“Even the highest office in the land can be challenged.” In 2006, I came to the University of Namibia (Unam) to read for my first degree – Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Studies.
Although I was accustomed to student leadership, having become a deputy head boy at Iipumbu SSS at 14, leading 20-year-olds, I got introduced to radical politics at Unam. I still recall how Wise Immanuel and Archie Shipanga led student struggles and faced Founding President Sam Nujoma, the Unam chancellor at the time.
We one day woke up to a circular by the vice chancellor pasted on campus, singling out and isolating Wise and Archie, our leaders. Those recruited by management proclaimed that Wise and Archie were buried. To the surprise of many, Archie wrote a response circular pasted all over campus, stating that he won’t surrender.
His response included a passage that, “…even the highest office in the land can be challenged.” I was so proud and inspired by Archie and Wise. They shaped my politics. I was happy to see Wise rise to his rightful place, from the periphery to become Minister of Justice and Labour Relations. The Wise seen over the years in corporate circles is a softened Wise. I hope for the return of Wise the revolutionary, who shaped and inspired my politics.
There were others, beyond the radicals, who inspired me. Kadiva Nghipondoka (now Hamutumwa), our SRC president, was so articulate and spoke with clarity of purpose. Although not as radical as Wise and Archie, her strategic approach and posture inspired me. As I listened to her, I wondered if I will one day be as articulate. I am yet to see if this goal is achieved.
Wise got elected as SRC president in 2007, and I joined the SRC in 2008, becoming the SRC president in 2009. To Wise, Archie, Kadiva and others, in case you are not aware, you inspired and shaped my politics. Emanya lyokorupupu kwasikama ndjikiti.
I met Dr Tjitunga Elijah Ngurare during my days as SRC president in 2009. Our paths crossed later in 2011 after returning from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. We served in the Youth League; I was spokesperson, and he was secretary. We successfully and unsuccessfully sought to transform the former liberation movement to tilt to the left and bring about real politics of emancipation, characterised by solving the most basic challenges of our people.
The capitalist faction moved fast to liquidate and quarantine us. The situation became untenable. I decided to pursue alternative paths to freedom outside the league. This led to my suspension and subsequent expulsion together with Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and George Kambala. Unlike others, Ngurare did not distance himself from us. This cost him.
He was attached to our expulsion. The capitalist faction believed he was the engineer of all our activities, a tragedy of imagination. I once drafted a letter to President Hifikepunye Pohamba to exonerate Ngurare, saying our actions had nothing to do with him. The mistake I made was to share the letter with him. He took a letter and tore it up. He basically refused a passport and a visa to ‘good books at Club House’.
We had nothing to offer him. I always felt that I brought problems or trouble for him. The capitalist faction unplugged him from all economic sources, including boards and other economic avenues. Even those not linked to the party. The plan was to squeeze him so he comes back crawling and begging for mercy. True to his principles, as he transmitted to us, he did not surrender nor sell his soul. He remained in the wilderness, saying oxygen is provided only by God. I remember when he landed a job as a director of rural water supply after attempts to block him. During our discussion, he made a statement that stayed with me: “It was tough, coma; your children want you to buy them things you cannot afford, and you can’t say you can’t afford.”
I do not claim that he is a saint. He is, after all, a politician in a party that devours its own children. Mine is a human reflection on a son of Africa and Namibia, born of Kavango peasants. A leader who shaped my politics and stood by me in difficult times and sacrificed his career for me and other youth. That he is now Prime Minister, and we strangely reunite here again, is a testament to the importance of principle above the stomach, like what Gwanale did during her tribulations with Omukwaniilwa Martin gaAshikoto.
The story of Dr Ngurare deserves a separate reflection, as will be done in the fullness of time.
Inspiration & wisdom
Bernadus Clinton Swartbooi inspired us both during his time in the youth league and later with the Landless People’s Movement. McHenry Venaani joined this Parliament in his younger days, debating formidable freedom fighters who never failed to use DTA’s chequered past to dismiss him. But he never wavered. Today, the same freedom fighters from the ruling party publicly praise him. His journey is inspiring.
Our struggle
We do not regret being on these benches. We are also not afraid to face our own, including our mentors and those we held in high regard. We are a hot iron on which no minister will sit. We are the small axe ready to chop a big tree. We are not born to oppose, just as we are not born to blindly support. We are here to fulfil the generational mission. Where it is needed, we will help and assist. Where wisdom is required, we will teach, offer advice and solutions. We don’t mind getting dirty for Namibia. We will also push the wheelbarrows and carry bricks if need be. We know it will not be easy, but rest assured that we are ready.
Namibia, our country, is like the water that PDK sings about. When systems are dirty, we will clean them. When policies are toxic, we will detoxify them. When the political temperature is high, we will wait and/or handle it to cool down. But we will never give up on our country.
*Job Amupanda is the leader of the Affirmative Repositioning movement. This is the abridged version of his maiden speech.