Raimo Ndapewa Naanda
Political parties should by now be digesting and reflecting on the outcome of the regional council by-election results of the Swakopmund constituency. There are various reasons why some political parties performed dismally while others performed better.
On 12 August 2022, the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) officially announced the results, with the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), represented by Louisa Ndaninga Kativa, retaining the seat with 3 625 votes. Swapo’s Nehemiah Ndara Salomon received 3 122 votes, while the Landless People’s Movement, represented by Hilaria Tangeni Musheko, scored 1 362 votes.
Kativa of the IPC was officially declared the winner, and therefore duly elected as Swakopmund constituency councillor.
I have no doubt that many political parties find it difficult to accept these results. I guess they have no choice but to accept the results because the electorate in the constituency expressed their voices democratically, and that should be respected all costs. All political parties should now draw serious lessons from these election results, and go back to their drawing boards if they want to remain relevant and make a difference in the upcoming elections, and more particularly, the upcoming national and presidential elections slated for November 2024, and the regional and local authority elections to follow thereafter.
It is my belief that the electorate voted for change, and for a leader whom they believe would make a difference in their lives. The results also show that voters want to see a difference in their life’s now and not later, and hope that their newly-elected leader will live up to her promise of making things better.
On 6 February 2015, I published an opinion piece titled ‘Ethics needed from newly-elected leaders’ in The Namibian newspaper. In the article, I called for our newly-elected leaders as well as leaders elsewhere in society to distinguish between what is morally good (to be ethical) and what is not morally good (what is unethical). The debate around ethics is, however, not the crux of this article, even though I would like to reflect on it a bit. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not arguing that our leaders lack ethics. However, leaders should know that as the electorate, we demand ethics from our political leaders that we have voted into power.
Also, I am not saying the reason political parties are losing votes is because their political parties are unethical. It is for political parties themselves to go and assess where they are going wrong to perform better or poorly during elections, and to carefully consider who they are fielding as their candidates.
Another issue of concern that I noted during the just-ended Swakopmund constituency elections is the low voter turnout. All political parties must go back to their electorates and study why voter apathy is so high. The electorate must have lost faith in all the political parties, to such an extent that they feel that it makes no difference whether they vote or not. Political parties must go out and convince the electorate why it is important to vote, as not voting will only make matters worse as their voices will never be heard, and they will leave political decision-making to the minority.
It is no secret that Namibia is a rich country endowed with many natural resources, and with a small population of over 2,5 million people. Yet, the country is faced with many challenges that can be addressed with the right political mindset and proper governance, in my view.
From the elections leading to the independence and after independence of Namibia, the ruling party Swapo has been winning elections overwhelmingly, and were thus put in charge of running the government.
We should admit that the government made great strides since independence. However, of late, the ruling party has been performing poorly during elections, which leaves one wondering why.
There are many reasons why political parties, in general, perform poorly, and this can be a whole debate on its own. In the case of the ruling party, one could perhaps attribute the poor performance to the ongoing Fishrot saga, coupled with the frustration of poor service delivery in many areas where promises were made but delivery seems poor and/or non-existent at worst.
I am left with no choice but to think of the below as real issues of concern which our Government has been facing:
Corruption, real or perceived;
High youth unemployment, estimated at around 50.2% (2021);
Lack of access to educational opportunities for many young people who are left roaming around the streets;
Mis-matching education curriculum, which does not talk to the needs of national economic demands;
Deteriorating health services in the country;
Lack of proper housing and sanitation;
Poor service delivery at many regional and local authorities;
Financial sector not supporting government objectives (lack of training and skills development, and poor or non-existent youth empowerment projects);
Increasing poverty: seeing more and more young men (dustbin diggers) scavenging through dustbins in various neighbourhoods);
Escalating gender-based violence, coupled with abuse against women and children;
Political leaders discharging their duties overboard and nothing happening to them; and
Retired leaders still in leadership positions, and not wanting to pave way for the youth to take over leadership roles.
All the political parties are aware of the issues, and should include them in their political manifestos, and importantly, come up with policies that will address these issues once they are elected into power.
It no longer helps political parties to have in their political manifestos endless promises, but they cannot deliver on those promises, only to return during the following elections and repeating the same promises. I strongly believe that a lack of leadership is most critical in failing to deliver to the electorate what a political party promises.
Our leaders should understand that being voted into a leadership position does not mean that one is more superior than others. Leaders should understand the importance of engaging, listening and guiding. Perhaps this is what is missing from many of our leaders whom we entrust to lead us, and to deliver on the mandate for which they were elected.
At times, we see how some leaders engage their electorates, and we wonder how such ‘leaders’ were elected and entrusted with responsibilities to lead and pass laws for this country. Of course, we are all not perfect, but at least one expects a leader to be exemplary in their doings. Voters no longer need political parties who make empty promises and not deliver towards their promises.
While the national and presidential elections slated for November 2024 are fast approaching, political parties are expected to reflect on themselves as to why they performed dismally in past elections, rather than repeating promises in their political party manifestos. Political parties must start understanding the population dynamics; that Namibia is estimated to have over 634 000 young people (15-24 years), and with the high youth unemployment rate estimated to be around 50.2% (2021), these statistics say a lot with regards to the youths’ expectations.
Today, we live in the era of born-frees. The majority have no clue about apartheid in this country. They have no single, or very little knowledge, about the liberation struggle and its implications, let alone mentioning ‘Koevoets’ to them; they simply don’t care. For political parties to make inroads and to remain relevant during the forthcoming elections, they must take cognisance of born-frees, and they should consider them in political decision-making processes, whether they like it not.
Youth are not interested in promises made in political parties’ manifestos. What one needs to know is that the youth of today are radical, and they want solutions to provide them with hope in this beautiful country.
They want education, jobs and opportunities to participate in the mainstream economy of this country.
Political parties must seriously realise that the youth are looking forward for their peers to take up leadership positions, be it at workplaces, government, society or in politics.
If any political party wants to garnish votes from the youth in upcoming elections, they should seriously consider the plight of the youth.
By the 2024 national and presidential elections, the born-frees will be the majority voters in this country. We must appreciate that the adult population in Namibia is declining, while the youth population is growing exponentially.
Having said all the above, let me wish all the political parties as well as the independent candidates aspiring to participate in upcoming elections, all the best.
* This opinion piece is written by Dr. Raimo Ndapewa Naanda, in his personal capacity as a TVET expert. Dr Naanda is a holder of a PhD in curriculum studies from the University of Stellenbosch.