1971, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah told Africans that “while a racist social structure is not inherent in the colonial situation, it...
“Even the highest office in the land can be challenged.” In 2006, I came to the University of Namibia (Unam) to read for my first degree – Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Studies. Although I was accustomed to student leadership, having become a deputy head boy at Iipumbu SSS at 14, leading 20-year-olds,...
Ten years ago, Tobie Aupindi, then a businessman before he became a Member of Parliament, had a prediction of the future of the youth inside Swapo. He concluded that the future Swapo Party Youth League leadership will have no choice but to be docile given what had happened to our militant and radical leadership. At...
In April this year, I wrote an article bemoaning the speed at which we seem to be lowering standards and embracing mediocrity in public institutions. That article, titled ‘Developmental State, Meritocracy and Minimum Requirements’ had these important lines: “Our country has subordinated meritocracy in preference of irrational and irrelevant considerations. Ordinary Namibians are aware that...
Imagine, a week after the 27 November elections, and Namibians have elected their president. When the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) announced the results, the president-elect is chilled at Omaalala. Will the State rush to the village to guard the president-in-waiting? If so, will this be done for four months until 21 March 2025? Through...
It will all become clear in the fullness of time, as they say.
The concept of ‘original sin’ became more pronounced in the Christian doctrine in the 16th century, where it was argued that human beings are born with some urge to commit evil or disobey God.
How does Jamaica, a small island 70 times smaller than Namibia and without major minerals, manage to get things right?
In 2006, I enrolled for my first degree at the University of Namibia. The Dean of Students was current higher education minister Itah Kandjii-Murangi. Because of my high school student leadership background, I took keen interest in student politics. In that year, there was a thorny issue of compulsory breakfast, where the university charged students even when they did not eat breakfast.