Opinions

By Paul T. Shipale (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) More than three decades after Namibia’s independence, Founding Father Sam Nujoma’s call for responsibility, unity, and self determination remains a guide for Africa’s future. When Namibia attained independence on 21 March 1990, its founding president, Sam Nujoma, addressed a nation emerging from decades of colonial rule and liberation struggle. Standing before his people at a defining moment in African history, he declared: “As of today, we are masters of this vast land of our ancestors. The destiny of this country is now fully in our own hands. We should,…

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro "Otjombinde community garden blossoms" was the screaming headline of an article in a recent edition of one of the local English dailies. Interestingly, the article was the second lead in that publication, a testimony to its importance, or pseudo-importance, if you will. Ordinarily, an article like this rarely finds its way into the mainstream media as a leading story. But of what use is a garden in the rural constituency of Otjombinde, worse still in the Omaheke Region which is traditionally a livestock-rearing and production area? Yours Truly Ideologically cannot help but think loudly, for lack of an…

Sem Billy David I Recently, the Minister of Gender and Child Welfare, Emma Kantema, said that Namibia's Child Care and Protection Act 3 of 2015 now allows a mother in crisis to safely abandon her newborn baby at designated places such as police stations, hospitals, or schools without facing criminal charges, provided strict conditions are met. These efforts are meant to prevent baby dumping and protect innocent lives from suffering a harsh start to life. The intention is pure and should be welcomed. However, her statement raises serious concerns about how prepared we truly are to implement this in practice.…

Morna Ikosa As we come to the end of the month we celebrate mothers, I could not, but reflect on a story that made headlines in every newspaper of the lady who allegedly dumped her twins in riverbed. Newspapers are replete with stories of headlines about babies being abandoned in a riverbed, dumped in a pit latrine, left in a plastic bag, or discovered behind a building. Society often reacts with outrage before compassion. Citing, “How could a mother do this?” But perhaps the more difficult question that no one bothers to ask is, What happened to that mother before…

Paul T. Shipale (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) The Woman that the Constitution Has Never Met Imagine a woman living in a remote village that she has never read her country’s Constitution. She may not know the names of the judges who interpret it or the parliamentarians who amend it. Yet every day her life is shaped by the success or failure of that constitutional order. When her child falls ill, the nearest clinic is hours away. When her land rights are challenged, the legal system speaks a language she does not understand. When public decisions affecting her…

REFLECTIONS ON THE REMEMBRANCE PROGRAMME HELD IN LÜDERITZ BY THE NAMIBIAN GOVERNMENT FOR 27 MAY 2026 Background The Programme frames itself as an inclusive developmental dialogue. It states:“As development partners we recognize that there has been misinformation circulating, leading some in the region, particularly our respected elders, to believe that these initiatives threaten their dignity and heritage.” At first glance, this language appears conciliatory. Yet beneath it lies a deeper political tension between contemporary technocratic development narratives and the longstanding constitutional, historical, and sociocultural concerns consistently raised by the NTLA. What is striking about the Programme is not merely its…

Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro “Relative success”, this is how a fellow descendant affirmatively texted me early Friday morning after Genocide Remembrance Day (GRD).  Referencing the second official, this is the second time the government is hosting and spearheading the commemoration since its official inauguration at Parliament Gardens in Windhoek last year. Following its gazetting eventually, a year after the adoption of the relevant motion in 2024 by the National Assembly.  Why it took a year for the gazette of the day is anyone’s guess. Long, if only in the eyes of some descendants, like the Okandjoze Chiefs’ Assembly, who in 2023 and…

Paul T. Shipale (with inputs by Folito Nghitongovali Diawara Gaspar) Why the future belongs to states that learn to play Go Do our leaders understand the logic of Go? Do they grasp that the strategic game of our era is no longer chess but Go? States seldom disintegrate in dramatic fashion. More often, they erode quietly beneath the façade of normalcy. Government institutions continue to operate. Elections are conducted without turmoil. Foreign capital keeps flowing. Economic indicators show growth. International partners applaud stability. Yet underneath that surface calm, the architecture of dependence remains entirely intact. That is the real danger…

Lazarus Kairabeb  Abstract This article advances a conceptual framework linking conflict, consent, and knowledge production within the Namibian academic context. Drawing on dialectical philosophy and post-development theory, it argues that intellectual stagnation is less a function of scarcity than of constrained epistemic conditions in which conflict is muted and synthesis remains underdeveloped. The paper introduces the concept of “interrupted dialectics” to describe the persistent tension between development-orientated scholarship and critical post-development perspectives that fails to culminate in transformative theoretical production. Extending the doctrine of Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) beyond its legal domain, the article proposes the notion of “epistemic…