Swapo using 'apartheid tactics'
The Muzokumwe Volunteers Association (MVA) says Swapo, under the leadership of President Hage Geingob, is using apartheid-style tactics to attack its enemies.
The association, which sympathises with Professor Joseph Diescho who left Namibia for Berlin, Germany at the end of January following a longstanding public feud with Geingob, agreed with the academic that the Swapo government and his lack of job opportunities at public institutions had forced him into “exile”.
“Today, the Swapo government led by President Hage Geingob is outsmarting apartheid tactics of targeting enemies and literally forcing them into exile,” MVA chairperson Mbangu Paulus said.
“It is sad to note that Namibia's most decorated academic has fled into exile due to hostility from our own public institutions. How can our president motivate students when intellectuals are pushed out of their countries of birth due to the anti-intellectual environment that prevails in our country?”
Swapo secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa refused to comment.
“If you are saying it is allegations, allegations remain allegations. Now why do you want me to comment on allegations?” Shaningwa asked.
Paulus argued there is strategy to victimise people from the Kavango regions and force them into exile if they differ with Swapo ideology, something which he says started during the liberation struggle.
“The nationalist fervour that has characterised Namibia before and after independence makes sense only when the extent of what was perpetuated against the Kavangos is properly understood,” he said.
Paulus claimed a few Kavangos and other Namibians who are in Geingob's good books are behaving similarly to how some behaved during colonialism.
“They live in the glass houses of government and refuse to throw stones. They refuse to sympathise with the ordeal of those purged on a daily basis. They have resolved to hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. To these people, God in heaven does not matter. The god that matters is the one in State House. The tears of Joseph Diescho mean nothing to them. The injustice against the innocent means nothing to them,” Paulus said.
He called on Namibians who are willing to fight against the injustices committed against fellow citizens to support them.
“This is not what the liberation struggle was for. It is clear that the good direction has been lost. Muzokumwe is ready and those patriotic citizens who want to join the fight are most welcome.”
KENYA KAMBOWE
The association, which sympathises with Professor Joseph Diescho who left Namibia for Berlin, Germany at the end of January following a longstanding public feud with Geingob, agreed with the academic that the Swapo government and his lack of job opportunities at public institutions had forced him into “exile”.
“Today, the Swapo government led by President Hage Geingob is outsmarting apartheid tactics of targeting enemies and literally forcing them into exile,” MVA chairperson Mbangu Paulus said.
“It is sad to note that Namibia's most decorated academic has fled into exile due to hostility from our own public institutions. How can our president motivate students when intellectuals are pushed out of their countries of birth due to the anti-intellectual environment that prevails in our country?”
Swapo secretary-general Sophia Shaningwa refused to comment.
“If you are saying it is allegations, allegations remain allegations. Now why do you want me to comment on allegations?” Shaningwa asked.
Paulus argued there is strategy to victimise people from the Kavango regions and force them into exile if they differ with Swapo ideology, something which he says started during the liberation struggle.
“The nationalist fervour that has characterised Namibia before and after independence makes sense only when the extent of what was perpetuated against the Kavangos is properly understood,” he said.
Paulus claimed a few Kavangos and other Namibians who are in Geingob's good books are behaving similarly to how some behaved during colonialism.
“They live in the glass houses of government and refuse to throw stones. They refuse to sympathise with the ordeal of those purged on a daily basis. They have resolved to hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. To these people, God in heaven does not matter. The god that matters is the one in State House. The tears of Joseph Diescho mean nothing to them. The injustice against the innocent means nothing to them,” Paulus said.
He called on Namibians who are willing to fight against the injustices committed against fellow citizens to support them.
“This is not what the liberation struggle was for. It is clear that the good direction has been lost. Muzokumwe is ready and those patriotic citizens who want to join the fight are most welcome.”
KENYA KAMBOWE
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article