Indeed, SWAPO has to convince any would-be defector that there is no political life outside its ranks and live up to the benchmark set by MPLA, ANC and recently FRELIMO lest former liberation movements are seen to be losing ground. The ruling party SWAPO should also be excited about the 2/3 majority win of Ian Khama’s BDP in neighboring Botswana, the darling of the west, which has been in power for three decades. Botswana is comparable to Namibia in terms of ranking and rating in good governance, constitutional democracy, and infrastructure development but also in terms of high unemployment and HIV prevalence and infection. Despite the latter, voters were not pigeon holed nor hoodwinked into voting for ‘change’ for the sake of change but instead preferred stability and continuity. The caveat, however, is the new trend of ‘dynasty politics’ in Africa seen in DRC, Togo and now Botswana. Africans want peace, stability, continuity and against that there should be ‘no change’. Nevertheless, that is not my topic today as we still have to debunk and demystify some of the trends set up in the formation of new parties before we strategically dissect their real intentions.

Mr. Jeremiah Nambinga, as the official spokes-person of RDP, is on a high dry campaign trail as a cat’s paw playing second fiddle who wants to throw dust in our eyes with nine days wonders. He recently uttered some dangerous statements which are contrary to the electoral law, the code of conduct for political parties and indeed the supreme law of this country when he made reference to “death or life” statements that are tantamount to inciting civil strife’s, hooliganism, civil and tribal war in the country. “To shout ‘life or death change will come about’ is a threat to the stability of Namibia. Who’s death? How can one bring about change through ‘life or death’ without shedding blood?” Asked P. Haindongo in his article in New Era of the 23rd 0ctober. As Haindongo, I would also like to find out if “is it official position of RDP to shed blood or is Nambinga operating…without any guidance…?.

Funny enough, and as expected, the NSHR with its newly trained cadets and the falsely touted “liberal media” was conspicuously silent on those utterances, not to mention the “clergy” of the ‘eastern Owambo’ alliance, with the exception of men of god such as Dr.Kapolo, saying a single word to condemn such utterances. Surely, some will say that I am taking things out of context and blowing his trigger happy criticism out of proportion but these are the same people who will cry foul when the Founding President and the SG use proverbs and figures of speech, as sentences of condensed wisdom offered in place of a whole spate of words, to summarize life’s general principles with an illustration. Not averse to taking the imagery and poetic language in the proverbs and figures of speech used to make an obvious statement to get across a notso- obvious truth, they resort to misinterpreting Figurative expressions such as “a snake in the grass” which means an enemy who strikes under cover. The point I am driving at here is simply to know if the RDP will distance itself from utterances of “death or life” pronouncement by Mr. Jeremia Nambinga.If not, then we will take it that they declared war and will be accountable should anything to that effect happen during the elections.

POLITICAL BACK-PADDLING; HOW WILL IT ALL END?

The editorial of Namibia today referred to political back-paddling of Mr. Hidipo when he has “now cobbled together some opposition leaders to join him in his bid to stop Namprint from winning the tender – the same opposition leaders whose fears he was instrumental in allaying when he was a SWAPO Party leader. Now he is telling them to believe what he told them not to believe a few years ago. How can one trust such a person?” the editor wanted to know. This leads me to another point about ‘academic’ star-studded temporary success and crafty compromises of intellectuals ‘who do not need to consult’ to lead this country.

For quite sometimes, I was pondering on how to break the news and carry a message to people who might have trouble understanding it. What strategy would I use? Terry Powell came to my rescue with his book “Wise up” when he used a creative approach to soften the blows of reality. Forget the few tips on article writing, the pyramid style of a lead story and the gist of the article with catchy headlines etc. what one needs is a gift even when it comes with a price of persecution, not that I am complaining since I accepted to run with the message, so to speak (1Corinthian1:1, Isaiah 6:8, Amos 3:7-8).

A STAR-STUDDED SUCCESS

“A quick glance at Salomon’s 40-year reign shows a public relations dream come true. His list of achievements reads like a page out of “who’s who”. He had the university/college-level knowledge of philosophy, literature, architecture, horticulture, botany, zoology, geography, and diplomacy. To top it all off, as a cherry on the cake, he was wealthier than any Wall Street financial wizard. His personal residence was so lavish that it would make a Beverly Hills mansion look like an innercity ghetto project. Before you start drooling over Salomon’s advantage though, remember this: he ran out of gas before reaching the finish line.” wrote Powell. Does that ring a bell with our ‘academics’? Despite “Salomon being the wisest man, a series of clumsy situations imprisoned him in his own “temple of doom”. The irony is that, when it comes to the tests posted by life situations, Salomon couldn’t make the grade.” continued Powell. The question is: what accounted for Salomon’s political savvy and bulging bank account? After all, it was still front-page news when he begged for wisdom to fulfill his job description? The answer to that is simple; “He became intoxicated by too many gulps of worldly pleasure. He started living life according to his own script. His disobedience diluted his character through a crafty compromise.” Powell wrote. Does that ring a bell again or not yet? Let us look at crafty compromise to see if now it does.

CRAFTY COMPROMISE

The dictionary defines compromise as: “to make a shameful or disreputable concession”. It’s making a choice base on personal rewards at the expense of ethical conviction. “Compromise reveals termites in the timber character of Salomon; he had the kind of fence-straddling faith. He feared the opinion of men more than the consequence of sin. He feared to heed the advice he had given others. Almost three thousand years have passed, yet fickle fidelity is still as common as a sore throat in January. Like Salomon, too many of us try to serve the Lord without offending the devil and we end up wavering and compromising. Why it is so? The answer lays in the craving for more. In one word, greed which injects the poison of a “more” mentality into our bloodstream of gifts and when greed reigns, our consciousness goes into rigor mortis.” Reiterated Powell.

Here is an example of an uncontrolled appetite leading to a tragic conclusion: This is a story of how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of greed as told by Paul Harvey: “First the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of scent and discovers the blade and licks it, tasting the fresh-frozen blood, he begins to lick faster more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder the wolf licks the blade in the Arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor sharp sting of the naked blade on his tongue nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves for more.”

Looking back on his lavish lifestyle, the sharp blade of regrets slashed Salomon’s conscience. Did all his lucrative investments satisfy his soul? Just the opposite. He concluded; “everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun”. Indeed, a hollow human heart bleeds more than a wolf’s carcass lying in the Arctic snow.” concluded Powell. This is the tragic end of greed and anything that is not inspired by the spirit leads to the fruits of the flesh, which is a corrupted way of thinking manifested in jealousy, hatred, revenge, greed and all other evils. If this is a ‘new vision’ I wouldn’t want to be part of such a vision of bloodshed, retaliation, revenge, midnight-fly or fly-by-night owl style and calling others derogatory names such as ‘haihambos, kwankaras, ovanailongo, omusati clique, mbwitis’ etc.

By P.T. Shipale