Political Perspective

THE debate in Parliament on national reconciliation seems to be proof positive that this hasn’t happened yet! One wonders under the circumstances whether there is any need to pursue it further because it’s not bringing us any closer to being one big happy family of Namibians! What then, is the point when even our upper echelons are still fighting it out? PERHAPS the reason is that the policy as it stands, although noble in its original intent, deals with the past rather than the present.

In other words, reconciliation was intended to be a mechanism to smooth over the wounds of war (which it hasn’t done largely due to the superficial nature of its implementation, and because certain parties to the conflict don’t want to even acknowledge wrongdoing in the first place!) but doesn’t really apply in our current situation. Many of our younger people, given that we’re approaching two decades after independence, probably don’t identify with the concept of reconciliation at all.What, after all, does it mean to them, born and growing up in a country that has largely known peace since Independence in 1990? Is there any need, in fact, for them to apply the policy to themselves or take ownership of it? Probably not.And yet, unfortunately, the children of struggle-era parents will inherit the bitterness from those whose grievances remain unresolved, and so it contains the seeds of future conflict as it gets passed from generation to generation, as has happened so often in history.The way in which MPs were sniping at one another this week demonstrates very well the fact that reconciliation is something that hasn’t been taken to heart, and the blame game is still on with a vengeance.And perhaps reconciliation should not be our major concern in present-day Namibia, mainly because it is not sincerely meant, and therefore has become almost meaningless.I would substitute instead a need for tolerance to be the operative policy in Namibia right now.Because tolerance is a state of mind that makes for a democratic society.Tolerance of other races, colours, creeds, religions, cultures, etc, will teach us to accept that each has his or her place and while we may not always agree with one another, we must accept that it is an individual right to be different.There is unlikely to be group conflict of any kind in a society that has adopted tolerance as a guiding principle.Namibians need to learn to be tolerant of one another, instead of exacerbating existing differences, especially along tribal lines, which is becoming more and more manifest at present whether this is publicly acknowledged or not.Perhaps because we were carried away by the euphoria of becoming an independent nation in 1990, we believed in the concept of one Namibia once the colonial regime was out of the way.But that was not to be.Apartheid divided the groups in Namibia, quite successfully in many instances, but the former South African regime didn’t invent the concept of separateness.And I have no doubt Namibians would be fairly divided today even if apartheid had never existed! Yet there is nothing wrong with being proud of one’s ethnic identity and choosing to be with the same kind of people, as long as we have tolerance for others.And this is perhaps where the youth of today have the advantage.They haven’t grown up with a war psyche; in many cases they’ve gone to school with compatriots who are different from themselves, and through this, they’ve developed more tolerance than their parents could ever have hoped for.Perhaps it is the children who will forge the way to a ‘one Namibia, one nation’ that we won’t necessarily see in our lifetime.Like the concept of reconciliation, we often pretend a unity that doesn’t really exist, and so much of what is negative around us has to do with the tribalism that we won’t readily acknowledge.And this is something that will contribute only to our retrogression as an emergent nation.We cannot go forward if we are dogged by resentment towards other groups.So if my vote counted for anything I would propose tolerance as the means to take us from the darkness into the light.Many of our younger people, given that we’re approaching two decades after independence, probably don’t identify with the concept of reconciliation at all.What, after all, does it mean to them, born and growing up in a country that has largely known peace since Independence in 1990? Is there any need, in fact, for them to apply the policy to themselves or take ownership of it? Probably not.And yet, unfortunately, the children of struggle-era parents will inherit the bitterness from those whose grievances remain unresolved, and so it contains the seeds of future conflict as it gets passed from generation to generation, as has happened so often in history.The way in which MPs were sniping at one another this week demonstrates very well the fact that reconciliation is something that hasn’t been taken to heart, and the blame game is still on with a vengeance.And perhaps reconciliation should not be our major concern in present-day Namibia, mainly because it is not sincerely meant, and therefore has become almost meaningless.I would substitute instead a need for tolerance to be the operative policy in Namibia right now.Because tolerance is a state of mind that makes for a democratic society.Tolerance of other races, colours, creeds, religions, cultures, etc, will teach us to accept that each has his or her place and while we may not always agree with one another, we must accept that it is an individual right to be different.There is unlikely to be group conflict of any kind in a society that has adopted tolerance as a guiding principle.Namibians need to learn to be tolerant of one another, instead of exacerbating existing differences, especially along tribal lines, which is becoming more and more manifest at present whether this is publicly acknowledged or not.Perhaps because we were carried away by the euphoria of becoming an independent nation in 1990, we believed in the concept of one Namibia once the colonial regime was out of the way.But that was not to be.Apartheid divided the groups in Namibia, quite successfully in many instances, but the former South African regime didn’t invent the concept of separateness.And I have no doubt Namibians would be fairly divided today even if apartheid had never existed! Yet there is nothing wrong with being proud of one’s ethnic identity and choosing to be with the same kind of people, as long as we have tolerance for others.And this is perhaps where the youth of today have the advantage.They haven’t grown up with a war psyche; in many cases they’ve gone to school with compatriots who are different from themselves, and through this, they’ve developed more tolerance than their parents could ever have hoped for.Perhaps it is the children who will forge the way to a ‘one Namibia, one nation’ that we won’t necessarily see in our lifetime.Like the concept of reconciliation, we often pretend a unity that doesn’t really exist, and so much of what is negative around us has to do with the tribalism that we won’t readily acknowledge.And this is something that will contribute only to our retrogression as an emergent nation.We cannot go forward if we are dogged by resentment towards other groups.So if my vote counted for anything I would propose tolerance as the means to take us from the darkness into the light.