Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro
IS a one nation in Namibia ever achievable, or is it only wishful thinking and hallucinations of politicians?
Yours Truly Ideologically whatsoever has no aversion and cannot by any means has any, as indeed every revolutionary Namibian, to the notion and ideal of a One Nation, One Namibia. Because indeed that must have been the ultimate and essence of the Namibian Revolution. As independence and freedom was a sine qua non, and remains a sine qua non, for the Namibian Revolution, which is the ultimate. So far the First Phase of the Revolution, which is the Political Emancipation, has been achieved. Now that the much celebrated independence and freedom, which most Namibians, and visitors and guests alike also enjoy, has been attained, such cannot and is not the end and/or ultimate of the Namibian Revolution. Because the ultimate of the Namibian Revolution encompasses economic independence, as it foremost foundation. Simply put, the people cannot govern themselves on empty stomach. Or rather the people cannot be free but not free to eat but instead scavenge for food in dustbins of presumed better revolutionaries or liberation as would pertain in post-freedom Namibia. All freedoms and rights must and should revolves around economic independence, including social, cultural, religious and even educational freedoms and rights. It is in this context that Yours Truly ideologically cannot but think deeply and loudly at the same time about the notion and ideal of a One Nation, One Namibia outside the context of economic freedom and rights.
Thirty two years after independence and freedom, needless to mention, cohesion has been illusive to render the country a One Nation, One Namiba. And it is no difficult to see why this is the case. During the weekend of March 25-26, Yours Truly Ideologically could not but join many fellow descendants of the genocide committed to the Ovaherero, Ovambanderu and Nama for the 15th anniversary of the annual Swakopmund Reparation Walk. The day has been commemorated every year since 2007, on March 25 or the weekend around this date. To fall with the commemoration of the abolition of the Trans Atlantic slave trade by the United Nations Assembly and the observance thereof.
The Namibian Coast being part of the route for the slave trade then, the descendants of the victims of Imperial Germany’s genocide against the Nama, Ovambanderu and Ovaherero, conscious that in the dunes of Swakopmund, lay scattered the remains of their forebears, initiated an annual pilgrim in their honour and homage. As part of the continued efforts for the memorialisation of the wars of resistance against Imperial Germany, and the Genocide of 1904-1908, which has been referred to as the fist genocide of the 20th century but which is yet to be memorialised properly in a post-independent Namibia, or the world over.
But back to the Namib Primary School, what particularly caught Yours Truly Ideologically’s attention, was the glaring absence of white pupils at the school. It was self evident that this school does not have white pupils because it could not have been coincidental that all the white pupils could have stayed away on this day, a Monday. For that matter this is not a school that is somewhere in the towns backwaters, our so-called liberated informal settlements like DRC, Havana, Twaloloka, Canaan, and what-you-have.
This is a school in the centre of this coastal town. This surely is a school that could not have been built after independence, and must have been in existence prior, and must have been properly if not fully equipped. Only for Yours Truly Ideologically to notice no single white pupil at the school. This would have been different if there was no more whites in Swakopmund. But Swakopmund is and has been the Mecca of white retirees. Could this perhaps explain the absence of white pupils at the school? Since retirees may no longer be sexually active and thus reproductive. Presumed to be no longer in the business of procreation.
Yours Truly Ideologically is trying to look at all possible explanations and scenarios, cautious and sensitive to what may be an unpalatable reality, because such reality is too ghastly to contemplate and accept. This reality is that the notion of One Namibia One Nation is just but a wishful thinking and a political farce not consonant with Namibia’s real politik and her unpretentious unequal capitalist economy.
Yours Truly Ideologically’s mind flashes back to an old wise men in the rural backyard of Namibia in the Epukiro Constituency of the Omaheke Region in the early days of our freedom and independence. Incidently, he hailed by the Biblical name of Solomon, and thus his wisdom must have come naturally. He could not understand that youngsters like me then, were craving through our quest for freedom and independence, for equality with fellow whites. To him this was utopia, because the moment we move closer to fellow white Namibians, they would safely be on the laps of the Almighty, who would gladly embrace them.
Need one say more really about this now undisputed and proven wisdom of this old wise man? Because this seems to be happening not only in Swakopmund and at the Namib Primary School, but all over the country where hardly any white pupils remain in any of the former white schools in the previously white only residential areas. Not that there are no more whites lefty in Namibia, and thus no more white pupils. No, they are there and many of them. Is just that they have their own private “Christian” schools. Schools most impoverished parents, if not the majority of Namibians, cannot afford to register their children with.
The bottom line is that Namibia remains, needless to say, a highly unequal society. Where the masses, mostly blacks, needless to mention, continue trapped in the lower end of the economic system, eking out an existence of paupers. For most, and their children, the “Christian” private schools, which have been mushrooming since independence, are no-go exclusive educational zones, only reserved for whites de fact but not de jure. Only few blacks, among them foreign expatriates, or the handful privileged, the Fishrot class. It is any wonder how under this trajectory, a One Nation, One Namibia,is feasible?
One would have thought that it is at the primary level that the country must start to harness such a culture of oneness. But sadly the education system, which is oft hailed as the greatest equaliser, under the given trajectory, cannot bring the desired equality. It is obvious that matters cannot be left to their own devices, in every sphere of life, be it education and otherwise, leaving the superstructure, which is the economic structure, which defines all the other sub-structures, intact. This is a great illusion. Thus an indeologically inspired radical socio-economic transformation is the ultimate. That is if Namibia is not to fool herself that one day she’ll overcome. Overcome what? Capitalism? Because if there’s anything that Namibia need overcoming it is the exploitative, divisive and impoverishing Capitalism system that does not allow for equality and egalitarianism. And to wish One Nation, One Namibia is an anathema. One needs look no further to the tell tales of this continuing downward spiral, the
n the Namib Primary School vis-à-vis the “Christian” private schools. Namibia far from marching towards a One Nation, One Namibia, is the actual opposite and fast reversing and retrogressing into a one country with two different worlds. Being what she has been and been retrogressing into, she definitely cannot provide, if only the cornerstone for a One Nation, One Namibia.
