Focus

When schools and higher education institutions were closed two weeks ago because of the deadly Coronavirus that has ravaged the whole world, little or no preparation was made to keep learners and students focused on their books.

On 21 March 2020, Namibia will clock 30 years of independence, shrouded in secrecy of torture and disappearances of many Namibians in Lubango dungeons of Angola. Many of the victims of this horrendous chapter in the Namibian liberation history were unfortunate for not accorded fair hearing and decent burials appropriate for heroes. Shockingly it has been a taboo to talk about those dark hours of the dungeons, as it would be opening old wounds.

Walls and bridges represent different functional and symbolic meanings. Walls represent barriers and bridges stand for connection, opening and passage. Bridges are meant to connect people and places, whereas walls are meant to prevent/block entry by unwanted outsiders or even animals. The Berlin Wall was meant to separate the two former Germanys East and West because of the ideological divide of the time. 

In an opinion piece published in the New Era newspaper of 6 March 2020, under the abovementioned title, the three gentlemen responded to my critique of their original piece (The Namibian, 20 December 2019).  In their response, they showed respect and I return that courtesy. 

The invisible coronavirus has reached Namibian shores after leaving a trail of devastation in China, Europe and the world at large. In Namibia, priority should be on protecting lives and saving our economy. The main emphasis should be on containing and mitigating the disease itself. President Geingob demonstrated decisive leadership on managing Covid-19 and this offers hope to control its impact.  

Now that we are celebrating 30 years of independence of our country it may be important to just briefly reflect on some issues of those years, particularly what still persistently and disturbingly are still haunting us.

Today, when the young and the born-free, those born after Namibia’s independence in 1990, enrol at schools and institutions of their choices, little does it come to their minds that it was not as easy as that during the years of colonialism and apartheid. Today, black and white students enrol for degree programmes such as medicine, law, engineering, humanities, social sciences, pure sciences and education at higher education institutions without segregation.  They do this at will depending on their passes at high school level.