Swapo's crumbling foundation

There is enough reason to believe that the ruling party has somewhat become too comfortable in the face of widespread corruption and injustices being meted out to ordinary citizens. To its credit, the liberation movement still remains a well-oiled machine when it comes to electoral campaigns. In the last general elections Swapo scooped 80% of the total vote, while its presidential candidate, Hage Geingob, was declared president following an 87% whitewash. As was the case during the Hifikepunye Pohamba election victory, Geingob proved to be more popular than Swapo. In spite of the massive support that Swapo continues to enjoy at the polls, there are hanging questions about intra-party democracy and the relevance of this political movement. The party has not really moved with the times and issue-based politics, as highlighted in its aims and objectives, are no longer the order of the day. Today the party has been silenced into submission, with no opposing views are being entertained. There is evidently also a political cult curse as part of the new dispensation, which has seen the voice of the youth, among others, increasingly becoming alienated. Ageing leaders are still hanging on to power and the party is seemingly not interested in elevating the role of the youth in mainstream politics, in order to maintain its relevance. There is simply no succession planning and the party has admitted this much. The current youth leaders have been tamed by the elders in the party and dare not question policies and rampant corruption, which is eating away Namibia inch by inch. This is undoubtedly a far cry from the radical, militant, politically and intellectually astute youth league of Elijah Ngurare and Bernadus Swartbooi, who used to champion critical bread and butter issues. At the moment there is no battle of ideas within Swapo and a think tank to critically analyse and provide solutions to the most pressing of social and economic challenges. Swapo requires a genuine paradigm shift, which will require leaders to come out of their cocoons and address the issues of the day. There is also a need to embrace criticism and dissent, which is voiced in the national interest.