ON Wednesday, March 12, 2015, I was listening to a programme called Real Talk aka “People’s Parliament,” hosted by Jehoiackim Kateve on BASE FM radio. A listener called in to make several disparaging remarks related to the character and integrity of Right Honourable Dr Hage G Geingob.
Since these remarks were made in the public domain, I felt it appropriate to respond to the callous conjecture made by the caller, not for any other reason or motivation, but because it is just not right.
I do so, not only as a citizen of our Republic but also as someone who has closely worked with Dr Geingob during the difficult and dark days of our struggle for freedom and independence and later in the running of Namibia’s public service as Secretary to Cabinet.
My encounter with him started in 1980, when I was deployed at the youthful age of mid-20s by the party as the Director of Namibia’s Health and Education Centre, known as Nyango in Kaoma district in the Western Province of the Republic of Zambia. He was one of the leaders, who with his late wife made time to regularly visit us and attend to our needs.
My aim, therefore, is to share with the caller my personal experiences of the person and character of Dr Geingob.
According to the caller, the Right Hon. Dr Geingob is the “most financially extravagant individual in the government and is, unlike his peers such as HE Hifikepunye Pohamba and Hon Nahas Angula, out of touch with the poor despite the fact that he has said that he was born under a tree”.
The caller also made claims the Right Hon. Dr Geingob is not a freedom fighter, as he did not participate in any combat-related activities while in exile.
Let me, therefore, share some facts about the President-elect and the pivotal role that he has played in Namibia’s struggle for freedom and independence.
I have personal experience of the President-elect as a peoples’ person and a friend to all.
As our director of the Institute of Namibia (UNIN), he was literally working for us, spending his limited resources on us.
Just like few others in the leadership of Swapo, Dr Geingob was gainfully employed at the time.
When some of us would come from the front, Dr Geingob would open his house to us, making us feel welcome at all times.
We had free access to his house. We could eat and drink whatever was available, and also sleep there. He has remained the same warm and embracing person whose house continues to remain open to many. Therefore, the assertion that the President-elect is an extravagant and lavish individual is not only malicious but also baseless. Nobody can deny the fact that Geingob hails from a very humble and poor background.
As he recently told the nation, he was born under a tree and this is symbolic of the difficult path he had taken to reach the admirable levels of leadership which soon will result in him assuming responsibilities as Head of State and Government.
With regard to the assertion that Dr Geingob was not a freedom fighter, suffice it to say that during the difficult days of the struggle for freedom and independence, everyone in Swapo was a freedom fighter and combatant, as we were all targets of the then apartheid South African military. We all, including the President-elect had to be constantly in a state of military preparedness, as we could be called up anytime.
In Swapo, no individual had a choice to decide where to be deployed. We were given assignments and had carried out such tasks to the best of our abilities. The President-elect was no exception. Therefore, to suggest that Dr Geingob was not a freedom fighter because he was not at the battlefield every day or was not a combatant, is misleading. In fact, it is utter nonsense!
Our collective strategy as freedom fighters was three-pronged. It included political, diplomatic and military aspects and strategies. Therefore, the war was not fought in isolation from diplomatic and political aspects. The People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) was an extension of the political struggle? PLAN was established because of a political decision made by the Swapo leadership of which the President-elect was part and parcel.
He was there from the beginning. He is one of the few members who served for many years in the executive committee before it became the politburo.
The military struggle was the highest political expression of the desire of the Namibian people to be free. We were never a stand-alone conquering army fighting for Namibia just for the sake of military conquest. We were always guided by the political aspirations and decisions of our leaders, who through directives gave us strategic direction and focus.
The other important leg of the liberation struggle was on the diplomatic front. Swapo did not have the capacity to buy weapons during the struggle. Therefore, weapons, food and other resources had to be sourced from our international friends. This required complex negotiations behind the scenes.
It seems many do not know of these facts and are therefore Naïve about the struggle. In fact, many young Namibians are oblivious of the fact that the successful diplomatic efforts to gain recognition for Swapo at the United Nations as the sole authentic representative of the Namibian people, and the subsequent international assistance that ensued from it, combined with the military effort, collectively gave impetus to Namibia’s independence. One aspect of the struggle would thus not have been successful without the other. They were complementary.
In acknowledging freedom fighters that made invaluable contributions to the liberation struggle as per there assignments, we have given war veterans status to many Namibians who were in the country. This is testimony that a freedom fighter is not exclusively an active combatant on the battlefield.
With regard to military training, I wish to inform the caller that the President-elect received his military training at the Tobias Hainyeko Centre in Lubango, Angola.
Hence that when the fateful attack took place on Cassinga, all military commanders at the Tobias Hainyeko Centre looked to him as the most senior leader present to provide leadership and direct the military response which was done.
As far as suffering in exile is concerned, Dr Geingob went through experiences that are not in some people’s worst nightmares. While in Botswana during the early stages of exile, where he stayed from December 1962 to March 1964, the group that he was part of had been without food for weeks. Like other Comrades, he would sleep in the open facing harsh elements of nature with only one blanket and enduring this situation for one year and four months.
Frustration was growing and together with the late Lieutenant-General Jerobeam Dimo Hamaambo and others, they decided to trek (walk on foot) to Zambia via Livingstone. On their way to Livingstone, they got lost and ended up in Maun. By then they had run out of food and water. They were suffering from severe thirst and hunger and at occasions were forced to resort to drinking muddy water out of a waterhole, after having sat for hours under the tree, waiting for elephants to finish drinking before they could have their turn. Therefore, nobody can question the fact that Dr Geingob knows what it means to suffer. Indeed, as any rational Namibian born under apartheid will testify, no black Namibian without exception, born and raised under the repressive apartheid system, ever escaped experiencing the extremities of poverty and depravation.
As for the question of land, I would like to reiterate what the Dr Geingob stated at various occasions.
The real issue we are facing in Namibia is poverty. That is what is driving the demand for land. Therefore, we must tackle poverty and not just think of land as a panacea for all our problems. It is no use to have land when one is poor. Land needs to be made productive so that the people living on it, as well as other citizens in the country are able to benefit from the output of that land.
You cannot just grab land by illegal means and sit idle on it. Hence, the President-elect’s recent statement that we do not eat land, and should use it productively to feed us.
As for the national demand for urban land, government shares the sentiment that urban land has become unaffordable and inaccessible to Namibians, thus the introduction of the mass-housing scheme to address the situation. We only need to make the process much more effective.
Let me return now to the false perception that Dr Geingob is a lavish individual. It is a fact that he has never spent government money on his personal “luxury” since he began working as Prime Minister in 1990. We must also understand that how one choses to spend his/her own money can sometimes be misinterpreted by those who are not in the know. For example, it would seem that if two people earn a similar salary and one of them choses to save while the other decides to spend some of that money on purchasing a suit or a car, the latter one will be perceived to be more lavish than the former who save for future use.
There are many individuals whom the President-elect has worked with before, me included, and who can vouch for him and attest to the fact that he is a prudent individual when it comes to tax payers’ money. At the various organisations where he worked, there were stringent regulations and audit reports and he was never found wanting on financial mismanagement.
Another thing I wish to address is the comparison between the President-elect and Cde Nahas Angula. It is unfortunate that the caller had to bring up the name of Cde Angula who is a senior member of the Swapo Party Politburo and who shares a relationship of mutual respect with the President-elect. I have worked with both of these two Comrades, and I have a fair understanding of them. They are two separate individuals and I see no relevance in comparing them. Such comparison is senseless.
Because Dr Geingob choses to spend his salary the way he deems fit, does not mean he is careless or out of touch with the people. Such loose talk about leaders is inappropriate and detrimental to the objective of nation building.
Let us stop the spiteful cycle of hate, and the tarnishing of our leaders. Instead, let us hold hands and concentrate on developing this beautiful country regardless of tribe, region, class or gender.
Dr Geingob is now the President-elect, and soon he will be sworn in as the President of this Republic. Let us, therefore, unite and support him to help make Namibia a winning nation.