Let’s All Hold Hands and Go Down With the Titanic

I thought by the time it’s my turn to write a column again, we would have the results of our presidential and National Assembly elections already, and I could gracefully concede to the victory of alleged corruption once again in Namibia.

But surprise, surprise: Disorganisation has emerged as the true winner of 2024.

I am in no way shocked by how things have turned out.

We are generally a nation of poor service delivery, arrogant leadership, delusional loyalists and standing for hours in a queue in the sun, so all the chaos of the last two weeks is pretty standard.

When you are Namibian, you actually come to expect nonsense, and when there is none, you feel strange.

Like if everything had gone smoothly, had polling officials started on time, had there been enough ballot papers, had voting concluded properly after one day, had they counted the votes the next day and revealed the results in a timely manner, had they used 21st-century technology to report results, had the entire Electoral Commission of Namibia admitted to being incompetent and then stepped down, had things actually been free and fair, I think I would have been very confused and thought I was in an alternate reality.

But nope. Things went exactly as you’d expect in our country.

I think this is what we get for having a Cabinet of literal octogenarians. This is what happens when you are led by people born 70 years ago. No shade to the elderly at all.

I think as a society we should honour them, venerate them and care for them by sending them all on an extended vacation.

Most importantly, this is what happens when we keep condoning, supporting and voting for nonsense. It’s entirely self-inflicted.

That’s why I no longer have sympathy for us as a nation.

I hope we continue to get exactly what we clearly want. I hope our buildings become even more dilapidated, I hope government institutions keep hiring and elevating scammers and thieves, I hope people keep fighting each other in queues for food or grants or whatever, I hope we get five more foreign-constructed mega fortresses deep in the furthest, poorest parts of our towns.

Numbers don’t lie, and if that’s what most of you are voting for, I’m going to assume it’s what you want.

Before anyone complains, I want to know who they voted for so I can decide if I should care about their issues.

Obviously I am being facetious, and obviously I do care about my fellow Namibians, but truthfully I think things will need to get even worse before anyone thinks a change is needed.

I’m okay with that. I’ve always been an anarchist at heart and I believe in burning things to the ground so we all start over on an equal footing, but I’ve been told several times before not to incite violence, so I won’t.

I would like to point out, however, that it’s quite funny and sad how quickly our nature has changed. Some 30 years ago an ‘armed struggle’ was our entire brand.

Our leaders were educated on communist and Marxist thought and strategy by the Soviets. Our whole thing was taking the country back by any means.

Today we are told to be grateful for peace. Is it really peace, though? Or is it just complacency and laziness? What is peace really worth when people are starving?

What exactly is so peaceful about our election having gone the way it has gone? What’s peaceful about the rich getting richer, while we literally have to kill elephants to feed starving communities? What’s peaceful about the Walvis residents who killed themselves because Fishrot stole their dreams? What’s peaceful about dying in a state hospital because of a shortage of human and medical resources?

I’m so confused about what it is that everyone around me is so keen to maintain. Like genuinely. I need someone to balance me real quick.

And let me not even get started on what appears to be voter suppression.

Funny that some regions were able to have a 90% voter turnout, while others didn’t. There’s no way I can prove it, so as usual I’m just going to let it go and accept my fate. That’s the Namibian dream, I tell you; being content with the little you get.

I’m curious to see how the next five years will go.

Also, I hope the state doesn’t start listening to my phone calls. I give my opinion because I’d rather die in my truth than sell out and live a lie.

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