It is not too late for us as a nation to begin defining a national philosophy that will in turn buttress our national consciousness, which we need to move toward a national self-understanding. This exercise would carry President Geingob’s call to unity and collective action.
In the absence of our own brand of collective effort and movement towards our appointment with destiny and history, we are borrowing Jomo Kenyatta’s Harambee, a call to arms during the Mau-Mau revolution in colonial Kenya. The land of the Brave certainly can find its own version of a call to action in unity.
In Rukwangali, we would call such spirit Muzokumwe. The phrase Muzokumwe is closer to what President Geingob is articulating, namely a deliberate and collective movement forward and with a purpose to win. It derives from the verbs: Kuza, which means to go or move forward, and Kuwiza, which means to come or approach. The noun Muzo encapsulates the Mulyo (value or worth) in the action of movement forward or backwards, with a clear purpose or arriving at a destination or achieving desired results.
Kumwe points to unity in all the Bantu languages spoken in Namibia. With Muzokumwe, the nation can only move forward with a purpose and to arrive at Vision 2030 and beyond, with self-confidence, unity and accomplishment. The levers or landing pads of this Muzokumwe (or moving forward in unity) are the following: Agriculture and Food Security: No nation can be proud and compete meaningfully in the international community if it cannot feed its people. Twenty-five years after Independence we are still over-dependent on food coming from South Africa, that is, from white farmers (boere) in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Yet Namibia’s northern hinterlands are capable of producing enough food to feed this small population. It is thus very difficult to understand how we after 25 years have not established cooperatives and self-help centres in all the 14 (plus one) regions to teach people and assist them to grow their own food products, according to their own traditional values and capabilities. This is what India and other Asian countries did. This is why in China anything that does not kill is eaten.
As a matter of urgency, invest in and establish a fully-fledged University of Agriculture and Food Security in Katima Mulilo. This university would attract researchers, faculty and students from all over the SADC region and Afrika, due to the peace and stability and the proximity Katima has to Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola, Zambia, and the Congos. The Unam campus in Okongo would be an extension of the University in Katima, even with a few satellites in other parts of the country.
National Healthcare: According to statistics in the Air Namibia magazine, Flamingo, there are
currently about 700 registered medical practitioners in the country, amongst whom are about 250 medical specialists, and about one medical doctor per 4 000 people. About 90% of all emergencies are treated in Windhoek.
Healthcare provision in Namibia has not changed much for the majority of citizens since Independence. Statistics show that today there is one doctor for every 4 000 citizens. The people in the most remote rural areas have hardly any access to healthcare facilities, so much so that residents of the Zambezi Region have to trek by slow bus to Rundu for referral services, and even Windhoek, for easily treatable diseases.
Today, the hospitals like Rundu and Onandjokwe that used to be of high quality before Independence have become dilapidated due to neglect. Hence those of us who can afford to be sick fill up the Roman Catholic Hospital and MediClinic, whereas the State hospitals ought to be the providers of choice of basic healthcare.
It is not right that pregnant mothers have to take their own linen, and even give birth on the stoeps of State hospitals. Given our small population and the resources at our disposal, we should be saying that there is one doctor for every 1 000 people, or one doctor for every 100 kilometres. It is do-able if we cared enough and managed what we have better, in order to do more with less.
The way is to build upon the foundations of the pre-Independence healthcare – that was meant for white people – to cover all population groups without regard to race, ethnicity or class. Expand the Unam medical school with training facilities in the regions and upgrade the existing hospitals, such as Onandjokwe.
The training strategy should be augmented by two bilateral agreements with former colonial governments, Germany and South Africa, to take a certain number of Namibian students to undergo medical training in those countries at the cost of those countries. If this is done right, there would be at least one medical practitioner per 2 000 citizens or 2 doctors per 200 kilometres throughout the country.
Safety and Security: Namibia is a small nation in terms of its population size and it should be
a very safe place among nations. Part of the raison d’être for the State is to protect and keep safe all its inhabitants. This is why the oath of the Namibian Head of State utters the following solemn undertaking: ‘I will strive to the best of my ability to uphold, protect and defend as the Supreme Law the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia, and faithfully to obey, execute and administer the laws of the Republic of Namibia; That I will protect the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and the material and spiritual resources of the Republic of Namibia; and That I will endeavour to the best of my ability to ensure justice for all the inhabitants of the Republic of Namibia’.
One of the hallmarks of a stable and healthy country is the level of investment the leadership makes in the training of security and defense personnel and infrastructure. Due its vast geographical space, it is challenging for security personnel to reach areas where they are needed in times of emergency. Safety and security in this regard is not only to be prepared for war, but to prevent conflict and obviate conditions that make war as impractical as possible.
The old Romans used to teach: Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war. The ancient Chinese war theoretician, Sun Tzu in his ever seminal war text, The Art of War, taught: ‘To win a war without fighting it is best’.
This lies in creating a civilisation through norms, values and precepts accepted by a critical mass of inhabitants, who in turn sustain peace and stability. A strong base of a Bonum Commune, the common good, is essential to prevent chaos, disorder, lawlessness, operations in silos and the lack of seamlessness that lead to situations wherein the centre fractures and things fall apart. This is the situation that South Africa finds herself in right now.
While Namibia is still a small nation, where there is a great reservoir of peace and cooperation, we ought to start building a culture of believing that an injustice is a cause of war. Those men and women, who have dedicated themselves to defending and protecting the citizens, ought to be looked after well so that they become not only the defenders of the nation, but the custodians of the values of peace and stability.
Men and women in uniform are like teachers and nurses, who ought not to worry about where their families live or where their children will get resources for education. The nation should carry them, just as they carry the safety of the nation. Like the nation made a moral decision to create a war veterans fund to look after those who gave their all for we enjoy today, we must equally care for those who live day and night worrying about our peaceful sleep.
National Youth Development: One of the infamous German leaders of old was once heard
saying: ‘Bring me a few boys and girls and I shall return them as German men and women’. Namibia could do more with just a little more deliberate and serious planning around our youth. They are the future and without them there is no future. We would do well if we were to introduce a national service dispensation for all high school finishers upon completion of high school education.
At that stage of human and mental development all children ought to spend ONE YEAR working in one of the economic sectors in the nation – be it in healthcare, the police, military, agriculture, education, road infrastructure, old-age homes, ministries and Stage agencies – so that they learn something about life before they are admitted to university or polytechnic institutions for further education and training.
This will give them some discipline and a sense of nationhood before they can determine where their skills, strengths and talents are that need to be developed for purposes of personal and national development. Here they learn that young people do not remain young, as the clock of nature goes around unceasingly. Furthermore, that would assist decision-makers not to throw young people too early into too highly paying jobs and deny them the opportunity to grow into professions.
Sports and Recreation: We know enough about our potential to do well in sports if we made more investments in the enterprise. The sad part is that we expect our men and women in sports to bring us honours, whereas we do not carry them all the way to the field. Congratulations must go to our Rugby team, the Welwitschias or Biltongboere, who, with very little, took our flag to Twickenham and locked horns with the best in the world and recorded our presence as a rugby-playing nation.
While we can and while there is a spirit under the leadership of President Geingob, we can unite and establish as a matter of urgency Sports Academies in all the 13 plus 1 regions. This would enable the government to cater for talent identification, talent development and talent management of potential sportsmen and women, who are not academically oriented, but who have the gifts to grow their talent in various sporting codes.
As a matter of urgency the government will build a first ever AFRIKAN INSTITUTE FOR MARATHON STUDIES to be stationed in Tsumkwe, which will attract athletes from Afrika, who want to hone their skills in long-distance running. There is such a surplus of able-bodied young Namibians who can be put to good use with the appropriate interventions geared towards development.
In addition, there ought to be at least three centres in the country for developing sports careers of physically challenged athletes. After all, it took Johanna Benson and Johannes Nambala to exhibit our ability to win gold in international sports. Just imagine if we put more resources and efforts towards developing these golden Namibians.
The government ought to enter into partnership with private sector entities and compatible international agencies to create a fund for sports administration and management in the country now and in the short and long terms. This body would generate funds to look after professional sports men and women, who must be relieved from full-time employment to concentrate on their sports careers.
They say there can be no success, but in the spirit of Muzokumwe let us move in unison together as a nation.
(To be continued…)