Hey Bra, We Are Failing Our Youth

“HEY, Bra Gazza... It’s me Sam Nujoma. Your number one outie ...,” a casual former President Sam Nujoma says in township slang in a rap and kwaito CD released by a Swapo company prior to the 2004 presidential and national election.

At that stage, no one expected Nujoma (even in our wildest dreams) to feature in a rap and kwaito CD but here the normally very serious politician was apparently chatting to one of the country’s most popular musicians.
Swapo had gone all-out to get votes of the youth.
Other political parties also bent over backwards to win the souls of the youth, especially during the 2009 elections when the motto of almost everyone had something to do with born-frees.
It seems politicians go all out to get whatever they want. And they have ways to mingle with businesspeople because they know that funding will come their way if and when they want it.
That is why I was not surprised to see our Founding Father sandwiched between two Brazilian samba dancers at a ceremony to mark the arrival of an oil company from that country in Namibia.
But how I wish politicians would also go to the same lengths for the upliftment of our youth.
I was not a delegate to the education conference and neither did I take time to attend it, I must confess.
But I was hoping that, since organisers spoke about holistic education, they would pause and, even if briefly, discuss what is there for our youth in terms of entertainment and leisure.
We scorn them when they attend rough and excessive parties such as the one recently organised by Gazza and which featured South African multimillionaire Kenny Kunene who is better known as ‘Sushi King’. For those who missed it, Gazza and his SA friends celebrity guests arrived in posh cars and they drank champagne off the semi-naked body of a young woman.
Of course Gazza justified the actions by stating afterwards that it was a business platform and that they looked past the models in bikinis!
But the point is, Gazza and like-minded others (how wrong it might be) are exploiting a niche market that’s there for the taking.
Although we spend so much time pouring scorn on them for attending such parties and other binges, we have failed our children and youth who sometimes need a break from books.
Take a stroll into the city centre or anywhere else in the rest of Namibia on a Saturday afternoon and see for yourself.
Do we have any decent place for the youth to relax? To borrow a term from my daughter: ‘duh’! If your answer is yes, young people will probably tell you to get a life.
I am not talking about a church youth gathering on Friday evening or a matinee disco Saturday afternoon where drug abuse is the order of the day but real entertainment young people will enjoy and which will enrich them emotionally, physically and educationally while with friends.
We had a few activities before like putt-putt in some towns, but they are now gone.
Such absence of entertainment is partly the cause of driving our young people into drug abuse and other wrongdoing while those with money will continue to act in their own interest and increase their power and influence over the youth such as the sushi (champagne) kings.
As for our politicians, from city fathers to national leaders, their bellies are not threatened until the next election when they will come up with some schemes to lure the youth with false promises to the polling booths.
My impression is that we are failing the youth and we shouldn’t be surprised by or condemn many of the things the young people do to entertain themselves.
I just wonder what the future holds for our country.

Are The Youth Of Liberation Movements Still On Track?

THIS week marked the Day of the African Child. It was a time for reflection, more so for those who regard themselves as leaders of tomorrow. It is thus proper to pause and reflect on what role the youth, especially those from the liberation movements of yesteryear, have played in southern Africa and what the future holds for us under their leadership.

The Day of the African Child is better known for the bloodshed in South Africa and the picture of 13-year-old Hector Pietersen, dying in the arms of Mbuyisa Makhubu and her sister, Antoinette Sithole, running alongside one another reflected the true picture of the brutal apartheid political system which stopped at nothing to keep the status quo.
Soon the liberation movements became ruling parties as the oppressive regimes made way for people’s choices.
Unfortunately, the minute they took over, the ruling parties and the state apparatus became increasingly integrated, and governments made use of this combined force to silence opposition and dissent.
As a result, what we are faced with in some African countries are authoritarian systems where there is no dividing line between the ruling party, on the one hand, and the elements of the state – the executive, legislature, and public institutions – on the other.
I think about Angola under the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Zimbabwe under Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Mozambique under de Libertação de Moçambique (known as Frelimo). In each of the above countries the political leaders have assumed that they embody the people. They run the show. They do not see themselves as representatives of the electorate.
As George Will said, there the “voters don’t decide issues, they decide who will decide issues” and politicians do as they wish.
All because the roles played by the key people in the former liberation movements are assumed to give them a very strong political, economic and moral mandate. Thus they also struggle to turn the liberation ideology into deliverable development plans and just use political platforms to recite old struggle rhetoric.
And because independence in some of those countries is still fresh in the minds of those who suffered under the old regimes, the former liberation movements get away, for long periods, with poor service delivery, while leaders argue that they have the right to rule forever.
It is also in such movements where the youth are often used by leaders.
While platforms are created to showcase the youth as radicals, they are mostly used to advance the interest of the political elite of the ruling parties. The youth will, from time to time, be allowed to disperse popular anger among fellow youth as they claim to be the authentic voice of other young people.
In such countries, when the youth are angry about poor performance of the ruling party, they do not try to remove the governments but will only call for improvement of services. In some instances, they will also demand a share of the spoils and make you wonder what the future holds for a country under such youth!
Allow me to add that not all the youth are the same.
There are those who zealously fight for a better living for the electorate but they remain a minority.
The majority are used as the voice of young people in a specific political party when conflicts arise due to leadership disputes.
We have seen many such examples in Namibia and recently in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF youth wing, though, is probably not even worthy of mention as 'youth' as some of their leaders have been and are close to retirement age.
What such youth wings do, unfortunately, is to stifle the voices of other young people. Research elsewhere has shown that in countries where former liberation movements rule, the number of young people taking part in civil movements outside these leagues is small.
The principles guiding the founding fathers and mothers of the liberation movements are thrown out of the window as the new elites among the youth keep themselves busy with fighting the elders, plundering the resources of countries and serving as pawns in political games of others.
As we remember June 16, we need to bring back maturity and integrity among the young wings of liberation movements in the region.

Time To Incorporate The Youth Is Now!

youthIN the next few months political party leaders will have the daunting task of finalising their lists of candidates for the upcoming local and regional authority elections.

Sections, branches and districts have started submitting names of their preferred candidates and some wannabes are also pushing their luck by forcing themselves on people through different manoeuvres such as smear campaigns against opponents as well as holding party meetings clandestinely with selected supporters to rubber-stamp their candidacy.
The time will also be an ideal opportunity to not only reflect on the achievements of the candidates at local and regional level but also afford members a chance to deliberate and consider how to blend in youth, more especially young women, into mainstream politics.
The retirement of former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertina Amathila earlier this year after 20 years in Government and many years of hard work at party level was coming for some time and was thus no surprise to all when it happened. She was, however, the first of a generation that is on its way out and needs to be replaced with those of impeccable quality.
Amathila was a sober-minded, stable and committed stalwart and Swapo, as well as opposition political parties who intend to rule Namibia one day, need to groom such cadres as they did yesterday.
I am referring to people who will not struggle to adapt to the challenges facing our communities at local and regional level and who will be able to mix leadership with management.
We have had enough of young supposed firebrands who offer nothing other than party slogans but lack direction and maturity.
And with youth I mean those up to the age of 35. I choose that age limit reluctantly because the national youth policy has it that way. But then we also know whose brainchild it was and that Swapo also have it so in their constitution!
Somehow I have noticed a gradual alienation of young women in Namibia’s political landscape and when parties refer to the youth, they mostly tend to pinpoint to the wannabe young lions they have churned out.
I am no proponent of women empowerment if it is purely based on the number rather than the quality. But we definitely need to reflect on sexual politics.
My input, however, is more for young people generally against the background of the dearth of new blood as seen in last year’s national elections.
I believe that the next five years will be crucial for blending in the youth into mainstream politics.
It is a fact that the younger they are the less they will struggle to adapt to challenges.
Of course, they will lack authority at the beginning but they can use the time to build on their experience. Thus the trial and error won’t be as public as that of known national leaders whose mistakes can be seen by all and who regularly come under the microscope due to their public office.
After five years such young leaders will be able to lead with authority and provide energy, vision and influence. This should be done through noncoercive means and not like the current pushing and pulling of the people.
Again, I do not mean that elders lack energy and vision. Some do, but not all!
I believe we have youth who, with time on their side, will be able to mobilise people to face problems. Youth who will challenge and help the communities.
Just last week the Government announced that it had downgraded some local authorities.
It is no secret that some of the downgraded ones had been struggling for years and marked with such things as corruption and mismanagement. Others, of which Keetmanshoop is the most appropriate example, spent more time on infighting (physical and verbal). They mislead instead of lead!
Such leaders have had their time and need to be replaced by those who can direct disciplined attention to issues and bring back a sense of hope among the communities.
Of course, not all youth are disciplined and have leadership characters. Just look at the ‘struggle kids’, for instance, who should have done better because of the input their parents had in the country’s liberation as well as some corrupt young managers at known institutions.
But there are gems out there ready to be unearthed and released.
They are in regions – some doing voluntary work, quietly sweating with fire in their bellies – and ready to explode their talents if given the chance.
While such youth will be active, seniors will be able to have time to reflect and guide them into a new era. As such the youth won’t need to reinvent things and will also be able to avoid falling in the same traps.
We cannot afford to just see the Libertina Amathilas of this world quietly remove themselves into the obscurity of their farms while our youth dwell in the unknown without guidance. Let’s blend in the youth, even if it is one or two on parties’ local authority lists of five.