Dear Cde Secretary General, below I would like to provide my views on SWAPO’s performance since independence. I am addressing this opinion to you in your capacity as the administrator of our party. In this article I will confine myself to the political, economic and social happenings as I see them. I will look at what I think is going right, what the challenges are and how I would confront those challenges.
From the political front, the SWAPO Party must be congratulated for what it has achieved since independence. For the past 25 years the people of Namibia have shown their faith in the SWAPO Party and their presidential candidates. As per the election outcomes the party’s popularity has been growing ever since independence reaching a high in the last elections. The same can be said about the party’s presidential candidates that are voted for by even those that are not members of SWAPO. In that regard the party is doing exceptionally well. The party has also weathered many storms in terms of breakaways and rebellions. Some were so severe that people thought the party would fall apart, however, the party remained firm and I would like to encourage you not to let anything or anyone succeed in messing with our party. In our history no one has succeeded in that and we should not create room for such chaos now.
On the political challenges facing the party, I think there are many. Firstly, with change comes opportunity and with opportunity comes opportunists. I am of the view that the party is infiltrated by many opportunists. This is a controversial statement but I am not worried because only true opportunists would take offence by this, while true cadres will remain calm. This opportunism is motivated by the politics of the belly, meaning people need to create economic opportunities for themselves and hence parade themselves as the utmost SWAPO cadres. These wolves in sheep’s clothes are dangerous for the party and will lead to its demise in the future. Taking this into consideration CDE Secretary General, we should also be careful how we view our cadres. The golden rule here is that not everyone that smiles or agrees with you or us is your or our friend. In the same vein, not everybody that disagrees with you or us is your or our enemy. Sometimes it is those that disagree with you that have the interest of the party more at heart than the others. But all in all, from a political perspective SWAPO must maintain what made it strong and not compromise on that.
From an economic perspective, I am of the view that it has been handled fairly well. However, we have serious challenges. The first one is that the economic patterns of colonialism have really not changed 25 years after independence. The majority of our economy is still in the hands of the colonial clique. This sounds a bit harsh but it is the reality. The only difference is that after independence we have created a few black millionaires who get the crumbs from the white man’s table, or state revenue, and we think we are on the right track. The majority of our people are still ‘working’ for the white man in order to sustain themselves, just like during the colonial days. This might also sound harsh but is the reality as well. Such economic pattern is not sustainable in the long run.
Another economic challenge that we have is our ideology on the economy. Before independence SWAPO was rather socialist in economic outlook, or better put, wanted to achieve an economy where the majority are catered for. Nowadays we seem not to have a clear ideology and have succumbed to the capitalist doctrine where it is one man for himself and God for us all. This capitalistic oriented economic development agenda cannot take the masses that vote for SWAPO out of poverty. In such a system it is money that talks and our inequality has shown us that the majority of our society do not have it. We will need to approach a paradigm that actually makes the majority of the people get out of poverty instead of making a tiny few multimillionaires.
Another economic challenge where I think the party needs to do much better is land. The struggle was about land and since the days we were young in the struggle we have always been told that we are fighting to get our land back. Twenty-five years after independence it is fair to conclude that we are very far from winning that battle. That is due to the fact that we legalized the theft of African land by the colonialists after independence. What strikes me often is the statement that says we (blacks) do not need land but the whites have it in abundance, and need it, even if it is just lying idle. The colonialist strategy in keeping that land for their future generations, and for their economic benefit, is becoming clear now. Most of the farmland close to major cities are now being opened up to become small fancy residential villages. That is the same land that we are always told is not productive and we would have no use for it as blacks; however, our white compatriots have enough use for it. There is a new generation that emerged after independence and that generation needs shelter in order to get married and raise families. If such human need is not met people will find other means of acquiring it, it is natural. The generation of our elders went to war for it, indicating its seriousness.
Lastly, on the social front, I think we need to rethink the way we go about the concept of reconciliation. This term has served us both well and bad. The good part should remain, the bad needs to be challenged. The issue I have with this concept is that it seems to be one-way traffic. It seems that it is only the Africans, blacks, who literally talk and believe in reconciliation as if they are the ones that went to Europe and colonized those people and stole their land and everything else. It cannot be right that we are the ones that are literally sucking up to the ones that historically wronged us. Why is it that we suck up to white people and not vice versa? We need to change that doctrine and perception because it is doing us more harm than good in the long run. It plays with our psychology, confidence and faith in ourselves.
Nonetheless, CDE SG, the SWAPO Party is on the right track but must maintain and improve what has sustained them until today. We should not dare to waiver otherwise those that fought and died for our freedom will never rest in peace.
• Iipumbu Sakaria is a child of the liberation struggle and wrote this in his personal capacity.