Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Banner Left
Banner Right

Do We Need Politicians Or Statesmen?

Do We Need Politicians Or Statesmen?

HAVE you been in a situation when you know what you want but then you cannot verbalise or communicate it to the other person? Have you been in a situation when you want to make a choice but options are limited? You want to opt for good and godly, for example, but the only options you have available are lesser evil or more evil?

If options were as many as types of cheese in the Netherlands, it would be easy to go for the best and beneficial one. This is the place where many of us, Namibians in particular and Africans in general, find ourselves. What we are talking about here concerns our people, our future and the future of our sons and daughters, if you live for both the present and the future like some of us do. We are not loathing the past, but learning from it, be shaped by it, and face forward. It is not a good place to be although, ironically, it is a good place from the view of those who are looking for the masses to support their smug political vision. Now is the kairos before election to engage not only with the screwed-up politicians but with one another as citizens, despite our differences and indifference, despite our preferences, on what do we want as a nation in the upcoming elections. Do we want same old, same old? Do we want another screwed-up politician? Or another bunch of critics who look at everything negatively not because they want the good things for the nation but because they want to be in the driving seat for their smug vision? Do we want a bunch of passive and pathetic ‘leaders’ who lack self governance and have failed to lead their own family; charity starts at home by the way. Or do we want a bunch of cynics who turn down our every dream of SME because our surname does carry the letter O?We do not want a bunch of screwed-up politicians. Neither we are guinea pigs for inexperienced leaders to practice on. We need statesmen or stateswomen, to those of us who are gender sensitive. Who are statesmen? ‘Statesmen are leaders who uphold what is right regardless of the popularity of the position. Statesmen speak out to achieve good for their people, not to win votes. Statesmen promote the general good rather than regional or personal self-interest…politicians may win elections; nevertheless, future generations may deride them for their lack of character and their ineffective leadership.’ (Henry and Richard Blackaby: 2001)William Wilberforce, a white English human rights’ lawyer, who liberated black people, is a statesman. Tate Madiba who selflessly forgave his oppressors, the white South Africans, is a statesman. The outspoken Malcolm X was a much appreciated revolutionary but he was not a statesman. We appreciate the most sung heroes and heroism of civil rights’ justice and black consciousness, but were they statesmen? We appreciate you who led and liberated us, but are you a statesman?In closure, ‘what is troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics – the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our seeming inability to build a working consensus to tackle any big problem’ (Obama in The Audacity of Hope). Jeremiah 6:15 …we are not ashamed to do evil…and we have forgotten how to blush. Let’s vote for the statesmen! PatriqVia e-mailNote: Name and address provided – Ed

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News