Welcome


Want some insight in Namibian politics? I am no expert but have 16 years (1995-2011) of writing on Namibian politics in The Namibian newspaper and can probably offer you a bit more than you know about the who's who in the Namibian political zoo. You will also find a few articles commenting on other issues of concern in the country. Hope you find it interesting. - Christof

Friday, April 30, 2010

Can workers really celebrate May Day?

TOMORROW is Workers’ Day (May Day) – an opportunity for the masses to reflect on their contribution towards nation-building but also, I hope, time for some union leaders to take off the blinkers and, for once, to come up with strategies that will promote the interest of the workers.

Many of our workers, especially those who contribute monthly towards the salaries of some union leaders, have developed a sense of exceptional tolerance while they hardly get much out of their affiliation to such unions.
A case in point is the recent attempt to strike by customs officials, which almost everyone blasted as ‘irresponsible’ and an attempt to sabotage the country’s economy.
My take on that one is slightly different and I blame the Namibia Public Workers’ Union for the mess that played itself out.
Two years ago I wrote a story about similar threats by customs and excise officials who wanted to march to demonstrate their unhappiness about a delay in their re-grading.
Then already the officials were claiming that they had been calling unsuccessfully for a re-grading of their jobs since 2002.
The planned demonstration was not supported by the Namibia Public Workers’ Union (Napwu), which called on staff to be patient since Government was ‘working on their concerns’.
If customs and excise officials strike, Government stands to lose many millions of dollars – such is the importance of their jobs.
The bone of contention here is that the entry-level qualification for a customs and excise officer, according to the public service rules, is Grade 12.
However, the Ministry of Finance has reportedly changed the entry-level qualification to a three-year diploma or degree at a salary notch of N$46 503 to N$59 214 a year.
The staff have proposed a salary scale of N$100 818 to N$119 376 a year for the entry level because of the required academic qualification.
The workers claim the salaries have reduced them to “mere dimwit goons, dullards, no-brainers and helpless pariahs not only in the eyes of the public but also among fellow graduates and workers of other institutions”.
I am not propagating illegal strikes, but there needs to be an understanding that workers cannot take refuge in a fuzzy feel-good patriotism while they and their children go hungry.
For once union leaders such as those of Napwu need to be taken to task for the worrying and deeply authoritarian belief that has taken root amongst them that only they know what is best for workers.
Full-time Napwu unionists need to realise that they are servants of workers and not their ‘bosses’!
Some have become engulfed in ‘tenderpreneurial’ wealth as they conflate unionism with their business interests and now want to run the unions as it pleases them.
As a result some union offices have descended into being arenas of energy-sapping but useless fights instead of concentrating on workers’ interest and rights.
When last did people hear, for instance, about the plight of around 38 000 domestic workers in the country?
In 1999, the Commission of Inquiry into Labour-Related Matters Affecting Farm and Domestic Workers issued several recommendations aimed at transforming the working conditions of both farm and domestic workers.
One of the main issues was the introduction of a minimum wage for domestic and farmworkers alike.
The cattle herders and other farmworkers got their minimum wage but unions turned a blind eye to the domestic workers and they continue to be exploited with around 32 per cent of them earning wages of between N$100 and N$300 a month, according to a recent study by the Labour Resource and Research Institute.
Again, I am not calling for scenes of protest by young and old fed-up with the meagre crumbs falling from the freedom table.
But imagine how the rich, including some unionists and former unionists, will celebrate May Day tomorrow with their good fortune and all the opulence and sumptuousness the new Namibia has brought them while the needy workforce continues to suffer in silence.
Some of these rich people are known as unproductive yet wealthy black crony capitalists who only happened to have good links with certain offices.
Let the planned customs and excise strike threat be a lesson for us all. There is no malign political motive behind what those people want to do – they simply want what is due to them.

* This column first appeared in The Namibian

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Opposition Must Take Their Seats in Parliament

ELECTED Members of Parliament for the DTA of Namibia, Republican Party and the Rally for Democracy and Progress must go back to Parliament! They have made their point by boycotting sessions for a whole month.

I am suggesting this because the electorate is suffering. So are debates in the National Assembly.
The parties argue that they are entitled to more seats in the National Assembly and therefore contest the outcome of the November elections.
That means, for instance, that the 11 seats which they did collect are not in dispute and will not be affected by the outcome of their court appeal. Thus there is no prejudice to their current status as announced after the November elections.
The majority of the opposition parties shouted blue murder when the results were announced; teamed up to approach the court for permission to inspect the materials over the December holidays; challenged the results; stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony; and also appealed against the High Court order of last month.
In the appeal, nine political parties – RDP, DTA, RP, United Democratic Front, Nudo, Congress of Democrats, All People’s Party, Namibia Democratic Movement for Change and Democratic Party of Namibia – are asking the Supreme Court to reverse the March 4 decision of High Court Judge President Petrus Damaseb and Judge Collins Parker to throw the parties’ challenge to the November elections out of court on a technicality.
The two judges also ordered the opposition parties to bear the legal costs of the Electoral Commission of Namibia and Swapo which opposed their challenge to set aside last year’s elections or to order a recount of votes cast in the polls.
For that they can hold their heads up high. It was a good move for Namibia’s democracy.
Boycotting the swearing-in ceremony was a principled decision but, for me, also one that was intended to rustle up support from their constituencies as well as the international community.
In fact supporters forced the DTA leadership to stay away from the swearing-in ceremony. Nudo members tried the same with their leaders but the MPs survived the pressure and are collecting their pay cheques.
But with the latest announcement by Chief Justice Peter Shivute that the appeal will now be heard in the Supreme Court only on May 31, the three parties and their elected MPs should rethink their stance.
We have reached a kind of gridlock.
I am thinking about a scenario where the Supreme Court may refer the case back to the High Court after May 31.
If the opposition get a chance to be heard again but is not happy with the High Court ruling they can appeal to Supreme Court again. That appeal could again take another few months and keep the MPs outside the chambers for longer.
Rather than going back to Parliament then only, wouldn’t it be better if they do so now?
I know that the three parties (RDP, DTA and RP) believe that if they are sworn in now it would pre-empt the verdict of the courts and thus they decided to recuse themselves.
However, democracy - the very one the opposition parties want to promote - is being affected negatively by their Parliamentary snub.
Already the general Budget debate has been almost concluded without any input from these parties and, if they stay outside until May 31, history and the Parliamentary Hansard will record that DTA, RDP and RP were non-existent in the National Assembly between March and May 2010.
With the National Assembly set to go on recess around May 20, returning only during the last quarter of June, the politicians would thus be missing in action for another two months.
The result is that the wishes of their voters for input on the Budget and other debates in the National Assembly will be confined to the dustbin of history as some in Swapo would want.
I believe that taking their places in Parliament will not affect the outcome of their case.
Our courts are mature and at a stage where such an argument by anyone will not impact on their ruling. In any case, what about the presence, in the National Assembly, of other parties which also challenged the High Court outcome with the three? Does their presence not affect the case?
Vibrant multi-party opposition is crucial for democracy.
Instead of obsessing about the issue, the MPs should take up their seats in Parliament and do what they were elected for.
They have made their point.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

Friday, April 16, 2010

All Want A Finger In The NBC Pie

THERE is tragedy in the fact some top current and former media professionals have decided not to apply for the post of Director General at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).

Government’s interference and the Swapo infighting for positions are directly to blame for the sad scenario that has played itself out at the national broadcaster.
This is the same NBC, previously known as SWABC, which Hidipo Hamutenya, shortly after he was appointed Information Minister in March 1990, said had been operating as a propaganda machine for the South African government and he intended ensuring that “it serves the public”.
The present troubles started when Swapo – then still firmly controlled by its former President Sam Nujoma – ordered Cabinet to replace Nahum Gorelick (who had taken over from Piet Venter) with the former Deputy Minister of Information, Dan Tjongarero.
We have since had many DGs and acting DGs of the NBC.
The broadcaster has almost become a get-rich-quick scheme. Anyone getting the job is guaranteed a five-year contract which will end prematurely with a megabucks payout!
The end result negatively impacts the quality of news output as well as the potential of visionary leadership at the national broadcaster.
The NBC is in fact a lesson in how ill-conceived attempts at change can ruin a powerful institution.
Another example of Government interference at the NBC, especially with editorial policy, was in June 1995 when the then Chief of Protocol from the office of Nujoma, Martin Andjamba, entered the NBC newsroom and ‘ordered’ that unedited footage of a presidential press conference be played in full on the evening television news.
The NBC ended up carrying an edited version of the press conference on the news bulletin, which was followed by transmission of the unedited footage.
That set the tone for interference and the NBC reverting to a State propaganda tool as the SWABC had been before Independence. It also became a battleground for those aspiring to become Swapo Members of Parliament.
As time moved on what was initially an autonomous NBC board shortly after Namibia’s Independence in 1990 was replaced by people who were either active members of the ruling party and/or high-ranking civil servants in the Swapo-led Government.
Deploying party apparatchiks to boards such as that of NBC blur the boundaries between Government, these boards and their executive management.
Above all, only one of the current board members appears to have any broadcasting experience.
The NBC has become the mouthpiece of the Government, and allows little if any substantive criticism of Swapo in its reporting.
In fact, politicians from all sides want a finger in the NBC pie. That is why Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) leaders heaped insults on NBC reporters during their recent campaign for the Okahandja constituency by-election.
This was not merely a skirmish in the vicious war between those who believe the NBC should be a servant of the Government of the day and those who believe it should serve the public.
All political parties trying to get a hold on the NBC is a dangerous and astonishingly stupid idea because it would make the Corporation directly beholden to them.
I know that I am on thin ice here but cowards are notorious for taking refuge in silence when trying times call upon the brave to risk the moral hazards of taking a public position.
That is why I call on the chattering classes in political parties that have developed a voyeuristic obsession with the NBC to distance themselves from the broadcaster and allow professionals to run its business.
Once that happens, the NBC will be inundated with applications for the DG position and won’t waste money on running adverts for weeks on end to get enough CVs in to justify an appointment of someone who was already earmarked for the job.
Until Government gives the NBC its autonomy back, we will continue to see qualified and able prospective candidates staying well clear of the corporation.
As for those appointed in the meantime, both the Board and the appointees will be taking a fat chance. So much so that they get a fat cheque within a few months!

* This article first appeared in The Namibian.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

ACC is becoming its own worst enemy

THE Anti-Corruption Commission of Namibia is fast becoming its own worst enemy.

The Commission without commissioners is losing high-profile cases on the grandest scale – conditions that cement the propensity for failure of a statutory body created by an Act of Parliament with the mission “to fight corruption in Namibia through effective law enforcement and preventative measures in a professional manner for the good of society”.

I won’t even bother to refer to its vision which states that the ACC wants “to be a world-class Anti-Corruption Commission”!
There is nothing wrong with striving to become a world-class institution but it can’t be rolled into one with sloppy work and bad organisation.
Last week High Court Judge Marlene Tommasi ordered the ACC to return all items seized from Permanent Secretary of Works and Transport George Simataa’s office and his home in Windhoek. These included computers and documents used in an investigation into Simataa’s alleged appointment of a Zimbabwean academic as a management training consultant for the Ministry.
Tommasi declared that the two search warrants that ACC investigators had obtained from Windhoek Magistrate Duard Kesslau on March 1 and 10 were invalid and unlawful.
In the process she set aside any actions taken by the ACC while using the two warrants and told the Commission to cough up for Simataa’s legal costs.
From court documents presented by Simataa’s lawyer, Sisa Namandje, it seems the ACC acted on a story published in a weekly tabloid, but basics, like the heading of the search warrant, were not cross-checked and cost them the case.
The ACC should have known that a search warrant, for instance, should be addressed to a specific officer instead of a general ‘to all authorised officers’ which can be open to abuse!
I have no problem with the ACC acting on media reports, but when sloppiness due to overzealousness creeps in, it drags down the significance of an organisation which is supposed to be one of the brightest stars in our firmament as a country.
Namandje is the same lawyer who took on the ACC, instructed by National Housing Enterprise chief executive officer Vinson Hailulu, and won some of the bouts on technicalities in another drawn-out case.
An additional case which comes to mind is that of Hardap Governor Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, who was acquitted last year on two charges of corruption after Namandje pointed out that the alleged offences were committed a year before the Anti-Corruption Act was enacted in 2005.
Namibia and the world (especially China) are watching the Teko case unfold with an eagle’s eye.
In this one, three suspects – Public Service Commissioner Teckla Lameck, her business partner, Kongo Mokaxwa, and Chinese national Yang Fan – are charged in connection with a multimillion-dollar deal for the provision of Chinese-made X-ray scanning equipment to the Ministry of Finance that has earned them a ‘commission’ of over N$42 million.
Namandje is in the mix again representing the trio. He pointed out that material evidence had not been disclosed to the court when a request was made for the assets restraint order.
The court was also informed that Lameck had written a letter to President Hifikepunye Pohamba in December 2008 to declare her outside business interests – including her involvement in Teko Trading. The letter was never presented to the court by the ACC or State House and thus the High Court found the non-disclosure as misleading the court and unfair to Lameck.
That was one of the main reasons why the Teko trio got their assets back – on a technicality.
The laxity with which such investigations are conducted is tarnishing the image of the ACC as well as those publicly investigated have their reputation sullied. ACC officials are seen visiting or calling in suspects but no public announcements are made to correct perceptions when nothing is found against the suspects.
The ACC needs to remember that they are more than just another criminal investigation unit. They are an organisation whose standing in society, as well as its support and legitimacy, must be beyond question.
They should be seen to be acting in what is in the best and long-term interests of Namibia, not just running around like headless chickens.
This is a symptom of what has happened at the ACC since it started operations.
With ACC director Paulus Noa’s term coming to an end later this year, he needs to realise that the biggest threat to the Commission’s success is weakness from within.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Tough Union Choices Still To Be Made

Tough Union Choices Still To Be Made


LABOUR analyst Herbert Jauch, pondering the destiny of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) 10 years ago, wrote that there were “some tough choices to be made by Namibia’s trade unions”.

Indeed true and very urgent, I thought at the time. But how wrong I was.
The umbrella federation has cruised through the last century at the expense of the workers.
The ‘best’ the unions have done is to expose hibernators, fight over leadership and churn out candidates for the Swapo Party parliamentary list.
They continue to lose more and more of their cadres to influential Government positions but they stick to the whims of the ruling party instead of using their positions to the workers’ advantage.
The majority of those leaders have so far been guilty of conflation of political and worker interests.
Each year they contribute to the ‘zombification’ of the working class as they have lost many of their rights through compromises by their leaders.
Last week the new National Assembly has, once again, seen two union stalwarts, NUNW president Alpheus Muheua and Namibia Public Workers Union’s Eliphas Dingara, in the quicksand of Swapo politics.
They are lost to union politics.
In the case of Muheua anyone but a blind man could have seen the writing on the wall.
Like many others before him he has sacrificed his position as a union leader in the party over the past couple of years.
The most significant of his roles was when he sat on the Government negotiating team while he was president of NUNW, and told workers that they were not entitled to their demands.
Muheua was also among the first people who badmouthed the new Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) in 2007 when he addressed a workers’ leadership retreat.
At that meeting he also reminded all and sundry that NUNW would remain in Swapo.
He had adopted the same tactic used by others before him who gunned for the opposition and at the speed of light ended up in Parliament.
Unions have thus lost many a firebrand leader who have become spokespersons of the ruling party and Government.
The recipe is the same for every union leader. Make the loudest noise against the ‘enemies’ of the State like ‘Boers’, imperialists, confused opposition; chant for land grabs and foreign-owned media and you get the ticket to the ruling party’s parliamentary list. This constitutes very cheap politicking at the expense of union business.
One of the first signs of the unions’ precipitous descent into the world of Swapo was in 1994 when Bernhardt Esau was the General Secretary and announced that the NUNW was considering forming its own political party. This caused consternation in the unions as well as among Swapo and state security circles.
Soon Esau was summoned to Swapo headquarters and quickly retracted his statement.
By late the same year he, John Shaetonhodi and late Walter Kemba, were on former President Sam Nujoma’s choice of 32 of Swapo candidates for the 1994 parliamentary elections. Today he is the Minister of Fisheries.
The new Deputy Minister of Agriculture Petrus Iilonga controversially remained Secretary General of Napwu while he was in Parliament.
In October 1999 former President Sam Nujoma appointed the late Gabes Shihepo as Deputy Minister of Information. A month before that he was the president of the Namibia National Farmers’ Union (NNFU) and organised the biggest demonstration of communal farmers calling for land reform to be speeded up.
A year later we saw NUNW president late Ponhele ya France threatening with a Zimbabwe-style land grab during a May Day rally and rapping “Namibians of European origin” for being unwilling to co-operate to redress the discrepancies brought about by colonialism.
He was subsequently rewarded with a seat in Parliament.
The million-dollar question is whether the workers actually benefit from the elevation of their leaders.
Unions have become powerless in their negotiations with, for example, the Government.
Workers continue to suffer with low wages, unreasonable dismissals, unabated retrenchments and general disregard of basic human rights as the unions affiliated to Swapo continuously fail to influence policies.
As they are on a Swapo ticket, the union leaders seem more accountable to the party than the working masses and cannot even be recalled by members.
In short, they are Swapo MPs and not unionists.
It is time for the workers to reassert the benefits, if at all, that they get from representation in Parliament. The tough choices Jauch referred to 10 years ago are now more urgent than before.
As it is now, change is a distant reality as long as union leaders are unable to extricate themselves from the quagmire called Swapo.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

Swapo battle shifts into another gear

Swapo battle shifts into another gear


THE appointment of Utoni Nujoma as Namibia’s new Foreign Minister should not be seen as the high-water mark of his political ascendancy, nor just a run-of-the-mill promotion as some may think.

On the contrary, it is yet another shift in gear for Nujoma junior who has been waiting patiently in the wings to strike at the right time and ultimately become not only Swapo but also Namibia’s President.
Strikingly, not only Nujoma but several others must have walked away on Sunday night believing they had made progress in yet another round of the battle for supremacy in the ruling party and Namibian politics.
Also in this elite group are the likes of new Education Minister Abraham Iyambo and new Safety and Security Minister Nangolo Mbumba. Both have made steady progress in the party ranks and their chances of ending up in the uppermost office should also be seared into the nation’s consciousness.
The dark horse could be the gravel-voiced, outspoken and straight-talking Kazenambo Kazenambo, the new Minister of Youth and Sport.
By the way, these are all challengers for the presidential race after Hage Geingob has finished his one or two terms as well as the emergence of either the first female President in Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana or a Jerry Ekandjo, who is also waiting in the wings.
To all intents and purposes Geingob appears set to become the new Swapo leader, but his followers would be wise to play by the party rules and not frustrate the “power-that-be” in Swapo for the next two years.
By frustrate I mean the noise made by Kazenambo in a local weekly about whether it is time for a non-Owambo leader to become Swapo president.
While Kazenambo has every right to freedom of expression, Geingob needs no campaign team in Swapo to become the successor to Pohamba as things are now.
In July last year, the Swapo Central Committee effectively paved the way for Geingob when it approved draft rules and procedures for the election of its office bearers, clearly outlining the line of succession.
It states that the party’s presidential candidate will come from the top four party leaders in order of seniority. Another line in the document states that if the sitting President cannot be re-elected because of the two-term constraint, the ruling party’s vice president will be the automatic choice as presidential candidate.
It was introduced to avoid a repeat of the 2004 Swapo extraordinary congress when Pohamba had to vie with Hidipo Hamutenya, who has since left the party and formed the Rally for Democracy and Progress, and Prime Minister Nahas Angula, in a three-cornered contest.
A campaign for Geingob will only harden the hearts of those who have started accepting that the Swapo vice president is likely to become their new leader after Pohamba’s exit. It won’t do him any favours as ‘guided democracy’ has already been set in motion.
What it will certainly do is to antagonise certain quarters, widen already existing camps and cause an uncomradely kerfuffle which could easily reverberate throughout the party.
The end result is losing out on a leader who stands head and shoulders above many of his colleagues as a voice of reason.
Without wanting to sound like an oracle ensconced in some seat of better wisdom, I believe that the question on many minds should be whether Iyambo, Mbumba and Kazenambo will now build their ascendancy on a rock or on sand.
For Swapo are, in many respects, a difficult bunch to unbundle. The internal political dynamics can change very quickly. Just take Helmut Angula who ended up jobless after taking on the party’s youth league.
Those who may look askance at Utoni Nujoma’s ascendancy need only glance at other family dynasties around the world. An example is the Bush family in America and how the son returned a few years after the father stepped down as the president of one of the world’s biggest democracies.
Nujoma has an influential group of backers in Swapo, starting with his father, and the power of historical example can never be ruled out completely.
That is despite him trying by all means to be a politician in his own right, and attempting to move out of his father’s shadow.
The 2012 party congress thus becomes increasingly important as any serious contender for the higher echelons of Swapo needs to get into the top four positions and move up the ladder with time.
For now, and as sure as Amen follows a prayer, the political battle in Swapo has just stepped up another gear.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

Stop the struggle-era rhetoric

Stop the struggle-era rhetoric

By: Christof Maletsky

ON March 21 some 45 years ago Luther King Jnr began a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Five years earlier, in South Africa’s Sharpeville, apartheid forces mowed down 72 people and outlawed the African National Congress.

Namibia entered the annals of history 20 years ago when the day marked the end of decades of colonial rule with the South African flag lowered at midnight, and a new nation was born with Sam Nujoma as the first President of the Republic.
That was the turning point in the struggle against apartheid and the beginning of a new struggle for economic development.
The following 15 years, at each Independence anniversary, former President Nujoma went big on struggle-era rhetoric.
I found this became dull over the ensuing years. It had been understandable in the first five years as his main role was to unite the country by promoting the concept of national reconciliation, peace and stability. He had to hammer it into our minds.
This he did diligently at every opportunity.
When President Hifikepunye Pohamba took over five years ago I, and many others, had different expectations.
Though many, especially foreigners, punted the view that Pohamba was a Nujoma look-alike, I expected new ways of doing things even though I didn’t expect a 180-degree turn!
His maiden speech on March 21 2005 was well rehearsed and crafted.
He came out punching on graft, spoke about the right people for the right jobs and, more than that, inspired confidence in the future.
Among others, he spoke about changing the fortunes of State-owned enterprises, curbing foreign trips, engendering more ministerial accountability and a host of other measures aimed at enhancing efficiency and eliminating corruption.
That’s the last time I enjoyed one of his speeches.
They’ve since become uninspiring and monotonous, exposing us to the usual service-delivery mantra, importance of peace and, occasionally, promises of reining in on corruption.
No real eloquent articulation of a call to responsibility.
Yet some of the most important ingredients in public speaking deal with the voice volume, eye contact and posture.
Sometimes, from the way the speech is delivered, one wonders whether the President understands or even has good grasp about the issues he addresses. Movements and posture could assist in creating a better perception.
In many instances, when he addresses the nation through pre-recordings or ceremonies such as the opening of Parliament, the President’s tone lets him down big time. Even distinctive phrases that can define, or make history, are used ‘by the way’.
The result is that he ends up boring people like me whose job it is to listen to him.
I know that results rule but words can help to inspire.
We do not expect the ‘masterful’ style of the Barack Obamas of this world but even the President knows he can do better.
Having said the above about the President’s presentation style, I also wonder whether there is any real effort made by those who write his speeches.
The majority sounds like a repetition of the previous one. In fact, it is almost like a cut-and-paste job.
There is nothing wrong with emphasising the importance of certain topics like the fact that he won’t brook corruption, inefficiency and laziness, but sometimes even the NBC ‘Talk of the Nation’ show with a group of dull and verbose diplomats from the frontline states (like last Tuesday) generates more interest than what our President has to say.
On Sunday he needs to map the agenda of his administration for the next five years in very clear and decisive terms and give us good reasons on the policy choices and how they will be prioritised during his last term.
Needless rhetoric and sugarcoating will do us no good.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

Advice To The President On His New Cabinet

Advice To The President On His New Cabinet

By: CHRISTOF MALETSKY

JUST when we thought that political campaigns were over, they started afresh. The only difference is that this time around it is in Swapo and has to do with appointments to the new Cabinet.

Nowadays the phrase on the lips of most senior Swapo politicians: “did you get called?”. They are asking one another whether President Hifikepunye Pohamba had called them to State House to discuss a possible appointment.
I have also been waiting for a call from President Pohamba! Mine was to become a one-day consultant to advise him on how to go about compiling his new team. For some reason it didn’t happen and time is running out!
I have thus taken the liberty to use my pen (sorry, computer) to write down a few notes I want the newspaper vendor to deliver at the doors of the new State House.
Initially I compiled a whole list of Cabinet ministers and deputies but realised that people started ‘leaking’ President Pohamba’s lists in the hope of stirring public debate.
Why can’t they just release theirs like Paul Shipale – a regular contributor to a local daily?
Anyway, the next five years will be the last for President Pohamba at the helm and he needs to really make his mark.
That means he will have to be very straight and tell some of his current crop of ministers that they have failed to deliver and need to step aside.
We desperately need new and good blood in our political system. I mean people with not only talent and energy but also moral integrity. A good mix of experience and young blood is what we now need.
From the current crop, Finance Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila and Dr Abraham Iyambo are the youngest, but both protégés of former President Sam Nujoma. They are also the only ones under the age of 50.
Pohamba has yet to unleash any one of Swapo’s ‘generation next’ and this year is his last opportunity.
Due to time and space I will limit my input to certain key ministries and probably the boldest moves.
First it’s important to point out that since Independence the size of our Cabinet has increased from 22 to 26 in 2005.
Japan runs the world’s second largest economy with just 28 ministers.
Your best administrators are supposed to be in the civil service, not in Cabinet.
As a starter my Prime Minister would be Abraham Iyambo. Recently I had the opportunity to listen to him addressing a group of young people. He revealed how he administered Swapo Youth League and even disciplined older comrades “for the sake of Namibia”.
I got the impression that he will be a brave young man who will not stand back at the challenge of taking the Namibian public service back to where it started out.
Having said that, I initially wanted Hage Geingob, and was not going to take kindly to him telling me that he prefers to stay at Trade. It’s about who can do the work best and I still think he is the first candidate.
For Pohamba to leave with a bang, he needs to create the position of Executive Minister in his office and move Geingob there.
It will not be a token job but he will work very closely with the Prime Minister to set the agenda and transform the Party’s manifesto into workable Government policies.
It means the two will have a very clear mandate and set targets which need to be reviewed on an annual basis.
Iyambo will be deputised by Marco Hausiku and I have shifted the current Prime Minister to the position of Foreign Affairs Minister.
Theo-Ben Gurirab is a diplomat and the ideal scenario would have been to move him back to Foreign Affairs.
However, someone whispered to me that one of the undertakings Namibia made when Gurirab was nominated for the presidency of the International Parliament Union was that he would serve the whole term. Doreen Sioka will remain the deputy.
That is why Nahas Angula must go to Foreign Affairs and teach diplomats with the ever-diplomatic Elia Kaiyamo as deputy.
I had Martin Shalli at defence even before opposition filed their papers to challenge the election results. Therefore, I am not copying anyone there. His deputy should be former Plan fighter Kazenambo Kazenambo.
I would also like to give Dr Becky Ndjoze-Ojo (another presidential nominee) a shot at Education while former teacher Isak Katali and Dr David Namwandi would be her deputies. Katali is for basic education and Namwandi for higher education.
We will have a new Finance Minister in Tom Alweendo, deputised by Bernhardt Esau, while Kuugongelwa-Amadhila will be in charge of the Trade Ministry. Her negotiation skills came through very clearly when she was still at the National Planning Commission and we can utilise them well to bring in investment and trade deals.
I don’t think Dr Boniface Mutumba will mind if we appoint him as Deputy Minister of Trade.
I have merged the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry with Lands and Resettlement with Sakkie Coetzee from the Namibia Agriculture Union as head.
As a balancing act I will have the young and vibrant Peya Mushelenga as deputy in charge of lands and resettlement while Evelyne Nawases-Kayele will be head of water and forestry.
Charles Namoloh will move to Safety and Security and will be accompanied by Tommy Nambahu while John Mutorwa and Lempy Lucas will be in charge of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism as Minister and Deputy Minister.
I have merged the Ministry of Mines and Energy with Labour. Veteran politician Ben Amathila will head the ministry and have two deputies in Sylvia Makgone (Mines and Energy) and Alpheus Muheua (Labour).
The same goes for the Ministry of Minister of Health and Gender Equality. I opted to retain Dr Richard Kamwi as Minister but with Petrina Haingura (Health) and Priscilla Beukes (Gender Equality).
Loide Kasingo must try to improve matters at the Ministry of Home Affairs, while Alpheus Naruseb gets Works and Transport deputised by Petrus Iilonga.
Joel Kaapanda gets Youth and Sport but will have two deputies in Clive Willemse (Youth) and Pohamba Shifeta (Sport). Willemse is a presidential nominee and has established himself in working with the youth at community level.
Justice will have a new Minister in Utoni Nujoma (do I have a choice!) and he will be deputised by Chief Samuel Ankama.
I opted for Tjekero Tweya at Fisheries with former Governor Billy Mwaningange as his deputy.
The Director General of the National Planning Commission will be Nangolo Mbumba.
The last Ministry will be that of Regional, Local Government and Housing with Jerry Ekandjo and Erastus Uutoni as his deputy.
The Attorney General will become a full-fledged office at Cabinet level with Albert Kawana in charge.
The implementation of the August 2002 Swapo congress resolution on the effective functioning of the party secretariat is long overdue. It was passed when President Hifikepunye Pohamba was still the Secretary General. Thus the party’s Secretary General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana will be full-time at the head office.
The Ministry of Information will become a department in the Office of the President.
There you have it, the Cabinet I would have proposed to President Pohamba had I been his advisor. Unfortunately, I am not.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

Get rid of lazy teachers

Get rid of lazy teachers

By: CHRISTOF MALETSKY

LAST week somewhere in the US (Central Falls, Rhode Island) all the teachers (principal included) at an underperforming high school were fired.

The school is the only one in the tiny, impoverished city and only half of its pupils graduate while only seven percent of 11th-graders, who are aged 16 to 17, were proficient in maths in 2009.
The teachers were fired as part of a plan to make-over failing schools.
Meanwhile in Namibia there is an uproar from teachers in some regions over the extension of their working hours until 16h00 in the afternoon.
On Thursday newspapers carried an advert from the teachers’ union warning the Government not to impose extra hours on teachers as it is not part of their agreement. At the same time Nantu said they will not compromise on quality of service delivery (presumably teaching).
Now, if you have a close look at our education statistics you will realise that only three out of every 10 pupils who enroll in primary schools actually complete their secondary school.
Of the around 404 783 pupils at primary level only around six per cent ultimately make it to tertiary level.
Some of us in the private sector work from 07h30 to 18h00 Monday to Friday. In the case of journalists at private institutions, we are actually on duty 24 hours a day without any overtime payment.
Why? Because we want to give our best. It is about dedication and commitment.
It is also a fact that not all teachers lazy.
That is why you have a region like Otjozondjupa leapfrogging from seventh position in 2008 to first in last year’s Grade 12 Ordinary Level examinations.
The good results didn’t just fall from heaven. They must have worked hard - school management, teachers and pupils.
But then you also had a region like Hardap which was first the previous year and slumped to sixth in the 2009 exams.
I am sure that the pupils will sink further into the quagmire of non-performance if nothing is done.
The Khomas Region, where the regional education director recently instructed teachers in Government schools to work until 16h00, plummeted from second spot to fourth for full-time candidates in Grade 12.
There needs to be drastic changes in the attitude of the teachers who refuse to go the extra mile for the pupils.
Why should almost all other civil servants work eight hours a day and teachers won’t comply just because it has been like that in the past.
If our educational output is not according to the desired levels, things can’t continue to be business as usual.
I do not pin the blame on teachers alone. I can’t do that because education is a very inclusive field and teachers, pupils, parents and political leaders all need to play their parts.
We also know that the Government is legendary in failing to deliver the necessary services like textbooks and classrooms on time while the conditions of employment for some teachers are laughable, the remuneration appalling and exploitative. Thus every week teachers leave Government’s employ, citing greener pastures elsewhere.
Of course, Government devotes a large portion of its financial resources to education - although nearly 80 per cent goes on the wage bill - every financial year and the country is among one of the highest investors in education on the African continent.
I suggest that good teachers be rewarded and lazy ones disciplined. It is not the unions f job to protect lazy teachers just because they are members of the union.
In fact, Nantu or any other union’s job must also be to see that the work quality of their members is high and that they show serious commitment.
How do you explain the good results coming in from some rural schools?
While many complain about the lack of laboratory equipment, libraries and other teachings aids, some rural schools managed to outperform others in main towns.
Last year the Oshigambo Senior Secondary came third (Grade 12) nationally after being sixth the previous year. Negumbo senior Secondary was sixth, up from 13th in 2008.
Others like Gabriel Taapopi SSS are in the top 20 of Namibia’s Grade 12 Ordinary Level results.
On the contrary, none of the high schools in Karas, Hardap, Caprivi, Ohangwena and Kunene made it to the top 20.
Should we still say that it has to do with resources?
Perhaps it is time to revisit the Education Code which was launched in 2004 when John Mutorwa was Minister of Basic Education and Nahas Angula in charge of Higher Education.
That code provides guidelines for teachers to deliver effective teaching and learning as well to set basic professional requirements and minimum standards of professional conduct for teachers. It calls on teachers to take their tasks as educators seriously.
When he launched it at the time Angula said if a parent found a teacher not following the Education Code, they could even take the culprit to court.
I also wish those who have made it their vocation to remind us what the Constitution says about Affirmative Action and the reversal of past discriminatory laws which has now given them ownership over, among others, mineral and mining rights, would also tell the teachers that the same document says gall persons shall have the right to education”.
Education can turn out to be the single most effective black economic empowerment strategy, or redistribution tool, if all of us put our minds to it.
For me the spectre of indulging those teachers who refuse to work extra hours because they want things to be “business as usual” is too ghastly to contemplate. I rest my case.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

Let the ‘Battle of Okahandja’ start

Let the ‘Battle of Okahandja’ start

By: CHRISTOF MALETSKY

TOMORROW the traditional hope of the oppressed, Swapo, will come up against a coalition of the wounded as Okahandja residents decide on a new regional councillor for the ‘garden town’.

It will be an historic election in many respects.
Although coalition politics has become an almost inevitable practice in many parliamentary democracies in the world, Namibian politicians have evaded it for some time now. This was mainly because of historical reasons as some parties certainly had a hand in the oppression of the people before Independence.
Tomorrow an alliance of diametrically opposed parties will square up against Swapo to try and wrestle the constituency away from the ruling party and send a message out that they are ready to mount a serious challenge come the November regional elections.
It seems that the opposition in the coalition have found a hero and saviour in Rally for Democracy and Progress leader, Hidipo Hamutenya. In fact, Congress of Democrats’ MP Elma Dienda called him their messiah at the weekend’s rally.
Hamutenya himself made no secret of the fact that the main goal was to capture power throughout Namibia and shape the direction the country will take over the coming years.
Although the RDP, at formation, had proclaimed that they (as a party) would defeat Swapo and run the country, anyone but a blind man could have seen the writing on the wall about them taking a u-turn and approaching others to form a coalition.
For now, only a coalition can put up a meaningful challenge to Swapo.
From attending their last rally, I have noticed that the language and tactics of the alliance partners have already become virtually indistinguishable - CoD leaders called their counterparts in RDP and UDF ‘comrades’.
A vibrant multi-party opposition is crucial for Namibia’s democracy but I wonder how long it will take before cracks appear over the selection of candidates, the level of the playing field (platform), various political tactics and approaches to issues.
For instance, although the coalition agreed on putting up the RDP person as their candidate, the posters branded around down were more RDP than anything else. There was no way a Republican Party member could identify with the candidate by looking at the poster.
In addition, the way in which the candidate was decided on - apparently her name was announced while some other parties were still busy with internal consultations - could also be a stumbling block in the future.
RDP must take care not to be seen to be pushing their agenda or being bullish in their approach on this one.
The coalition needs to identify the best candidate in a constituency based on merit and not on the basis of the party such a person belongs to, or the financial muscle of the political party in question. In the process they could also even involve ‘apoliticals’ who have proven to be good administrators and, in the process, avoid independents splitting their vote as will happen tomorrow.
Soon the new National Assembly will (hopefully) be sworn in and as new brooms clean the best, we expect heated debates!
It will be interesting to see how the opposition will handle some debates because, while they may have united in their campaign to dethrone Swapo during the November elections, they could also differ on some fundamental issues during such debates. And they’ll be watched with an eagle’s eye in this regard!
While the coalition still needs to iron out finer details about their approach to the November election, there was hardly any time for elaborate preparations for tomorrow’s battle in Okahandja.
With four candidates in the line-up for tomorrow and the opposition still split (Swanu have their own candidate also), I expect Swapo to stroll the last 30 metres of the 100 metre sprint to the finish line.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

Avert orphans catastrophe

Avert orphans catastrophe

By: Christof Maletsky

OPENING the first session of Cabinet towards the end of last month, President Hifikepunye Pohamba called on ministers to cast their eyes “further on the horizon towards the future” as they continue to improve, among other things, public institutions for faster, more efficient and effective service delivery.

The future he spoke about begins with children.
The recent findings of the Auditor General’s Office on service delivery to more than 100 000 orphans and vulnerable children is an indicator of the Government’s grasp of the wrongs that need to be righted if we are to attain Vision 2030.
How else could the status quo continue for more than three years without being noticed or addressed?
It cannot be right to celebrate, as we did with the Budget speech of last year, that N$16 million is set aside for these children in the form of maintenance, foster or disability grants when such money hardly reaches the beneficiaries.
In democracies all over the world it is a known fact that any society whose continued success is pivoted around a few – to the total neglect of the majority – is a ticking time bomb that will explode to claim both the rich and the poor as victims.
We already have grim problems facing more than 15 000 pupils who drop out of Grade 10 and Grade 12 each year and swell the unemployment statistics – which by the way now stand at 51 per cent according to a recent research.
The Namibia National Students’ Organisation has repeatedly described the country’s education system as a time bomb ready to explode due to the high number of dropouts.
Combining the education problems with the predicament of the OVCs, Government needs to get its house in order as quick as a flash to avoid a social catastrophe.
As a ‘Government for all’ which professes ‘pro-poor’ policies, our aim must be to empower the majority of Namibians to be able to fend for themselves with their dignity intact.
That is not happening, as can be seen from reports such as the one released by Auditor General Junias Kandjeke.
Worst still, by trampling on people whose dignity has already been laid to waste by poverty, through the deaths of their parents, we risk the erosion of the fighting spirit of a nation that seems to now give up on ever recovering its sense of self-worth.
The Government, and its ministries, exist strictly to manage power that was acquired, in this case by Swapo. What the Ministry of Gender Equality or the Government, by extension, must realise is that the power was given to them by the people and so what they do with it must always concern citizens.
In this case it concerns the thousands of OVCs whose rights are democratically enshrined in the Namibian Constitution.
If we are not careful Namibia’s much-hailed and talked-about democracy would be populated by dead people walking with certain rights that prove to be not worth the paper they are written on.
Democracy must not only show teeth to smile but also to snarl and bite. It must bite those who are entrusted with the lives of others but who fail them dismally and without any regret.
When it is time to discuss the report (if it ever will be discussed), I expect Members of Parliament to cry to high heaven of the impending danger caused by the dire situation Namibian orphans and vulnerable children find themselves in. Failure to do so is making yourself guilty of high treason!
There is no room for coyness or sweet-talk on this one.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

Do Our PSes Have A Contract With The People?

Do Our PSes Have A Contract With The People?

By: CHRISTOF MALETSKY

TOWNSHIP shebeens as well as that hub of political chatter, Herero Mall, are abuzz with discussions around whether permanent secretaries should have contracts.

This after last week’s revelation that President Hifikepunye Pohamba was offering some PSes new contracts while others have six months left before they part company with their air-conditioned executive offices.
Such talk is healthy and as I can’t be at every shebeen, mall, club or party section meeting (I’m a political gentile!), herewith my feelings on the issue.
There are several questions around contracts for permanent secretaries – the most prominent of which is whether jobs should be reserved for political party cadres.
I am for reserving jobs for cadres (note I used the word cadres and not comrades). It happens in known democracies such as the US and UK.
I think that even some people in the opposition will agree with me on this one.
When the National Council was discussing the performance of pa-rastatals in August 2002, former Swapo councillor Erasmus ‘Kaptein’ Hendjala argued that all strategic positions in Go-vernment and parastatals must be given to Swapo cadres.
He has since joined the Rally for Democracy and Progress whose manifesto says “the practice of jobs for comrades will end” when they take over Government.
My understanding of a cadre is someone specially trained for a particular purpose or profession. That means a cadre is someone skilled in the job he or she does.
Second, such a cadre must contest against other cadres or else cadre deployment in the public service could be challenged (as happened a few years back) in the courts of law.

CULTIVATING PROFESSIONALISM

If service delivery is to reach effective and efficient levels any time soon, it is necessary to put all our accounting officers – and not just some as is the case currently – on contracts.
That will cultivate professionalism, objectivity, accountability and responsiveness to the needs of ordinary people.
We need ethical top civil servants who are not answerable to political parties, who understand cadres as their representatives in cases of tenders and for jobs for kin and comrades. They must be transparently accountable in the constitutionally prescribed way (think freedom from discrimination).
So when I heard the news about new contracts for permanent secretaries, my immediate reaction was that it could not have come a day too soon.
Put all of them on results-driven contracts as opposed to which peacock has the brightest feathers or who attends the most party rallies.
President Pohamba must instruct the Prime Minister to draw up contracts that will force the permanent secretaries to keep producing their top game!
Why should ministers and their deputies be put on five-year contracts and be sacked if they fail to deliver but the same can’t be applied to people who are actually supposed to run the ministry or agency as chief accounting officers?
In fact the Prime Minister must have the mandate to do job appraisals on the PSes at pre-arranged intervals so as to keep them on their toes and to also reward them accordingly.
If there is a lack in performance measures, we risk facing what happened in South Africa – if it has not happened already.
A year ago that country’s former Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, told the ruling party that the practice of promoting party loyalists beyond their competence was a major reason for poor service delivery.
In what was seen as a blistering attack on the ANC’s ‘jobs-for-comrades’ approach, Manuel criticised fellow MPs of failing to perform their oversight job of ensuring that taxpayers receive value for money.
I would take it further by suggesting that the Prime Minister sets in motion benchmarking on performance contracts for not only PSes but also for heads of parastatals.
The Swapo Party Election Manifesto Implementation Guide of 1999, initiated by Pohamba when he was still Secretary General, calls for the “appointments of long standing tested and capable cadres in the strategic positions in Government and parastatals”.
I say let’s appoint ‘cadres’ with the right qualifications and with a clear mandate.
President Pohamba, you have five more years to change things around. There will not be a better time than now.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian.

Swapo 101: How to get ahead in party politics

Swapo 101: How to get ahead in party politics

By: Christof Maletsky

THE 2012 leadership race is already underway in Swapo, with several aspiring leaders preparing to make moves for key positions over the next couple of months.

That is also why a recent article in a local weekly newspaper about whether the ruling party is ready for a non-Owambo leader has stirred up tensions in the top echelons of Swapo.
People do not want to speak openly about their aspirations but all have the desire to one day lead “the mighty party”.
In Swapo you only progress when you don’t show ambition that you want to become president, vice president, secretary general or deputy secretary general – the key top positions for anyone with the desire to lead Namibia one day.

FORTUNES
WAX AND WANE

Just look at how some people have scored at the various congresses and electoral colleges over the past few years.
In 2002 – two years before the 2004 extraordinary congress which elected President Hifikepunye Pohamba as the party presidential candidate – both Hage Geingob and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana were seen as the rising stars in party circles.
Until that time both were key players in party inner circles: Geingob was Prime Minister while Ithana was Namibia’s first female Attorney General.
When Geingob declined to accept a lesser position of Local Government Ministry, former President Sam Nujoma left him out of his Cabinet. That was in August 2002.
His star began to wane and the following month he failed to be re-elected to the Politburo – he received only 33 votes from the 83-member Central Committee.
At the same congress, Ithana placed 23rd in the election for CC seats.
However, when it became apparent that she was supporting Geingob, she was left out of the Swapo Party Women’s Council executive committee of which she had been a member for many years.
That was when Environment Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah strengthened her influence over the female structures of the organisation and came in at number 14 during the elections for the Central Committee.
The 2002 congress also saw the likes of Prime Minister Nahas Angula (number one), Hidipo Hamutenya (13) and Helmut Angula (15) scoring high.
Fast-forward less than five years and you have a completely different picture.
Hamutenya displayed ambition for the Swapo leadership and was fired by Nujoma a few days before the party elections in 2004.
During the 2007 congress Nahas Angula came in at number seven and two years later dropped four places to 11. Helmut Angula was at 35 in 2007 but nose-dived to 67 two years later while Nandi-Ndaitwah came in at 52.

LESSONS LEARNT

So what changed the way the delegates saw the candidates?
The answer is short and sweet: Ambition.
Look at Minister Jerry Ekandjo and how he’s played his cards carefully.
During the November 2007 congress, Ekandjo’s supporters were ‘all systems go’ to challenge Geingob for the party’s vice-presidency but withdrew hours before the elections “in the interest of party unity”.
That was after some in the party said it would have been “suicidal for Ekandjo” to stand “especially as we are trying to get unity back in the party”. The watchword at that congress was “guided democracy” and it was introduced by the Swapo Party Youth League, who also flatly opposed any additional nominations from the floor.
The same congress also saw the late John Pandeni withdraw against Ithana in the race for the Secretary General position.

‘DOG EAT DOG’

Ngarikutuke Tjiriange stood against her and has become history.
Ekandjo has played his cards very well but so has Ithana in the wake of the 2002 fiasco she found herself embroiled in.
With the likes of Ndaitwah and Helmut Angula now out of the way, it will be a game of “dog eat dog” as the party prepares to elect a new vice president.
In 2004, in the run-up to the Swapo electoral college, Alexactus Kaure wrote: “I’m not here to endorse a specific candidate.
But to be frank, of the three candidates, Pohamba is not presidential material, has no national appeal, and we don’t even know what he stands for or what his views are on many of the issues that confront our country today, although he has been a senior minister”.
As everybody knows, Pohamba went on to become not only the party’s leader but the President of Namibia.
In Swapo the key is not to show ambition as the likes of Utoni Nujoma, Nangolo Mbumba and Abraham Iyambo are doing. In the process they are moving up in the hierarchy and can’t be ruled out – especially in the race for secretary general and deputy secretary general come 2012.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian

The Not-So-Democratic Opposition Parties

The Not-So-Democratic Opposition Parties

By: CHRISTOF MALETSKY

YOU can say whatever you want about Swapo but give them thumbs up for having internal elections when it comes to choosing candidates, even though the process may be manipulated at times.

I can’t say the same about some of the so-called democratic opposition parties in Namibia.
Take, for example, last year’s national and presidential elections and how some of them denied their members the right to elect leaders of their choice.
Small groups of leaders in the DTA, the Congress of Democrats and the United Democratic Front to an extent came together to draw up a list of their candidates – presumably to represent the people.
They placed the candidates – meaning that if I was in favour with some of the top leaders, I could end up in the top echelons of the pack (although, of course, not above them).
How members of those parties could act so undemocratically is a mystery to me.
Their voices, through the party ballot, were silent yet they shouted “viva” when their leaders stood in front of them and accused others of being undemocratic.
Why was there no outrage while your voices were being pummelled from all sides? How do you know that the same people will practice democracy if they take over Government and have to lead a whole nation?
I am raising the issue now because elections are over and hopefully people will reflect on it without emotions boiling over to the extent that we will resort to name-calling or slander.
Every voter or member of a political party has the right to decide who must represent them. You can’t leave that to small oligarchies with ‘big men’ mentalities who only think about their big bellies, flashy lifestyles, underhand deals and their kin.
Many of the opposition parties have young, vibrant people who have been silenced through the undemocratic manipulation by people who have been around for ages yet have not produced the goods when it comes to the people they claim to represent.
Some of the opposition parties lack a culture of open and sensible debate where candidates are given a chance to sell themselves or share their ideas on how to lead the people in their constituencies.
In fact, those who speak out or share different sentiments to certain leaders are often sidelined to the extent that they do not feel welcome. Ultimately they abandon their aspirations.
One of the excuses why some of the opposition political parties did not hold proper congresses to elect their candidates was that they do not want to go the Congress of Democrats’ route.
They claim that the CoD ended up in disarray because they held a congress. What a load of rubbish coming from people who claim to be democratic!
The CoD’s problems had nothing to do with having elections but all about the processes followed during the infamous and controversial Keetmanshoop congress which ultimately ended in court.
But the deafening silence from members of parties who stifled their voices concerns me.
I am almost certain that their silence has set a precedent, which will be difficult to correct because they ‘legalised’ it the first time around.
Above all, can those candidates continue to claim that they represent the masses in their party?
There is a saying: “if you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones”.
How freely will such opposition parties be able to hurl criticism about lack of democracy at Swapo or any other party for that matter?
It is sad and tragic because no one other than the members of the parties can speak out for themselves. Their silence is equal to condoning undemocratic principles.
The actions by those opposition parties, or their leaders, have clearly weakened their case on democracy.
* This article first appeared in The Namibian

The Gospel according to Swapo?

20.01.10
The Gospel according to Swapo?

By: CHRISTOF MALETSKY

LAST week one of the local newspapers carried a story about the death of Swapo’s district mobiliser in the Kavango Region, Romanus Hairwa Ndango. The report quoted the party’s regional coordinator as stating that Ndango was “singing Swapo party revolutionary songs and died with a clenched fist”.

When I read part of the story out loud a colleague of mine remarked: “where are the days when people died praying?” I nodded in agreement.
In fact I was quite appalled but came to the immediate conclusion that every person is at liberty to die the way he or she wants (if they have a choice in the matter!) especially when on a sickbed knowing that death is imminent.
However, the incident provoked my thoughts. It also took me back to October 2008 when Swapo firebrand Elijah Ngurare was addressing a rally at Okahandja Park in Windhoek.
Then Ngurare declared that “we have a political religion called Swapo and the political heaven is Swapo, and the political hell is where all the other political parties are”.
It means Swapo could be moving towards becoming another religion in Namibia.
For those who have doubts, consider the following – and I will limit my comparison to the religion I know best – which is Christianity.
Swapo members who attend the party rallies sing and communally dance in front of the leaders like king David did in front of God or as others did in front of the golden calf in the Old Testament days.
This will happen at every rally before the most senior party leader assigned to address the rally will do so.
Both Swapo and religion require obedience to particular rules or codes of conduct that must not be broken.
This can be the Ten Commandments or the requirement to hate Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) if you are a staunch Swapo cadre.
Like most devoted Christians, Swapo seem to dominate the lives of many of their members who seem to sleep, eat and drink the party. Remember Swapo Secretary for Information, Jerry Ekandjo, instructing members even to colour their teeth blue, red and green?!
Thousands of Swapo members live for the party. They will go to great lengths not to miss political rallies and, will chase relatives away if they support the opposition (especially RDP) and their person, homes, car dashboards and other items remain plastered with party colours.
In fact, some Swapo leaders and members argue that they are what they are because of the party!
As the party anthem goes the members give “glory to their (heroes’) blood and bravery” and “we give our love and loyalty, for their blood sustains us to fight till victory”.
In Christianity, Jesus Christ is the hero who died and in the process washed away the sins, set the captives and oppressed free and brought healing.
Having considered all the above, I continue wondering whether Swapo is moving towards becoming a religion.
* This article first appeared in The Namibian.

Afcon Failure Is A Disgrace

06.01.10
Afcon Failure Is A Disgrace

By: CHRISTOF MALETSKY

THE 2010 African Nations Cup starts on Sunday in Angola and the fact that no African team decided to camp in Namibia to prepare for the tournament is a disgrace, to put it mildly.

If I had the authority, I would have roasted those entrusted with marketing Namibian football and tourism as well as those who were supposed to prepare our infrastructure for readiness to host teams.
None would have gone to Sunday’s opening ceremony in Luanda nor attended any other match because they do not deserve it, period!
How do you explain us missing out on hosting preparation camps for any of the 16 teams when others, like neighbours South Africa, were able to host several teams?
The last I heard of any interest from a country was when Nigeria’s coach Shaibu Amodu said they wanted to camp in Namibia because of favourable weather conditions. Soon thereafter the Super Eagles announced that our facilities (like pitches) were below standard.
They instead opted for Durban in South Africa. Zambia and Ghana also camped in South Africa.
The Elephants of Ivory Coast went to Tanzania, Togo is in Congo and Cameroon opted for Kenya, to name but a few.
The Namibia Football Association reportedly sent letters to the participating countries inviting them to train/prepare in Namibia for the finals in Angola.
That was not enough and the NFA should know better.
We should have had a team out there doing aggressive marketing of Namibia as a tourist destination as well as promoting our facilities.
More than three years ago Namibia competed against Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Senegal, Libya and Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, which submitted a joint bid. Angola won the bid.
We have since tried for the 2012 one but also failed.
What is clear is that we lack seriousness in the bid as well as marketing the country and improving our facilities.
You cannot wait for the day when you win the Afcon (or World Cup!) bid to upgrade your facilities. The basic infrastructure should be there together with the zeal to improve our image out there.
And who other than your own country’s media can assist you in this? As it is now, the local media were starved of any news related to Namibia’s attempts to attract countries participating in the Angolan tournament.
When we submitted the bid for Afcon 2010 our presentation outlined the Namibian Government’s commitment, the country’s existing stadiums and infrastructure, the availability of accommodation, and the country’s good record in terms of security and political stability.
We sent a high-level delegation to Cairo headed by former President Sam Nujoma, former Sport Minister John Mutorwa, his permanent secretary Peingeonjabi Shipoh, bid ambassador Hage Geingob, chairperson of the bid committee John Muinjo, Director of Sport Vetumbuavi Veii, former national team footballer Eliphas Shivute, Julien Garises, Bengt Strenge, former Miss Universe Michelle McLean and Namibia Tourism Board chief executive officer Gideon Shikongo, among others.
During that bid it became clear that Namibia needed at least N$1,59 billion as total direct expenditure to stage Afcon 2010 and at least 16 800 jobs would have been created, while the Namibian Government stood to receive N$680 million in taxes.
The revenue for the private sector would have been around N$1,1 billion.
We are currently five months away before the first teams will start arriving in Africa for this year’s football world cup in South Africa, but our authorities in charge of football as well as tourism promotion are still either sunbathing at Swakopmund, ploughing their mahangu fields or counting their cattle and goats.
Luckily I am not your leader. You would have been fired by now because this is a disgrace to our country.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian (www.namibian.com.na)