Politicians must take blame for tribalism - Shixwameni

MATHIAS HAUFIKU

WINDHOEK

Politicians are the biggest contributors to the ongoing scourge of tribalism which has the potential to stir tribal and ethnic wars in the country, according to All People’s Party president Ignatius Shixwameni.

Speaking during Namibian Sun’s ‘Evening Review’ show last night, he said the advent of jobs for comrades and neglect shown towards minority groups are antagonising the Namibian public.

“Politicians must carry the blame, especially the ones in government. At independence we promised that we would build one Namibia, one nation but all we see today is the perpetuation of tribalism and self-interest,” he said.

Shixwameni also took issue with the fact that all senior government positions such as ministers and in the diplomatic space are hogged by the Oshiwambo-speaking group.

“This situation is antagonising our society and it is strengthening tribalism without us even seeing it. We will regret it going forward because it can trigger a civil and ethnic war, the practice of choosing people from one tribe must be addressed.

“As politicians we must denounce it and we need to have a national convention where we interrogate the issue of nation building,” he said.

When Shixwmeni resigned from the Swapo Party on 10 October 1999, one of the reasons he listed as a push factor was the “emergence of tribalism and ethnicity”.

Shixwameni is also concerned over what he labels as “the return to voting along tribal lines”.

“Swapo has destroyed our country and they cultivated tribalism and ethnicity. We are clearly going back to how the situation was in 1989 when people voted along tribal lines but we must guard against this,” he warned.

He said the current trend of voting along tribal lines only benefits the political elite.

“This only benefits the political elite who are eating but these are only a few individuals who benefit while others suffer. A few years back there was a fight in Keetmanshoop between the Ovambos and Namas, if we do not denounce such incidents our people will think it is justified that it is right to fight for your tribe instead of fighting for your country,” he said.

Shixwameni also narrated how he faced internal pressure on numerous occasions from several APP members who wanted to turn the party into an exclusive Kavango political organisation.

“Some people in Kavango wanted to turn the APP into a Kavango party but I could not allow that to happen as an internationalist, I cannot stoop to that level and it is not part of my political believe, if they want to make it a Kavango party I will gladly step down,” he said.

Governance flaws

The lawmaker also expressed concern over the state of governance in the country, saying corruption is not being dealt with robustly and that the public has every reason to be outrage regarding the manner in which the country is being administered.

“Ours is not a democracy because there is bulldozing politics going on whereby some politicians just want to eat, instead of working to make Namibia a better place to live for all,” he said.

Shixwameni said the proliferation of corruption cases in the country is worrying and called on the public to take the necessary action to reign in graft.

“We are busy normalising corruption because every day we learn about new corruption scandals and the people who are implicated are from the same political circle. If government is serious about fighting corruption, we must establish a judicial commission of inquiry and conduct lifestyle audits from the president to senior officials in the public service,” he said.