Thought Leaders

How the media frames an issue can and do have priming effects.  In other words, the media as it did at the onset of the HIV/Aids pandemic by framing it as the gay plague, as a death sentence once contracted etc, can promote a stigmatising attitude, widespread panic and fear resulting in people coming up with bizarre solutions like sleeping with babies, virgins and what have you that served to compound rather than solve the problem.

Deadly pandemics and epidemics, caused by viruses and bacteria, are part of human history. Spectacular examples include: the Plague of Justinian during 541-542 (30-50 million deaths); Bubonic Plague/Black Death during 1347-1351 (200 million deaths); Smallpox in 1520 (56 million deaths); The Third Plague in 1855 (12 million deaths), and the Spanish Flu in 1918-1919 (40-50 million deaths). 

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.

Last week Saturday, large groups of manifestly one tribal youth sections upped the game by demanding the immediate stepping down of President Hage Geingob, in a tribal manner which left no doubt that they are a tribal grouping seeking the ouster of a democratically elected leader simply because he is not of their origin.