Let Them Eat Peace and Stability

I SAW A video over the weekend of the ruling party’s rally where they were throwing food into the crowds. I laughed out loud for a full minute.

But it is actually not a laughing matter; the risk of a stampede is a scary thing to consider, but the absurdity of our nation just brought it out of me.

A few years ago, I might have written a column admonishing this behaviour and calling for the top brass to apologise or see the error of their ways, but I am long past being that naive.

The amount of people that I have seen outraged by this is actually what is comical, because I keep wondering why anybody anywhere is surprised. Are we all just being delusional or is this a covert attempt at once again gaslighting the populace?

The video was in no way surprising, as this is what I have come to expect from our leadership.

This is exactly how that party treats the people who are loyal to them. If you are not part of the upper echelon of Namibians, then this is just an ordinary day for you. That’s just the truth.

Feigning shock or even anger at this video is quite foolish, because it means that until then you were still holding onto some notion that they care about any of us.

If you haven’t already noticed, most people in Namibia are struggling to make ends meet. We have a headcount of around three million, abundant natural resources, clean roads, beautiful attractions and support from the global community.

The math is not mathing even a little bit. And thanks to all the looting and mismanagement over the years, none of that prosperity trickles down to the average person.

Life in Namibia these days feels like having food parcels thrown at you every day and being expected to thrive. So many people have given up even dreaming of better lives for themselves – all they expect out of life is to beg for food.

But it wasn’t always like this.

I was born in 1995, which means I still have a few memories of Namibia when it was still kind of nice.

One thing I can’t forget is the general feeling of happiness everyone had. I’m pretty sure this jubilee was a spillover from the 90s when everyone was drunk off freedom and the government’s true nature was still unknown.

I can remember when things changed around 2007, and since then, all of us have grown angrier and hungrier, and there seems to be less and less to go around. The general atmosphere now is one of resignation – accepting that life sucks and nothing can be done – and passivity, something many of us confuse with ‘peace and stability’.

We joke about the Pohamba years and how tenderpreneurs and slay queens were thriving during that time, but we don’t realise just how much people were living lavishly on taxpayers’ dimes. At least then, we didn’t know shit was going to hit the fan, so we could smile, thinking the abundance would be for all of us.

Now that everything is running out, I hope everyone knows it is a direct result of elitist greed and understands that video is a symptom of a larger pattern of a general disregard for our citizens.

It is not some shocking, out of character, once in a blue moon occurrence, and I promise, it was not an accident either.

There’s one camp defending the ruling party.

If you read enough books that explain power structures, you will understand that imperialism thrives on our participation in it.

The matrix is able to continue functioning as a global simulation because there are people who would rather stay plugged in, even if they benefit just a little.

To break it down into Namibian terms, the government is a baller buying champagne at the club. Their loyalists are the zopas they send around who hope they might one day get a chance to drive the Mercedes. The ice boy will always defend the grootman, even if he himself gets a food parcel thrown at him.

The last thing I want to say is that even though I believe supporters of the ruling party deserve whatever crumbs they get, I do acknowledge that impoverished people don’t come to rallies to listen to policies, they come for the snacks; I won’t put too much blame on them.

The real evil is our inability to accept reality for what it is. The true sin is all of us being on a sinking ship and agreeing with the captain that everything is fine.

– Anne Hambuda is a writer, social commentator and poet. Follow her online or email her at
annehambuda@gmail.com for more.