As the nation prepares to celebrate its 30th independence anniversary we should be cognizant of the fact the process of liberation is never ending. We attained political liberation but we still need to be liberated economically and socially. The masses have yet to be empowered economically and many particularly the youth do not have any jobs and they continue to languish in poverty.
On 21 March we should reflect on the fact we should as a nation be united and should as a collective continue to strive and struggle to liberate our nation from the never-ending process of liberation. We should also be mindful of the fact Namibia has made great inroads to advance its people.
Liberation is not a one-off event because many social and economic fronts still beg for solutions.
The struggle is still on so that we can triumph and provide decent jobs to all our people – we still need to resettle thousands of the landless. There is a need to economically empower a people previously excluded from the mainstream economy by the segregative laws of the apartheid regime.
Many rural areas are not yet connected to the national electricity grid and many people do not have access to clean drinking water and these challenges cannot be remedied overnight but with time.
Namibia has invested prudently in its infrastructure; it has invested at great cost in social infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, clinics, schools, universities and housing that have benefited a people that emerged from a segregated past that denied them basic services on the premise of race.
The current government has rolled back diseases such as malaria and at one stage the number of mortalities from this disease were reduced to single digits, which is praiseworthy.
Namibia – working hand-in-glove with external partners – deserves praise for having saved the lives of tens of thousands from imminent AIDS-related death by providing essential antiretroviral drugs.
There is no doubt that celebrating independence constitutes a key component of Namibia’s painful history. This day also enables us to reflect on the fact independence was not given on a silver platter and that thousands of sons and daughters of the soil made the ultimate sacrifice to liberate their motherland from the yoke of colonialism.
This day goes beyond the military parades and the speeches. We celebrate and remember the heroics of those who lost limb and life who selflessly fought to liberate us from the ruthless, minority apartheid South African regime. We are also cognizant of the fact Namibia still faces many social and economic challenges but this should not be used as a pretext not to celebrate those who sacrificed so much to liberate us from a racist regime.