Derrick Masangu

With the current political euphoria and jubilee caused by the political campaigns ahead of the November local authority elections, I couldn’t help it but comment a word or two on how I view the current status quo.
I will begin by saying that with the recent various political party nomination lists that I have seen, let me, in a nutshell, say I love the new trajectory that the Namibian political vehicle is taking, I can see a sought of obsession with parties trying to rejuvenate and rebrand themselves with the chant of guards! It has been a long time coming and overdue though!
At least, finally, we are all slowly waking up from the grave of political and mental death, of which we are now trying to end the realities of loyalty and belly politics! I am saying so because we are seeing the realisation of youth being nominated even in the old parties that for long have been characterised with keeping and maintaining the old guards at whatever cost, yet at the same time youth have been in the forefront of their campaigns.

If one was to look at it closely, they would agree with me that, this can be credited to the mushrooming of new political parties/organisations and independent candidates, whose nominations demographics and ideologies are mostly comprised and geared to get the youth on the bandwagon.

Now to answer the above question, one has to critically look at both sides of the dime. On one hand, one would say that the presence of these new players is a blessing because they have successfully impacted the Namibian political sphere, from what we have always known as our “only truth and norm” to “real constitutional truth and rights” 
In the same narrative, one would crystal see that this has moved and shaken the old players from their concrete comfort zones, as they have always acted oblivious and taboolish to the constitutional rights and mandates of all their party members, especially when the youth representation question was often questioned.

Therefore I for one think we need these new players in our midst, as their presence shows that it can have serious and radical paradigm shift not only on November elections but even for next presidential elections in 2024!
On the other hand, one can also view this as a curse for our political future, as the hyenas might use it to their advantage, by putting the sheep bait in the forefront! It is on this and many other loopholes and political gaps why I am also still not under the illusion that a mear facelift by some political parties can have a serious change as far as tangible service delivery is concerned. 

One old man once told me that, “A different suit doesn’t change a man’s heart, but only his appearance”. Remember ZANU-PF only changed Mugabe, but the ideology and key players remain the same behind the scenes. It is easy for our people, especially the older voters to still fall for these gimmicks engineered by their old parties. Oh, I almost forgot that Namibian politics is about loyalty, not capability... oops!

As the voters and foot soldiers on the ground, we need to take time and study these nominations before we go to the polls this November. At the end of the day, it all comes down to how you see things in your respective local authorities, so make sure you vote right.