I like to visit the Internet version of The Namibian, the newspaper where I spent 10 months over three separate visits. I keep in touch with the country's struggles and find a story that makes my blood boil every once in a while. Such happened earlier this week when I read about a cabinet minister's rantings about a new political party causing what he described as anti-democratic reactions in the country. He, of course, is a member of the dominant ruling party, SWAPO.
I stewed for a while about this minister's racist whinings because they were an extension of what I'd seen in my months in-country.
So I awoke this morning determined to speak back to power. It's always difficult to deal with the subject of tribalism in that country. It is rife. But it also is against the law to mention tribalism.
The picture, by the way, is of the man to whom I refer in the letter as "my blood brother". He is my dear friend Oswald Shivute, a reporter in the North of the country. He represents, to me, the hope of Namibia.
Here's my letter:
To the Editor:
Petrus Iilonga’s recent attack on the divisiveness of the Rally for Democracy and Progress demands a response.
Why is it not crystal clear to this man and his compatriots at SWAPO that he and they are on the wrong side of this issue? Mr. Iilonga, stop for a moment and review: Your SWAPO brothers – the huge majority of them – have created an underclass in Namibia by their insistence on putting their Oshiwambo-speaking brothers in the positions of highest power in the country. Why is it difficult to understand this action forces the other Namibians to be placed in a subservient position.
It just isn’t good enough to argue that the SWAPO brotherhood fought for the freedom of Namibia and, thus, is entitled to the spoils of war by placing themselves in virtually every important position – whether that be the top leadership of the country’s police, the ministries, the judiciary, local government. You cannot do this and expect the Namas, the Herero, the Damara, as well as every other group to grow in their resentment.
And so it has come to this: your fellow Namibians are at last rising up and saying “Enough is enough.”
I have never been so moved as when I stood in a football stadium in Otjiwarongo and listened as 15,000 Namibians stood to attention and raised their voices in unison to sing your national anthem. Tears came to my eyes as I envisioned the promise of a unified nation, a nation where each person saw himself or herself as a Namibian instead of a member of a tribal group. I have spent many months in your country as a visitor and, as an experiment, I would make the point of asking strangers what they were. Only the white farmers’ families identified themselves as “Namibians”. Everyone else described themselves in tribal terms. This told me the government has done a terrible disservice to Namibia by not building this primary sense of country among its people.
My sense is that this is because the government – SWAPO – fails to understand this fundamental building block of democracy: You cannot have people think of themselves in other than tribal terms if you are unwilling to share the power.
This harsh criticism must be leavened by mentioning that I was singularly impressed by many, many Oshiwambo-speaking people in and out of government. If I were permitted to have a blood brother in your country, he would be an Oshiwambo with whom I spent many weeks in the North. But I also met Damara, Nama, and Herero, Himba and other men and women who desperately love their land and look to the day when they are not perceived as an underclass.
I am fully cognizant of the fact that free Namibia is a young, young country. But I fear for you as you struggle to deal with those who are not believers in the ruling party’s vision for a country that bends to their will. Why is it so difficult for the hard-line SWAPO members to see that democracy actually demands the right to dissent, to question authority, to encourage new, different ideas? When that day arrives, SWAPO will have matured and should be considered worthy of representing Namibia. Until that time, I see nothing but brutish bullying and inconsiderate short-sightedness that demeans your fellow Namibians and makes me think you have learned little from the horrors of the apartheid era.
Robert S. Mellis
Palmetto, Florida, USA
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