Politics in the cockpit of the tower of Babel

By P. Haindongo

Through this paper I intend to examine the alarming situation, which if not arrested, has a potential to engulf Namibia into a furnace of instability. I write this with the eternal love for my country and unrivaled degree of patriotism. Many of our heroes and heroines had sacrificed for the sacred caused of liberation, so that we sacrifice no more. Many had stood firm and laboured with drops of sweat in their face, “where others have wavered” so that the succeeding generations could waver no more. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude. On the contrary, an alliance of deceit has emerged. Forged like the Dark Lord Sauron of Mordor’s One Ring to rule other rings and dominate and enslave those who wear other rings. This alliance has a grand design of conspiracy to side with whoever is against SWAPO.

With the above depiction in mind, I now want to make a comparative analysis of the events of last Sunday at Outapi and let those with eyes see for themselves and those with ears hear for themselves. I will not leave any stone unturned in the pursuit of the whole truth, nothing, but the truth. My focus of analysis today is on no other person, but Mr. Jessaya Nyamu of RDP. There are many things I could narrate about him, but that task requires five volumes and I am in no mood to do that, it is a waste of my time and energy. Let me now turn my attention to the Outapi episode and the ill conceived crusade of Mr. Nyamu. Let us also examine the campaign through various lenses of analysis. I am referring to the methods and purpose of campaign. We must be clear on the two before the actual application be it at the place or by the participants themselves. I was shocked to read that Mr. Nyamu went ahead to lead a “military- style convoy” into Outapi, followed by a queue of supporters epitomizing the interahamwe; armed with machetes and an assortment of knobkerries (The Interahamwe (Kinyarwanda meaning “those who stand/work/ fight/attack together”) is a Hutu paramilitary organization that used traditional weapons to cause genocide in Ruanda). Is it right to go to an election campaign with weapons of war? What role will a weapon play in the process of canvassing support or wining over people? It is unacceptable for a person to go for the Sunday church service wearing a swimming costume, but no one will be offended if one goes to the beach with a swimming costume because that is what it is meant for.

Coming back to Mr. Nyamu, it is one thing when a person speaks sensible things, but when he starts talking as if he is in need of psychological assistance, then it is obvious that he should be placed in the appropriate human category. The bible teaches us the story of the idea to construct the tower of Babel and how the builders were cursed by the words from the High Throne. Something of similar nature is happening in Namibia and we see to it that it does not degenerate into the situation of the tower of Babel. There are political parties following the foot prints of the construction workers of the tower of Babel. One that crosses my mind is the one represented by Mr. Jesaya Nyamu. Although Mr. Nyamu is well known for throwing words like a loose cannon firing in different directions, but without hitting the intended target, sometimes he can embarrass even the party he represents.

Mr. Nyamu is obsessed with his divisive language calling people the “Omusati Clique” and the socalled objective media seems to be “telling it like it is” and appears to be agreeing with Mr. Nyamu, through a conspiracy veil of silence, that there is indeed the “Omusati Clique”. Is it right for a politician to go to a place and shout a derogatory word which reflects negatively on people he is supposed to win over? Culturally, it is unusual for a guest to insult his host or hostess. What does the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia say about the “Omusati Clique”? Article 1 sub-section 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia states the following: “The Republic of Namibia is hereby established as a sovereign, secular, democracy, the rule of law and justice for all”. Henceforth, Mr. Nyamu needs a mental liberation from the self entangled chain of ignorance. Although Mr. Nyamu was not part of those who drafted the Constitution, due to self inflicted mischievous and indiscretions, he knows what I am talking about. In case of his usual memory lapse, which could not be ruled out, I am referring to something that happened in Luanda in the late 1980s. I would not waste time on that, but would revisit it should it become absolutely necessary. How do we categorize the term “Omusati Clique”? The terminology “Omusati clique” is a hate word which falls in the categories of hate speech. The media including those claiming to be “telling it like it is” or self-appointed human rights activists as well the clergymen by day and politicians by night are either silent or out-right embarrassed, or they are in agreement with Mr. Nyamu. This alliance would want us to accept it that Mr. Nyamu is exercising his freedom of speech. Well they do him neither a favour nor helping him to climb down from a tree of ignorance to which he had impaled himself. They are playing a perfect role that was reserved for the Pharisees and Sadducees since time immemorial. The Constitution of the Republic of Namibia makes no room for derogatory phrases such as “Omusati Clique”. It is shame to those who claim to be “telling it like it is”, the self appointed apostles of morality, for not condemning this regional racism. As such, a morality which is selectively applies is not only rotten to core, but rotten from the core. This is indeed a reversed form of racism which judges people not by their actions but by their place of origin. Nobody is vested with the power to choose his/her place of birth; hence, this form of discrimination is an insult to the people of Omusati and, indeed, to all peaceloving Namibians.

The RDP shouting Secretary had called for change to come to Namibia through “life or death”. No wonder his party went to Outapi with weapons of war. Should we assume that they responded to the slogan of their shouting Secretary that “life or death change would come to Namibia”? What was the reaction of the Pharisees and Sadducees of morality? The self appointed custodians of morality were all silent as if they were at war where justice is always silent. They did not even comment on the interahamwe types of weapons and tools that the police confiscated from RDP members. Were these to be used for house-tohouse and shebeen-to-shebeen as campaign materials?

Luckily, Namibia is not at war and our generation is determined not to allow such a scenario to occur, either during our life time or to our off springs and succeeding generations. It is therefore important to keep the likes of Mr. Nyamu in the political desert of ignorance to avoid divisive politics. Like children who cannot be trusted with a responsibility of taking care of fire in the house, this also applies to the likes of Mr. Nyamu and his cohorts. They are not trust worthy, like worn-out vehicles that would fail the roadworthy certification process. The coming election is a perfect chance to do that.

I would like to further analyse what was said by Mr. Nyamu on Sunday, 8 November 2009. Let me put the whole episode in the right perspective. On that Sunday, RDP borrowed or hired a venue in Outapi to hold a meeting. Why do I use the words “borrow or hire”? The reason is that, RDP and Mr. Nyamu in particular did not go to Outapi to address the people who live there, but only went there with “transported people” to hold their meeting in Outapi. I though the purpose of having a meeting or rally at a particular place is to talk to people who live in that particular area and not to bring in people from other places, otherwise why wasting your petrol to go to a far away place? What prevented Mr. Nyamu to speak to the same people at place where he collected them? The purpose of addressing people who live in a particular area is to convince them about the policy options, which must reflect their hopes and at the same time allay their fears. How can a self-respecting politician bus people around just to go and shout “Omusati Clique” like a divisive Belzebul? This only reveals the political insolvency of these people. Now the interesting question is, can we trust people who appear to suffer from diarrhoea of words and at same time are distressed by constipation of ideas? Obviously, the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, guarantees freedom of movement and association, but prudence will however indicate that in the process of exercising of those rights, craftiness is a virtue that determines the fate. I do not think Namibia has no-go areas for some political parties, but it depends on the conducts and behaviours of those engage in the campaign.

At the meeting held at a hired venue in Outapi, Mr. Nyamu reiterated his call for a need for change in the country, accusing Swapo of leading the country into “dilapidation”. On the contrary, it is Mr. Nyamu who is politically dilapidated, his words and actions are self-evident to his decay. What he says is not only contrary to conventional wisdom, but much of it could only be categorized as political thuggish. How could a person who has lost a sense of direction ever be trusted with a solemn duty to govern the country? If he has lost his compass, how can the electorate entrust such a person to steer the ship from the stormy to calm waters? Human characters say much about an individual, his or her principles what he drinks and to what extend he or she limits him or herself. Excess of everything is always bad and could lead to unintended consequences.

Mr. Nyamu through his hallucinations claims that “Omusati clique” is a group of four men and one naughty woman who have apparently taken control of the party. Now, for arguments sake, let us consult conventional wisdom and find out few things. The SWAPO Party has a sea of members and its leadership at regional level spans across thirteen regions of Namibia. Can a group of five people from one region control the whole party, let alone other 13 regions? What type of control is he talking about? Now let us move to national level. In accordance with Article VI, subsection (3) of the SWAPO Party , the Central Committee shall consist of 70 members, including the President, Vice-President, the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary General who shall be elected directly by the Congress, six (6) to be appointed by the president, three (3) elected secretaries for the wings and thirteen elected regional Coordinators. Is it possible that all these people are controlled by five people against their wishes and aspirations? This is a far fetched figment of imagination typical of the types of Nyamu, Hidipo and their shouting Secretary.

The campaign season is comparable to a market of ideas where best ideas attract voters’ attention. Can one attract voters’ attention with remarks like those made by Mr. Nyamu? These are types of politicians who act and think later. Can one ever have confidence in them let alone entrust the future of Namibia into their hands? It is like entrusting the future of the country in hands of people who are in love with a bottle of whisky which they would squeeze until the last drop. Namibia needs self-respecting and tested politicians and not those who have had an accident with history. Mr. Nyamu is right when he said that the country is facing a clear threat to peace, but what he failed to say is that the threat is from him and his party’s designs to taint the legitimacy of the democratic process. Apparently, the “Omusati Clique wants to secede Omusati region in the same way Muyongo wanted to do with Caprivi region”. Mr. Nyamu went on vomiting words like a person suffering from the self-inflicted overnight hang-over that the Clique “wants to bring Omusati close to the sea so that they can smuggle things through the proposed Cape Fria harbour”. Is this how politicians are supposed to market their ideas and attract voters? To me Mr. Nyamu with his campaign style can only attract flies and cockroaches that have now taken over Nambinga’s shops. Obviously this only reveals the degree of narrow-mindedness of Mr. Nyamu’s brain.

The laughing part of the story is when he said that the Swapoled government has a lot of uneducated Ministers, but if at all Nyamu went to school, then he needs to go back and ask those who sponsored him to be refunded back their money, because the objective of educating him was not met. He acts and behaves much worse than those who never saw the four walls of a class room. To conclude the RDP has already realized that they cannot win this coming election, what they are busy doing now is to build a case to cry foul after their expected humiliating defeat. Mr. Nyamu during a press conference stated that “the elections have thus already been compromised and the integrity of its outcome put into serious doubt” Well Mr. Nyamu wait until the people of Namibia have voted on 27 and 28 November 2009, do not preempt the outcome. It is clear that leaders of RDP are busy setting up traps for SWAPO people to fall in such as the style of their campaigns. SWAPO members should therefore, adhere to the party discipline and not to engage in violence, because that is exactly what RDP wants. They want to be beaten up because that is what makes news for them; it is part and parcel of their campaign strategy. The findings of this analysis establishes that RDP is a group led by people who thrive on fabricating stories, such as Hidipo’s allegations of election cheating, Nambinga’s life and death shouting, Nyamu’s tribal oriented remarks. Is that a vision to advance and secure the future of Namibia? Honestly I do not think so. Now we know why Nyamu’s type of interahamwe went to Outapi with weapons of war. Namibians, open your eyes and identify the wolves in sheep garments. Let those with eyes see and those with ears hear. We must not allow ourselves to act like the builders of the tower of Babel. Lest, Namibia follows the direction of a blind goat to undesired destination