Goats eat where they are tethered

Former Prime Minister Nahas Angula made some very interesting comments in an interview with the Confidénte newspaper this week. Although the interview touched on a wide range of issues, of which the majority centred on the Swapo politics, Citizen Angula's comments on other subject matters such as land allocation and greed also made for good reading. Angula has seemingly declared war against 'Johnny-come-latelies', or the so-called businessmen in politics, who are trying to influence politicians when it comes to the affairs of the ruling party. Ahead of the Swapo congress, it is expected that politicians will come out and endorse their candidates when the time is ripe to do so. Others will simply play their cards close to their chests and lobby for their preferred candidates behind the scenes. What is certain is that politicians and their supporters will employ some of the most enduring dirty tricks to discredit their rivals and it is very few of them that will stay above the name calling and personal attacks as the campaigning intensifies. Traditionally politicians tend to focus more on their opponents, with little premium placed on issues of the most basic needs. For instance, not many of the politicians are focusing their efforts on finding real solutions to the economic crisis that this country finds itself in. The liquidity crisis has led to many job losses and has put government's finances under severe strain and we are yet to see whether reforms will open new prospects for growth and jobs. So whether we like it or not, we will continue to see a trend of many rich Namibians behind the political process in an attempt to yield their influence and perhaps also protect their interests. Money and politics go hand-in-hand. Everywhere in the world political connections have made many people hugely rich in recent years. Swapo has entertained many of them in the past and will continue to do so because of obvious reasons. We are not questioning the involvement of business people in Swapo activities, but the bottom line is that our politicians are compromised by greed. And as the saying goes, 'goats eat where they are tethered'. Go figure.