Africa-Press – Namibia. ‘WHEN THE GOSSIP grows and grows and removes someone’s good name, he cannot govern.’
These were the words of Pope Francis when he accepted the resignation of French Archbishop Michel Aupetit, who is surrounded by allegations of impropriety, last week.
Namibia’s biggest corruption story, a major scandal involving the governing party Swapo has dominated daily news for more than two years. Swapo is a particularly important, no indispensable, stakeholder (for now) in the essential process of nation building in Namibia specifically and Afrika generally.
Having considered the damages that the party has inflicted upon itself and the nation, there is a place for genuine patriotism that could serve as the foundation to give Swapo an offramp to get off the maladies in which it finds itself as it limps from one crisis to another. In essence Swapo faces a classical crisis of legitimacy.
Swapo is still needed and as a mother political party in the body politic of our nation, it is in the interests of the party and the country if Swapo can do something to regain its credibility to govern. The reality is that given the decay in the governance of the nation, Namibia is in a constitutional crisis. The president and his team lack credibility as leaders and legitimacy to govern the country. State institutions have been compromised. State-owned enterprises have been jinxed. The government is growing angrier and angrier because of neck-deep guilt, self-doubt, and self-pity. One indication of a government running scared is the rate at which patently manipulable people are appointed or reappointed to lead institutions that would otherwise act against official corruption and malfeasance. In this way the interests of the citizens are not served, and democracy and the rule of law in the Republic of Namibia are now in peril.
In the last seven years, Namibia’s political leadership had become more retrogressive, the consequence of which is that the Land of the Brave is now more fragile and a divided town. Still, the country needs Swapo, just as the country needs the other political parties and formations that are making contributions to the sustainable development of this small nation. Swapo is essential for peace and stability. It is thus time for Namibians who care about the future to help one another instead of wishing one another away. The organisational principle is that we can all make a contribution, once given an opportunity and space, which we have not done thus far.
‘STATE OF DENIAL’
The socio-political and economic harm to the Namibian nation caused by the shenanigans of the National Fishing Corporation of Namibia (Fishcor) under the influence of the top leadership of Swapo will remain a blemish on the pages of the history of this small nation. Each day it gets worse as more and more corruption is revealed and the government is discredited. The media as the fourth estate in the country tried its best to throw light on the stench of corruption and to enable the government to be proactive, but as usual, the government chose to be dismissive of media reports about corruption in the fishing industry. Namibia’s media is neither muscular nor independent enough and is thus more on reportage than investigative journalism. Existing non-governmental organisations also did not play their activist roles sufficiently in the saga. It took brave investigative and responsible journalism by international whistle blowers to explode the stink-bomb that lifted the lid on Namibia’s national fishing company. It was international journalism that exposed those whose hands were deep in the till looting from national resources for personal and political gain. It serves no purpose to deny or denigrate those who are testifying to the facts. The circumstantial evidence that something went wrong is overwhelming. The once respected liberation movement Swapo is responsible for what has gone very wrong within it. Yes, it is too early to pass final judgement, but too late not to have an informed opinion. The fact is that the 2017 electoral congress which produced the current leadership of the party and by extension the executive organ of the government of the country was less than fair and less than what it ought to have been.
Swapo is neck deep in the morass of corruption and money laundering. The leadership knows this too. It is just in denial. It is most unfortunate that Swapo has strayed too much and too far from the values of democratic elections as prescribed in its own formulas, the consequence of which is that the executive branch is now in a crisis of legitimacy. The decay is running through the entire system of governance in and of Namibia as a nation. The country is in a constitutional conundrum since the infamous 2017 Swapo elective congress and election of the politicians the country is saddled with now. In ways not seen before, and if proven that vote buying took place, the country has technically an illegitimate and imposter leadership at the moment. The accusations and charges that need honest accounting include:
*In 2017 Swapo’s constitution and rules and regulations governing elections of internal candidates were ignored or blatantly discarded.
*The elective congress was manipulated, and the outcome was predetermined through vote influencing, vote buying and ‘decampaigning’.
*Many honest people were bribed, as a number of them have come forward and continue to tell the nation that they were cajoled to vote in manners that were not in accordance with free and fair elections.
*There was evidence that delegates on the buses from constituencies to Windhoek were briefed as to what to do and where to stay and where not to go and whom to avoid.
*It is common cause that delegates’ movements and contacts were restricted throughout the congress.
*Specific people were appointed to restructure procedures to siphon money from national resources that funded a particular set of candidates, and disadvantaged others exercising their rights as mandated by Swapo’s own constitution.
*The then secretary general of the party who was charged by the party’s by-laws and rules to treat all Swapo candidates for the top four positions (president, vice president, secretary general and deputy secretary general) equally, chose sides, literally abandoned his office and loyally rooted for the Harambee faction, and in so doing fueled the gossip that his reward for this unfortunate conduct was the post of vice president.
*There is fresh evidence to corroborate the narratives that delegates and candidates were ‘decampaigned’ and red-listed not to be voted for.
*Two important law firms have submitted legal affidavits under oath to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chronicling how they channeled funds from Fishcor to Swapo for campaign purposes, diverting money needed for poverty alleviation to buying votes for Team Harambee.
*More than two direct actors in the business of transferring money from Fishcor to Team Harambee have testified under oath in court about their dubious funding activities.
*The officer who presided over the elections and announced the results was one candidate’s personal lawyer. Such a conflict of interest in the grand web of greed and money laundering and direct funding for the Harambee Team needs serious accounting.
*After the Swapo elective congress, the politics of revenge and recrimination followed. Jobs and livelihoods were taken away from Swapo leaders who lost out.
*Funds moved from hand-to-hand in cash or brown envelopes, consequently looking for the money in Swapo books is both disingenuous and futile an exercise.
*Two cabinet ministers plus four senior executives associated with Fishcor are in prison three Christmases in a row even though the Fishrot investigations are still underway and there are no convictions yet. The rule of law precept is that one is presumed innocent till proven guilty, until the Fishrot cloud descended upon our justice system. REFERENCE POINTS
All discerning members of Swapo and citizens across the land have witnessed how the rules of the game changed and Swapo disintegrated limb by limb. The once revered Swapo is now a dangerously divided house. The party’s intraparty democracy was turned upside down. The spirit of oneness was replaced by toxic hostility and a venomous us-versus-them environment. Swapo, the erstwhile vanguard of peace, unity, liberty, and justice is now an internal theatre of warfare. Hatred, revenge, and greed replaced the long-cherished values of sacrifice, service, and one nationhood. So much damage has been done not only to this once great party that constituted Namibia’s national identity, but to the nation as a whole.
Unfortunately, Namibians have lost confidence in political leaders generally because of what happened in Swapo, and this cannot augur well for a young nation grappling with so many national challenges to maintain its cherished unity, peace, and stability. There is no doubt that Namibia suffers from a chronic lack of credible national leaders in the context of rising identity politics in the form of tribal particularism, ethnic superiority, and political party triumphalism, all of which breed greedy, heartless, mindless, and self-serving mediocre political leaderships.
On top of this is a new Johnny-come-lately messianic phenomenon with a patently megalomaniac and narcissistic tenor seeking to undermine the gains of freedom and democracy over the last 31 years. It cannot be true that the last 31 years have gone to waste. It is intellectually dishonest to proffer a conclusion that everything that Swapo did and does is wrong and must be discounted. Swapo remains the DNA of Namibia’s presence in the world today. Yet, we Namibians do not have the wherewithal to give credit when and where credit is due, even when it is not very convenient. Swapo remains the reference point for as long as Namibia stands as a nation in the gallery of nations. Therefore, what went wrong must be fixed by Namibians, patriotic Namibians and no one else. Namibians of all tribal, ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, gender, political party and sexual orientation backgrounds ought to work together shoulder to shoulder to make tomorrow better. Duty is ours in God’s events.
Corruption is definitely an immediate impediment to this desired future. The body politic of the nation is a poisoned well that needs purification. According to the latest Afrobarometer Report of November 2021, more than two-thirds (74%) of surveyed Namibians believe that the government has lost the fight against corruption. The fact that clear violations of democratic expectations have ushered into the government the current leadership of Swapo is not in the interest of good governance at all and corrodes all things in the public sector. As a result, all subsequent decisions this illegitimate leadership had made in its patronage and policy making hitherto, can be considered null and void, ex tunct, as they are outcomes of the changed rules of the game.
Swapo’s intraparty democracy was trashed in the pursuit of the winner-takes-all political power plays. The once harbinger of freedom and national independence has become self-destructive in internecine warfare for power. In this warfare the state-owned enterprise Fishcor was turned into the cash cow for the stronger arm of the same Swapo. Politics today is designed for vengeance. The few individuals who were connected to the president as his water carriers anointed themselves as doormen to the new heaven of self-enrichment with guaranteed leadership protection. These heaven’s ‘doormen’ literally became Namibia’s untouchables ‘op pad vorentoe!’
Consequently, so much damage has been done not only to the party that constituted our national identity, but to the nation as a whole. Namibia suffers from a chronic lack of credible leaders who can bring the nation together in the current climate of rising sectarian identity and tribalist politics. Swapo as a liberation movement continues to fail to unite the nation. Tribalism is on the rise and kingdoms are being erected within a Constitutional Republic. Greed and self-glory rule supreme. Intolerance is the order of the day. Abuse of office and power is official government policy and practice. The youth of Namibia, in the pedagogy of monkey-see-monkey-do, is learning that to be powerful and significant, one must hate and destroy others, especially those who cannot defend themselves. The youth is learning from ‘the best’ that it is good and noble not to have empathy with others, and to strive to build mansions in the neighbourhood where everyone else sleeps in stick and grass huts. The youth is learning that to trample upon others is success, and loyalty is more important than education and merit. The youth is hearing that it was their fault that they were not born before independence, that they are ‘less Namibia’ by virtue of being too young and were not in the struggle. Democracy continues to pay a hefty price.
RENEWAL NECESSARY Against this background, it is time for all Namibians to wear our patriotic uniforms and put our shoulders to the wheel to help. The future of the nation is at stake. It is in the interest of the Namibian nation that Swapo does not decompose further. It is in the interest of the Namibian child that we look to the future to build a better place than the one we inherited! They say drastic times call for drastic measures. That time is now. The renewal of Swapo is necessary and is now. Here are some scenarios for the party leadership to consider as it introspects to change strategies if it wishes to redeem itself and be ready for victory in 2024.
*Ignore, Deny, and Continue to be Dismissive of Critical Voices: This has been the weakness of Swapo and all liberation movements across the continent, until it was too late, and freedom died with infamy.
*Shift the Blame Downwards, Scapegoat and Victimise: It does not help to pass the blame to (lower) individuals when it is clear that they acted in the interests of the party. Heads need to roll if new leadership with credibility is to emerge. Admittedly, there is no easier way.
*Falsify Evidence, Unleash Paid Spin Doctors to Discredit and Malign all Sources by any means necessary: The risk here is that people motivated by money and fame will jump ship when the game no longer pays or when those they lied for are found guilty or discredited.
*Cause Endless Delays and Obfuscation in the hope that players either die in the meantime or the party will muddle through: This is the choice that Robert Mugabe and South Africa’s National Party made. The result was they ended up losing practically everything.
*Declare All Information about the Fishrot to be a Deliberate International and Internal Hostile (third force) Campaign for Regime Change: In so doing use state machinery to silence all critical voices and rule by fear till elections in 2024: The problem here is that what goes around comes around.
*Claim Ignorance, Accept Some Culpability and Employ the Language of National Reconciliation: Implore everyone to forget the past and move on. After all, Swapo can claim to have forgiven apartheid colonial enemies before. The problem is that no measure of self-pity can take away the wrath of the people who feel robbed of their rights.
*Take the Bull by the Horn, Take the Nation into Confidence, and Convene a National Crisis Convention with all political parties to deliberate on the way forward. This is after the Swapo Extraordinary Congress produced no results but generated more fear. This is to be treated as a matter of urgency by Swapo to have some room to atone for the ills and reboot itself with courage and confidence as the leading organization in the land. This could also be just the right platform for all political role players to coalesce around the values of sacrifice, service and one Namibia one Nation in the post-independence context. At this convention Swapo is re-invigorated with a new leadership and a clear mandate to take the country forward, not backward. The rebooted and re-set Swapo commits itself to meritocratic leadership, what Julius Nyerere called a ‘leadership code’, the cardinal principle of which was that party leaders and cabinet members are barred from mixing political leadership with business interests as this patently creates conflicts of interest. Swapo abandons the practice of mediocrity and jobs for comrades and commits to honesty and integrity in political leadership going forward by way of an urgent lifestyle audit within its ranks. At the end of the convention, a Compact for Governing Namibia (Namibia Governance Charter) is signed by all parties as the national credo to guide all future election manifestos. Given the circumstances, this is the most ideal.
*The Entire Executive Resigns, and New Elections are called within three months during which the Speaker of the National Assembly assumes power till the elections produce a new leadership: This might be the most plausible, but history of post-independence Afrikan leaderships show that Afrika does not have the leaders who put the interests of the nation ahead of their own. SOLOMONIC DILEMMA
This is a difficult time, and no time for business as usual. None of us is without fault. Real change is needed to give the country the space to regain its soul before it is too late. This time calls for great courage, sacrifice, sincerity, and foresightedness on the part of all the leaders and their followers to do justice to the country and its generations of tomorrow. It is time to dream big about a new country that is better, greater, and more pleasant than the one we came upon. It is time to hate Swapo or any political party less and to love Namibia more. The leadership of Swapo is called upon to address the future and not celebrate a dead past day in and day out. Our Swapo’s own honour and legacy are at stake. Our multi-party democracy is on trial. Swapo is at the crossroads towards its destiny and appointment with history. Swapo finds itself in the proverbial Solomonic dilemma of having to choose between splitting the baby to stay in power at all costs or to save the baby by doing what is best for Namibia – come clean, and lead, with a fierce urgency of NOW!
– Professor Joseph Diescho is a Namibian political scientist and leadership specialist in Germany.
– Copyright: The Namibian
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