Unmasking The Politics Of The Nyamu Notes

WHEN the politics surrounding the ‘Nyamu notes’ ended up on the agenda of the last Swapo Central Committee meeting, my impression was that the issue would be taken to the shop for a proper political servicing.

The idea being that it would make us understand better the functional nature of Swapo’s internal democratic moorings. Curiously, we were left with “democracy as tyranny of the majority”, the second danger of democracy invoked by the English philosopher John Stuart Mills in his classic essay “On liberty”.As things stand, it is the status quo for (former) Comrade Nyamu.But what is at stake here is not simply Nyamu’s fate as a politician or the Fatwa on his head.My discomfort does not lie here, but instead, significantly with the moral content of Swapo and the kind of democratic politics the leaders and membership of this Party are endorsing.In fact, this issue crystallised the lack of clarity and ignorance for the most part about the identity of Swapo as a modern democratic movement.The political consequences of that expulsion have been fatally ignored by the media, political analysts and public opinion.Consequently, in raising the perplexity around the ‘Nyamu notes’, I am taking only a brief glimpse into a vast and crowded armoury about the ethical disposition of Swapo as a political party in a democratic Namibia.What I want to suggest is that there is something wide of the mark with how the original dialogue around the ‘Nyamu notes’ was framed.Without doubt, one could comprehend with caution President Sam Nujoma raging like a bull in a china shop the moment he laid his eyes on those notes.Equally so, when Nyamu burnt in public view his expulsion letter (which is in fact the expression of the authority of the Party President) he said in more ways than one ‘boo’ to Nujoma’s goose.Yet, the rightness and wrongness of this particular case does not lie here.My first major area of contention is that most of us took a post-facto view of things by admonishing Nyamu.Even my discussions with party members whom I thought would share my rather “politically incorrect” view, provided de novo judgments as well as more heat than light.It became an issue of either being for Nyamu or for the Party.Yet, I persist that at the level of principle, comrades could be for Nyamu and for the Party.On that score, there is no incompatibility since the issue of the notes is one of principle and it is here where a refreshing dialogue can take place.The Party failed in its dealings with the notes on this score.Instead, it seems as if much of the dialogue within the ruling Party took place across substantial gaps of belief, imagination, experience, or desire.Nyamu was ‘guilty’ since he contemplated in his private notes various scenarios, i.e. forming a rival political party, quitting government etc.Basically in his private thoughts, not undemocratic in character, he betrayed Swapo and for some, the Party President.In advancing this view, the Party failed to find real arguments at the level of principle that this notes were private, stolen and a need existed to investigate a case of theft as Nyamu himself on occasion put it.And more than this, it ended up failing to agree not just about what it ought to believe (that is to say that private notes scribbled in the form of scenarios and worse, stolen) do not constitute treason in a democratic movement.But it also failed to agree based on a sound reading of the issue about what is to be done with the comrade.Even the reasoned last-minute attempts by Prime Minister Nahas Angula to give the comrade a warning came to naught.The Nyamu problematic clearly brings to light the character of Swapo which is in need of a philosophical renewal.A philosophical void exists on democracy and it can only be filled when self-critical exchanges take place within and across the interests of the group, and more importantly about what being a Swapo cadre means in ethical terms in the 21st century.The ethical character of Swapo cadres should be driven by the open condemnation of any undemocratic action or attitude, both from below and from the top.Practically speaking, the charges against this leader were scantily clad, if not naked, conceptually speaking that is, and more so if we invoke the notion of a modern, tolerant and vibrant democracy.It is tempting to conclude that it does appeal to our senses as convinced democrats (if they exist in Swapo) that we have to invalidate the Fatwa on Nyamu’s head and return his notes and his membership card.* Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in political science at the University of Paris- Pantheon Sorbonne, France.Curiously, we were left with “democracy as tyranny of the majority”, the second danger of democracy invoked by the English philosopher John Stuart Mills in his classic essay “On liberty”.As things stand, it is the status quo for (former) Comrade Nyamu.But what is at stake here is not simply Nyamu’s fate as a politician or the Fatwa on his head.My discomfort does not lie here, but instead, significantly with the moral content of Swapo and the kind of democratic politics the leaders and membership of this Party are endorsing.In fact, this issue crystallised the lack of clarity and ignorance for the most part about the identity of Swapo as a modern democratic movement.The political consequences of that expulsion have been fatally ignored by the media, political analysts and public opinion.Consequently, in raising the perplexity around the ‘Nyamu notes’, I am taking only a brief glimpse into a vast and crowded armoury about the ethical disposition of Swapo as a political party in a democratic Namibia.What I want to suggest is that there is something wide of the mark with how the original dialogue around the ‘Nyamu notes’ was framed.Without doubt, one could comprehend with caution President Sam Nujoma raging like a bull in a china shop the moment he laid his eyes on those notes.Equally so, when Nyamu burnt in public view his expulsion letter (which is in fact the expression of the authority of the Party President) he said in more ways than one ‘boo’ to Nujoma’s goose.Yet, the rightness and wrongness of this particular case does not lie here.My first major area of contention is that most of us took a post-facto view of things by admonishing Nyamu.Even my discussions with party members whom I thought would share my rather “politically incorrect” view, provided de novo judgments as well as more heat than light.It became an issue of either being for Nyamu or for the Party.Yet, I persist that at the level of principle, comrades could be for Nyamu and for the Party.On that score, there is no incompatibility since the issue of the notes is one of principle and it is here where a refreshing dialogue can take place.The Party failed in its dealings with the notes on this score.Instead, it seems as if much of the dialogue within the ruling Party took place across substantial gaps of belief, imagination, experience, or desire.Nyamu was ‘guilty’ since he contemplated in his private notes various scenarios, i.e. forming a rival political party, quitting government etc.Basically in his private thoughts, not undemocratic in character, he betrayed Swapo and for some, the Party President.In advancing this view, the Party failed to find real arguments at the level of principle that this notes were private, stolen and a need existed to investigate a case of theft as Nyamu himself on occasion put it.And more than this, it ended up failing to agree not just about what it ought to believe (that is to say that private notes scribbled in the form of scenarios and worse, stolen) do not constitute treason in a democratic movement.But it also failed to agree based on a sound reading of the issue about what is to be done with the comrade.Even the reasoned last-minute attempts by Prime Minister Nahas Angula to give the comrade a warning came to naught.The Nyamu problematic clearly brings to light the character of Swapo which is in need of a philosophical renewal.A philosophical void exists on democracy and it can only be filled when self-critical exchanges take place within and across the interests of the group, and more importantly about what being a Swapo cadre means in ethical terms in the 21st century.The ethical character of Swapo cadres should be driven by the open condemnation of any undemocratic action or attitude, both from below and from the top.Practically speaking, the charges against this leader were scantily clad, if not naked, conceptually speaking that is, and more so if we invoke the notion of a modern, tolerant and vibrant democracy.It is tempting to conclude that it does appeal to our senses as convinced democrats (if they exist in Swapo) that we have to invalidate the Fatwa on Nyamu’s head and return his notes and his membership card.* Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari is a PhD fellow in political science at the University of Paris- Pantheon Sorbonne, France.