Lazarus Kwedhi
The tragedy of Namibia is not a lack of institutions or a lack of human capital, lack of natural resources, or a lack of laws. It is a tragedy of transition, a transition of mentality.
I hope the presidential delegation to China some months back did not negotiate with a poverty mentality.
That worry comes from a deeper observation: freedom fighters and public servants have always been the last line of defence for public values and the public good.
When that defence line erodes and is replaced by a politician and employee mentality, public institutions become an image of their former selves.
Same buildings, same message and promise, same flags, same titles, but they no longer fit the purpose for which they were created.
If you ask the genuine freedom fighters who waged the liberation struggle, they will tell you: “I am a freedom fighter, I did not fight to be a politician.”
The fundamental reason was to liberate Namibia from the colonial contract labour system and labour exploitation, that no Namibian should be poor, that hospitals and schools would be free, and that land would be returned to the rightful owners. They tell you freedom is fought for, freedom is not donated.
Today, Namibia is haunted by the self-inflicted same system of “labour hire” and slavery wages.
We are haunted by public hospitals with no oxygen and life-saving medication, where patients are told to buy from a private pharmacy.
We are haunted by the explosion of informal settlements because local authorities have failed in governance leadership.
We are haunted by a national debt higher than our national budget, yet borrowing continues. We are haunted by budget and import-export deficits every year since independence, by unemployment, hunger, poverty, and crime.
And all of this on top of vast and abundant natural resources like uranium, diamonds, fish, wind, sun, land, and cattle under the leadership of freedom fighters and public servants by name.
This contradiction cannot be explained by a lack of institutions. We have ministries, agencies, SOEs, and commissions for everything.
It cannot be explained by a lack of human capital. Namibians leading public institutions are among the most educated on the continent.
It cannot be explained by a lack of natural resources. Namibia is abundantly blessed from mining, marine and fisheries to wildlife.
It cannot be explained by a lack of laws because our Constitution is regarded as one of the best in the world because of its Bill of Rights.
The tragedy is explained by one thing: the paradigm shift whereby freedom fighters in public institutions became politicians when they reached the air-conditioned executive, legislative, and council chambers and boardrooms with privileges, while public servants became employees immediately when employed, as well as citizens who became party members and supporters for jobs and tenders for comrades.
A freedom fighter vs a politician
A freedom fighter is driven by a cause bigger than himself. He is willing to sacrifice comfort, position, salary, and safety for the people.
He measures success by how many people are freed from a system of exclusion, hunger, poverty, unemployment, and indignity.
A politician is driven by and concerned about the next election and election campaign, the next position, the next tender. He measures success by how long he stays in office and chamber.
A freedom fighter defends the nation even when it is unpopular and unfashionable to do so. A politician defends his position even when it harms the nation.
A freedom fighter asks, “What does the country gain in 34 years of independence?” A politician asks, “What do I gain before 2029?”
Because he is not sure whether he is going to come back to Cabinet, Parliament, or the Presidency after the 2029 election.
That is why a freedom fighter will reject a bad deal from China, America, or Europe’s globalist capitalists. A politician will sign it because he needs a success story for the evening news.
A public servant vs an employee
This is even more dangerous. A public servant understands he is a servant of the public. His boss is the ordinary citizen in the informal settlements and rural areas.
He creates opportunities and makes systems work for the public good. He protects state coffers as if they were his own grandmother’s pension.
An employee only understands employment. His boss is the person who signs his payslip. He is chasing salary, overtime, Subsistence and Travel allowance, tenders, and privileges that come with the position.
Instead of creating opportunities for the public, he competes with the public for those same opportunities. He has a monthly package from the state, but he still wants to be a supplier, a contractor, a middleman to the same state.
He ensures a big chunk of the budget is spent on operational costs to cater for salaries, overtime, and S&T.
He outsources public values, workers, and services to private consultants not because the institution has no capacity, but because he chooses to run a private business from public office.
A public servant delivers service. An employee processes files to award tenders and waits for knock-off time. A public servant focuses on protecting national resources and public funds. An employee negotiates his next trip and tender.
Citizen vs party member/supporter
This tragedy is protected by another transition — from citizens to party members.
A citizen is loyal to the Constitution and to Namibia. If his party is wrong, he says it is wrong. A party supporter is loyal to the party. If his party wrongs the country, he will defend it.
A citizen sees a hospital with no medicine as a national crisis that must be fixed, regardless of who is Minister. A party supporter sees the same hospital and asks, “Which party will be blamed?” He defends the Minister to protect the party colours.
A citizen speaks even when unfashionable and unpopular, because public good is bigger than his comfort. A party supporter keeps quiet when his party is looting and only shouts when the opposition questions the looting.
A citizen wants the nation to be rich and national wealth equitably distributed. He asks, “How many jobs will this Chinese deal create for my children?”
A party supporter wants his faction to be rich. He asks, “How much will my faction get from this deal before 2029?”
A citizen knows the enemy is hunger, poverty, unemployment, debt, crime, and informal settlements. A party supporter thinks the enemy is the other party. He will let his own community suffer poor sanitation as long as his party wins the constituency.
That is why when freedom fighters became politicians, they needed party supporters and employees, not citizens and public servants.
Supporters clap at everything said by their leader. Citizens question. Namibia will only be saved by citizens, not supporters.
When these transitions happen at the same time — whereby freedom fighters become politicians, public servants become employees, and citizens become political party supporters — the ordinary citizen is left completely alone, without a public safety net. The institution is there, but the spirit is gone.
The China test
This is why many of us watched the State Visit to China with both hope and fear. The official focus was correct: energy, agriculture, infrastructure, mining value addition, vocational training, and market access for Namibian products.
The presence of over 60 Namibian businesspeople to look for joint ventures is commendable.
But the test of a negotiation is not in the press release; it is in the contract details. A politician will come back with a Memorandum of Understanding and a photo shaking hands.
A public servant will come back with a contract that says: How and how much value addition will happen in Namibia and in which sectors? How many Namibian youth will be trained as engineers and receive skills transfer, not just labourers?
Who owns the data? Who owns the processing plant after 15 years? How does this reduce our import bill?
If we negotiate with a greedy and poverty mentality — grabbing every opportunity for self-interest and begging because we think we are poor — politicians and employees will become rich, but the nation will remain poor.
If we negotiate with a freedom fighter, public servant, and wealth mentality — knowing we bring some of the best uranium, green hydrogen potential, and fisheries in the world to the table — we will create wealth.
Way forward
We must restore the public defence line and public safety net. We must remind and train every person in a public institution that they are not employees, they are servants.
We must remind every leader that they are not politicians, they are freedom fighters in a different war — against greedy and ruthless globalist capitalists controlling the global economy, and the war against hunger and poverty, national debt, budget and trade deficits, crime, and high unemployment.
We need performance contracts that measure not how many meetings were attended, but how many clinics have medicine, how many informal settlement houses got land titles, and how many graduates got jobs from a foreign investment.
Those whose blood waters our freedom did not liberate this country for us to manage poverty, but to create wealth for all Namibians.
Until the freedom fighter and servantship mentality returns to executive, legislative, and council chambers, boardrooms, and public offices, no amount of borrowing, no number of state visits, and no foreign investor will save us.
