Thought Leaders

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.

Ideally, we are living in a time where awareness about gender equality is at the focal point of almost every debate. We are not short of ideas and institutions that advocate for the leverage of equality among human beings of all nature. In fact, a democratic country like Namibia is never a disgrace to its people especially women and human right remains its first priority. Meanwhile, the issue of feminism is still puzzling inquisitive minds, and we often reject being feminist consciously or unconsciously.  

Grönvik, in his work on definition of disability in the social sciences displays a photograph of a body, with the person’s head and face cut off, in a wheelchair at the bottom of a flight of stairs, and then proceeds to explain that the photography could be seen to reflect no less than five conceptions of disability.

March 7 2020 will go into the annals of the history of Zimbabwe as a special day when women all over the world prayed for the woes this beautiful southern African country is facing to come to an end. It was therefore befitting and in line for Namibian women to organize a prayer for Zimbabwe at the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Khomasdal, Windhoek last Saturday.

We are grateful for the constructive response from Gerson Tjihenuna (‘A rejoinder to a joint piece by Whitaker, Boesak and Van Wyk’, New Era, 13 January 2020) to our article that appeared in the people’s paper (‘Namibia Post-Swapo’, The Namibian, 20 December 2019.

Namibia is a democratic country and each member of the civil society needs to feel valued for being a meaningful member of society. For people to feel they are valued and their rights are recognised, their indigenous languages must be recognised and valued in society.

Namibia has seen the level of violence against women rise to unimaginable levels. Knives pierce through the hearts of women as they pierce through the hearts of goats and sheep at slaughterhouses. Women have had their heads chopped off as the chickens have had theirs chopped off for the festivities of humanity.

At one point in our lives, we all experience trials and tribulations. These trials and tribulations might be because of our own shortcomings, some oversight on some legal technicalities, or simply trumped-up charges that will leave us at the mercy of justice. In some cases, sheer miscarriage of justice lends many people in trouble.