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Home / A Letter from Turkey to the Swapo Congress Delegates
A Letter from Turkey to the Swapo Congress Delegates
2017-11-24Staff Report 2 I greet you, esteemed members of the governing Swapo Party who will serve as electors during the historic 6th elective congress of the erstwhile liberation movement. Swapo navigated this arduous road through commitment, dedication and steadfast respect of the values of Solidarity, Freedom And Justice. From this tradition of upholding tits own laws came forth our nation’s enshrined values of Unity, Liberty and Justice. I write to you from the Biblical land of Turkey from where St Paul, or Saul, developed his vocation as a crusader for what he believed in, first as the persecutor-in- chief of what is known as Christianity, then as the most eloquent and convincing fisher of men. I came here to do what I am not permitted to do in the land of my birth – to teach and question for purposes of better understanding our world based upon the truth. Like Paul, I write to you not because I am any better than you, the leaders of my motherland, but out of a deep conviction that all is not well in our land, and that you can change things for the better for all our people. I am extraordinarily privileged to have consumed more knowledge than the average citizen in the Land of the Brave, and as a result I have a duty and an obligation to share with you at this critical point in the time of your responsibility as leaders. I hold you, brothers and sisters, in high moral esteem and look to you to steward the lives of the people in our land from the state of hopelessness we find ourselves in now to a point where we can all say that we did our best to empathise and care for all. Our nation has never experienced the consternation, angst and despondency as it is the case now going through, on the watch of the current Swapo’s top leadership. People are hurting as a result of the indifference of the leadership of the governing party in the hands of leaders who should know better. Citizens’ human rights and liberties are being violated and the rules that assisted us to keep the peace and stability we are privileged to enjoy are being trampled upon in the game of personal politics of banality. Never before have citizens felt so let down by their elected leaders like now. By virtue of being a party state, what happens in Swapo affects all Namibians, just as the errors that are going on now are affecting all of us very badly. I have faith that you will understand and condone my encroaching onto your space this weekend, as you prepare to exercise a sacred responsibility to think not only about your immediate self-interests and needs, but to stretch your imagination into the future and hear the cries of many fellow citizens who live in fear and growing uncertainty. For you, this weekend the question that will follow you forever is: Where were you and what did you do when you could? Esteemed delegate, your family, comrades, friends and the nation know what you are going though, and how testing it is to be truthful to yourself and your lonely conscience right now. Leadership ought not to be about who promises whom what, but about serving the people to the best of your abilities. The nation knows that in hard times such as these, many are compromised and only a few strong ones have the wherewithal not to abandon their own conviction in exchange for someone else’s career and material interests. Politics is not just about good life, for you would not be where you are if it was just that. Politics is about honourable thinking and dreaming that today is not good enough, and that tomorrow must be better because we are here to make it better. Remember that your legacy, if there is to be, will be better than the positions exchanged dishonorably today. Esteemed delegate, you are about to seal the fate of the party rank and file that I am certain you hold not only dear but in whose able hands you place the future of all the people of this country. Namibia promised you nothing, yet demands no loyalty from you, but good service and commitment to the common good of all her children without regard to race, colour, language, ethnicity, religion or political affiliation. The nation is bigger than your and my party, though it is through your party that you can serve for now. You will do this better if you serve through your heart and not your stomach, understandable though it is. One day we shall be asked what we did to protect the future of our land. Shall we answer that we fought for it? Defend the laws that will inform the narratives your children and theirs will read about as your testament to them. Let hope, confidence, cohesion, permanence and faith in something bigger and more durable than our needs and our fears and our greed for power and wealth. Let us not become the next failed state in Afrika!! God lead and bless us through your courage and leadership. 2017-11-24Staff Report 2
