Namibia has various political parties, each with their own constitutions. By implication, this means each of these parties have their own political motives and objectives they wish to achieve. Ideologically, each one different from the other.
Simply explained, ideology means a system and ideals forming the basis of an economic or political theory. It is a set of beliefs, especially ones held by a particular group or party that influence the way people behave. Therefore, it is appropriate to conclude that each of these parties have varied political agendas and plans.
If they do not have clear ideological stances, they may end up confused and continue alternating between revolutionary and reactionary stances and their leaders cannot justifiably continue to lay any clear and sustainable claim to proper leadership. Ideology is what guides a well-organised party.
It was stated in the local media that some political parties intend to either unite or fight together to remove Swapo from power in the upcoming local elections. The basic and critical questions then would be, what ideological link is there between those parties to unite them and drive them to work together?
Is their so-called unity based only on their desire to remove Swapo from power? If they succeed to do so, what ideological unity is there to keep them together? If they share the same ideological beliefs, why then are they divided among themselves and only stand united to remove Swapo from power?
It simply is a joke if political parties unite for the sake of removing Swapo from power while they are not ideologically and politically united. What needs to be made very clear to those who try so hard to unite simply for the sake of removing Swapo from power is that when we liberated our country, we never wished to fight against our own people.
We visualised a Namibia where all people of this country would govern themselves, in which the land would be restored to the people to benefit those who would work on it. Therefore, we wish to live in a Namibia without no war, a Namibia free from oppression and exploitation of any people.
Even those who collaborated with the enemy and call us terrorists, we decided to close that chapter and ensure they live in peace. Therefore, if there are still those who wish to unite and remove us from political power without any clear ideological unity amongst themselves, we are not going to waste time fighting against you. We will simply concentrate on mass mobilisation of our people so that they can always have and be guided by the revolutionary ideological stance of our beliefs.
One thing some of these parties must understand is that Swapo never regarded Namibia as its property. Namibia belongs to the sovereign people of Namibia.
What Swapo does is to serve the interest the sovereign Namibian people in a manner that will never again enable any colonial or counter-revolutionary force to take our country and enslave our people. People need to understand that the fight against the colonial occupiers is over and the new struggle now is to liberate our people from poverty and to develop our country, ensuring future generations get proper education and lead our country to success. The people of Namibia should also be careful.
One thing is certain; you will never turn yesteryear’s counter-revolutionary force into today’s revolutionary forces. Counter revolutionary forces will always try to adjust themselves and try to use the democratic independence to promote their counter revolutionary interests. They are very tactful and can pretend to have the interests of the country at heart, while they may use the democratic policies that now prevail to advance their own counter revolutionary motives, but not to achieve revolutionary goals, which will forever destroy neo-colonialism.
Due to space, I will conclude by saying that as usual, there is now a generational change in process. Those who are now readying themselves for taking over the political power must be revolutionary minded. The young generation should know that progressive and revolutionary aims and objectives of people are bound to be faced with various onslaughts by reactionary forces.
The new generation should be prepared and ready to keep the revolutionary fire alight. They should be careful not to fall prey and victims of counter-revolutionary forces.
Chairman Mao once said, “A Guerrilla must be a fish. He must swim among the masses like a fish swims in water”.
Let me borrow from the quote and say that a cadre must be like a fish and swim among the masses of our people irrespective of race or colour and organise them left, right and centre throughout the country. If we just sit in our offices and communicate to the masses through media and telephone, we are wasting time – and sooner or later, we will become irrelevant.
As much as the technological communication sophistication has become the order of the day, not all people are exposed to these advances and we should continue to reach out to our people in person. Among the Islamic society, there is a saying that if the mountain does not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain.
Therefore, we cannot always take for granted that all people will understand us and come out to support us. We need to touch the ground running and go to them. Particularly, to remote and hard to reach areas and organise our people there. We should also accept that we have divergent cultures and traditions in our country. In some cultures, not every person will be listened to.
Therefore, we have to know whom to deploy to which areas. Someone who will be accepted and heard by the people we intend to mobilise. In the past, we had come to the realisation that the only effective way was the armed struggle; therefore, we decided we will never cease the armed liberation struggle until our motherland is liberated.
Now that we have liberated our country from foreign occupation, we had changed that and we had to seriously assess the impact poverty had on our people and liberate them from this imposed situation. This new struggle is faced with its own political dimensions such as generational change and social and ideological transformation. Sometimes, these dimensions are spread with confusion, which affects a clear political and ideological vision among the masses.
Sometimes, the new generation does not entirely appreciate the purpose and objectives of the war that brought about change in this country. Some are merely seeking positions for self-centred reasons and do not have the interests of our people at heart.
In that sense, patriotism which united us in the past, has wavered away and some of the newcomers are only here to boost their own interests and status.
Even those who are known for having collaborated with colonial forces are now portraying themselves as if they have the interests of the country and its people at heart, and those who fought for the liberation of the country have to succumb to their dictates.
It must be clearly understood that the new phase for the struggle for economic development and liberation of our people from poverty can never be led by counter-revolutionary forces and that role has to be carried out by revolutionary forces.
Those who replace the leaders of the revolutionary liberation struggle must be revolutionary minded, a younger generation that will carry on with the clear aims and objectives of achieving a revolutionary economic future and wellbeing of our people.