He Who Doesn’t Waver

ON to the long list of honours, material gifts and retirement benefits that the former President has and is still receiving, must be added the N$50 million or so, in taxpayers’ money, that went into the production of ‘Where others Wavered’.

How about the Heroes Acre? I doubt if a non-Swapo person will ever be buried there. So, it is basically a burial ground for Nujoma and some of his comrades.Then there is the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura and the endless streets named after him.How about the Lev Leviev bursary? Did he get it or he didn’t he? And not to forget that as long as the old man is still the President of Swapo, all of us are actually financing the activities of Swapo.Just as we do with Ngarikute Tjiriange – the Swapo’s Secretary-General, on the Government payroll as a “Minister without Work”.Oh! I hope you remember this headline in The Namibian: ‘Plot with a view given to Nujoma’.Yes, that was way back in 2001 when the Walvis Bay Town Council, drunk from the fish smell, gave a plot of 5 000 square metres, with a view of the town’s famous lagoon, to Nujoma as a Christmas gift.The value of the plot, which was five times the size of a standard plot in the area, was around N$1, 2 million at that time (2001) and it cost the Municipality N$300 000 to service the plot for Nujoma.And if some comic MPs had their way in Parliament last year, Nujoma could have walked away with the present State House as a gift.Now, as if these were not enough, here comes the news of a ‘law’ that would bestow Nujoma with a title of ‘The Founding Father of the Namibian Nation’.This is historically inaccurate, to put it mildly.I would suggest the following re-wording: “The Founding President of the Namibian State”.Historically, there were many people fighting for this country even before Nujoma came onto the scene and not to forget that when OPO was being formed in Cape Town, he wasn’t there either.And secondly, the writing of the Constitution, which is the founding document of our Republic, wasn’t the work of Nujoma alone.There were many actors involved.So, it is more historically accurate to talk of Founding Fathers and Mothers of the Namibian Nation and State.An honourable person would say ‘no’ to such a move, not only because of the inaccuracy involved, but as way of honouring those who came and struggled before him.There are basically two forces at work here: you have too many praise-singers who can’t stop at anything to please and a man who can’t say ‘no’ – he doesn’t waver.Alexactus T.Kaure West AfricaSo, it is basically a burial ground for Nujoma and some of his comrades.Then there is the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura and the endless streets named after him.How about the Lev Leviev bursary? Did he get it or he didn’t he? And not to forget that as long as the old man is still the President of Swapo, all of us are actually financing the activities of Swapo.Just as we do with Ngarikute Tjiriange – the Swapo’s Secretary-General, on the Government payroll as a “Minister without Work”.Oh! I hope you remember this headline in The Namibian: ‘Plot with a view given to Nujoma’.Yes, that was way back in 2001 when the Walvis Bay Town Council, drunk from the fish smell, gave a plot of 5 000 square metres, with a view of the town’s famous lagoon, to Nujoma as a Christmas gift.The value of the plot, which was five times the size of a standard plot in the area, was around N$1, 2 million at that time (2001) and it cost the Municipality N$300 000 to service the plot for Nujoma.And if some comic MPs had their way in Parliament last year, Nujoma could have walked away with the present State House as a gift.Now, as if these were not enough, here comes the news of a ‘law’ that would bestow Nujoma with a title of ‘The Founding Father of the Namibian Nation’.This is historically inaccurate, to put it mildly.I would suggest the following re-wording: “The Founding President of the Namibian State”.Historically, there were many people fighting for this country even before Nujoma came onto the scene and not to forget that when OPO was being formed in Cape Town, he wasn’t there either.And secondly, the writing of the Constitution, which is the founding document of our Republic, wasn’t the work of Nujoma alone.There were many actors involved.So, it is more historically accurate to talk of Founding Fathers and Mothers of the Namibian Nation and State.An honourable person would say ‘no’ to such a move, not only because of the inaccuracy involved, but as way of honouring those who came and struggled before him.There are basically two forces at work here: you have too many praise-singers who can’t stop at anything to please and a man who can’t say ‘no’ – he doesn’t waver.Alexactus T.Kaure West Africa