By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK
A Bank Windhoek Summer Festival commissioned play, Comrade Head of State, will be performed next weekend at the Warehouse Theatre.
In a statement by Hombrewed Poductions, the playwright gives an overview of his stage work that will also be judged with many other plays for top honours in the bi-annual Theatre Zone Theatre competition in November.
It is the year 2030 and Namibia is enjoying 40 years of freedom and independence.
The current President, Nghinukilwa ya Mundilo, is a 65-year-old former Swapo soldier who, aged 19, joined the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan) in 1984.
Nghinukilwa ya Mundilo had played his cards very well, keeping a low, but strategic profile during the years before independence when he was a young Swapo soldier, through the early independence era under Founding President Nujoma and then that of President Pohamba.
And now, after having climbed the political and leadership ladder, first serving as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s first cabinet, and afterwards as Minister of Information and Foreign Affairs in his predecessor Sara Kuugongelwa’s government, Comrade Ya Mundilo is now finally firmly at the helm as Head of State!
So, what happens now?
President Ya Mundilo has just moved into State House and is determined to make his Presidency the best thing that has ever happened to Namibia. He has the right track record – he is a liberation struggle veteran, has served under three presidencies, has the grassroots’ support.
The main driving force behind Ya Mundilo is that he is disappointed in the fact that all the good policies such as Vision 2030, the National Development Plans 1 – 4 and the Millennium Development Goals that his predecessors’ governments promised to implement came and passed without any real significant changes in the Namibian people’s living standards.
And now the time has come for remedial action. Nghinukilwa ya Mundilo has made a promise that during his time in office, empty promises would become things of the past. Namibia is still well-endowed with natural minerals and other resources and each and every Namibian citizen deserves better.
Poverty has no time and place in Namibia!
As the play starts, President Nghinukilwa ya Mundilo had just convened a strategic planning meeting at State House. In attendance is the team he had identified as his close confidantes and advisers.
They are Minister of Trade and Economic Affairs, NICOLA DE WE; TOUROB DAMASEB – Deputy President; and President Ya Mundilo’ best friend, MR GOAN !HOE’MAB – Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. !Hoe’mab is also the only San person in the cabinet, DR GERT LABUSCHAGNE who is Finance Minister and the only whitey in Ya Mundilo’s cabinet; and MRS KAPINDIKE MBAINDJIKWA – Minister of Arts, Culture and Broadcasting, who is the only Himba member of cabinet.
The agenda? “How do we turn Namibia into a paradise on earth?”
President Ya Mundilo is a man with many brilliant ideas and plans for Namibia. One such brilliant idea is to have the Bank of Namibia print stashes of Namibian Pound notes as well as millions more in coins.
Yes, people, since ten years now, the currency is no longer known as “Namibia Dollar” but as Namibia Pound. And oh, yes. Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi’s stern stare is now replaced with that of the smiling handsome face of none other than the Founding President and Father of the Nation himself!
And why does Comrade Head of State Ya Mundilo want stashes of money printed, well, since the formation of the Namibian State the excuse has always been, “there is no money for this or that.” So, there you have it. This excuse, no more! And to get to know more about Comrade Head of State’s other “brilliant plans”, make a date on at least one of these days, 20th, 21st and 22 September 2007 at the Warehouse Theatre.
Doors open at 20h00 and the show starts at 21h00. Tickets are N$40 in advance and N$50 at the door.