Modestus Kasoma Kupembona
More than15 African countries, including Namibia, go to the polls in 2024. Recently, we observed that in the Southern African Development Community, South Africa’s former liberation movement, the African National Congress, the glorious party of Oliver Tambo, lost its sole mandate to govern.
With such election results, the electorate in South Africa understood that in a democracy, governments come and go, whereas the administration of the state remains permanently.
They lived up to the words of their founding president Nelson Mandela, who said:
“If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government.”
According to the calendar of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN), Presidential and National Assembly elections are set to take place in November, while general voter registration is ongoing until 1 August 2024.
Many Namibians died in pursuit of a democratic government, which is said to be the best kind of government that ensures the active participation of people, and gives citizens a chance to choose their government.
In 34 years of independence, Namibians have experienced politics of power rather than taking people out of bondage. Politicians have embarked on their unscrupulous campaigns of lies, deception, hate and slander as they canvass for votes from ordinary people.
The same campaign strategies and tactics that were used three decades ago are still at play, whereas the condition of the majority continues to deteriorate.
What should be more agitating to take a stand is that even those who have been in power for 34 years and had the opportunity to govern and access state resources to take people out of bondage and poverty, are reminding the masses of their real lives as they campaign.
No person deserves to live in a shack made of cardboard and worn metallic sheets. Living without running water is unacceptable, and the high rate of youth unemployment is intolerable; hence, it must end.
If elected, everything would become history, and there would be a better life for all. Those electioneering speeches have been there since time immemorial.
The Namibian electorate does not need a political rally to be told about their reality, as if they are foreigners. They have lived in this country, and must do their own review; it is not who you are voting for, but what you are voting for. In our country, a constitutional democracy, it is a given that no government can claim authority, unless it is the people’s mandate.
Elections entail competition and choices. Let this year be a moment of inspiration to realise our collective and individual aspirations as a nation.
This calls for a conscious decision, and many strategies are being utilised to win the hearts and minds of the masses during this period.
The political elite and their handlers are out of their mansions to campaign among the people on the ground because they know you have value.
They know it is the electorate with power.
The highest protest against a government or affirmation is a vote; it has no political, economic, or social status. A president’s vote is equal to a peasant’s vote.
History will judge us harshly if we allow democracy to fail in our time. It is the responsibility of every eligible voter to register and vote.
The number of elections conducted in our country should not only demonstrate our commitment to ideals of democracy, but more so by the way citizens are willing to sacrifice their time and energy to make sure they register as voters, and turn up at the polling stations to cast their vote.
Statistics at ECN show that in the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly Elections, only 60% of registered voters turned out to cast their ballot.
It is not wise, but an act of ignorance to boycott voting; initially, you are entrenching the same conditions that caused your frustrations.
In Bertolt Brecht’s words:
“The worst illiterate is the political illiterate; he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in political events.
He does not know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes, or of the medicine; all depends on political decisions.
The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest, saying he hates politics.
The imbecile doesn’t know that from his political ignorance, is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
In this election, let us co-exist, and allow every single opposing view to find expression on the ground.
When we leave the ballot in November, there is hope that has been revived, there is dignity retained, and the dream of the oppressed, marginalised and exploited Namibians has been validated.
Let our action towards democracy be worthy of the sacrifice that brought it into existence.
* Modestus Kasoma Kupembona is a youth activist.