Dorthea Nangolo (22) is the new Namibia National Students Organisation’s president. 

Under Nangolo’s stewardship, the newly-elected Nanso leadership poured cold water over assertions that the organisation has become a shadow of its former self. 

They dismissed claims that Nanso is politically-compromised, and has lost its moral compass. 

Nangolo yesterday said those still longing to see the student movement resolving all its issues through toyi-toying and burning tyres on the streets must wake up and smell the coffee. 

Times and conditions have changed, she  said while briefing the media on the outcomes of the organisation’s 18th elective congress that was recently held at Dobra on the outskirts of Windhoek, where a new 16-member executive committee was elected to steer Nanso’s strategic and policy outlook. 

New era 

While many former Nanso leaders have been calling for the organisation to regain its radicalness and make student activism fashionable again, Nangolo is of the opinion that student issues and the economic conditions of 1984 when Nanso was founded are diametrically different from the issues of today. 

“We remain an apolitical student organisation and remain the largest and most relevant student body in the country. Look, people must understand that the Nanso of 1984 had its own generational mission to accomplish, and our country’s independence and bad student conditions and a skewed education system were amongst the biggest issues at the time. But today, we are able to address student problems through dialogue and sit down with the relevant authorities. But if our cries continue to fall on deaf ears, a time will come when we will have to take it to the streets and have our voices heard by those in power. So, people should not underestimate the power and relevance of today’s Nanso,” Nangolo, a firebrand student politician said.  

Nangolo further called on fellow young student leaders to remain vigilant and focused on contemporary student grievances, and not get carried away by the ‘hangover’ from the activities and radicalness of the Nanso of yesteryear. 

Resolutions

Turning her attention to the resolutions taken at the organisation’s recent 18th elective indaba, Nangolo said going forward, Nanso will make it its sole mission to methodically revolutionise the state and outlook of the country’s education sector through radical reforms. 

As a new leadership, one of their key priorities is to see serious reforms at the Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF). 

The student organisation of the fervent position that NSFAF has deviated from its core mandate and has now become an impediment to the lives and wellbeing of students. 

“Nanso’s resolution 16 from our congress boldly asserts that demanding students to repay loans with interest contradicts the constitutional principle that education is a fundamental right. In today’s challenging economic climate, where graduates face significant hurdles in securing meaningful employment, this financial burden is unjust. We demand that the line ministry promptly adopts our resolution 16 and transform NSFAF loans into grants. If not that, we the student will not pay back those loans. That should be very clear to all and all students must take this message seriously; no one should pay back NSFAF loans until they are turned into grants,” she added. 

Education levy 

One of the biggest question on naysayers and free education critics’ lips has been how freed education from primary to tertiary level would be finance, amid other competing national needs. 

Nanso has a solution, it seems. 

It was also resolved that government should urgently introduce an education levy that will help establish a consistent and effective module of funding the country’s education sector. 

“This levy must ensure that higher education becomes affordable, if not entirely free, to all Namibian students. Our nation’s abundant mineral and natural resources must be harnessed to fund this initiative. We assert that no student with the desire and ambition to further their studies should ever be left behind. This is a non-negotiable imperative and we stand united in our demand for immediate and decisive action on the proposed education levy.”

Accommodation 

Reigning supreme on Nanso’s agenda student accommodation. 

The student movement’s leadership took issue with the delayed construction and finalisation of the long-waited student village, which is expected to accommodate thousands of destitute students from various institutions of higher education. 

A shortage of on-campus accommodation remains a huge crisis, with many students forced to rent rooms and flats at exorbitant prices in neighbours near their respective universities.

“Since2020, government has been promising to construct a student village to help alleviate pressure on students and as a recently as 2022, government again assured that there is a budget set aside for it, but nothing has happened to date. Our congress resolved that we would give government until 2026 to construct and handover that facilities to struggling students to move in, otherwise we will be forced to consider other alternatives to ensure that our grievances is put forth,” added Nangolo, who said there is a growing need for rent at student accommodation facilities to be regulated. 

Construction was supposed to start last year already, but Nanso is worried by government’s deafening silence on the progress of the planned student village, Nangolo said.

“The last we heard was that lad had been acquired and that construction was set to start once funds are received from treasury. But now government is quiet, and we do not know what the way forward is. But they have until 2026 to handover that facility,” she said. 

Register to vote

Nangolo concluded by urging all students to go out and register to vote in the upcoming election, as only through voting can they shape the conditions and future of the country’s education fraternity. 

“This is not just a right but a duty to shape the future of our nation. We as the youth are the majority and together, we will ensure our collective aspirations are represented and realised at the highest levels of governance,” urged Nangolo.

Nangolo 

Born in Oshana’s capital, Oshakati, Nangolo  

becomes the third female to occupy the once coveted and highly sought-after position in not only student but also national politics, for when Nanso sneezed back in the day, Namibia caught the flu. 

She is a final year law student at the University of Namibia. 

Asked what fuels her passion for student affairs, she said: “What keeps me going is seeing the impact of our work as an organisation in students’ lives. My biggest goal is to achieve free education in our lifetime. We would want to see students who could not afford to study law, medicine or any other field making their dreams which were impossible possible, because of free education.” 

Nangolo previously served as Nanso’s spokesperson.  

-ohembapu@nepc.com.na

(NANSO)

Caption: Apolitical… The newly elected Nanso president Dorthea Nangolo has maintained that the organisation remains apolitical and fully vested in student affairs. 

Photo: Heather Erdman