The slippery slope of slate politics
The slippery slope Swapo finds itself on has much to do with the phenomenon of slate politics that dramatically reared its ugly head in the run-up to the 2017 ruling party congress.
The concept that a leader can only work with certain individuals on their slate has polarised large swathes of those who may hold different views.
Critical to politics is room for dissent, where leaders do not fall into the trap of surrounding themselves with yes-men and yes-women.
All things being equal, the right to dissent is the biggest right and, in my opinion, the most important right when it comes to accommodating different views in the hierarchies of political parties.
New thinkers are born when they disagree with well-accepted norms of society and within political formations. If everyone follows the well-trodden path, no new paths will be created, no new explorations will be made and no new vistas will be discovered.
It is simply not enough to talk of succession when those with differing views are shed by the wayside, which is currently happening in Swapo, given that it will have to face its radicalised youth in the form of mostly independent candidates and another animal that Swapo factional politics birthed, namely Panduleni Itula’s Independent Patriots for Change.
Of course, this augurs well for the deepening of democracy in Namibia, but to ignore the impact of slate politics on the ruling party’s woes is tantamount to introspecting while blindfolded.
The concept that a leader can only work with certain individuals on their slate has polarised large swathes of those who may hold different views.
Critical to politics is room for dissent, where leaders do not fall into the trap of surrounding themselves with yes-men and yes-women.
All things being equal, the right to dissent is the biggest right and, in my opinion, the most important right when it comes to accommodating different views in the hierarchies of political parties.
New thinkers are born when they disagree with well-accepted norms of society and within political formations. If everyone follows the well-trodden path, no new paths will be created, no new explorations will be made and no new vistas will be discovered.
It is simply not enough to talk of succession when those with differing views are shed by the wayside, which is currently happening in Swapo, given that it will have to face its radicalised youth in the form of mostly independent candidates and another animal that Swapo factional politics birthed, namely Panduleni Itula’s Independent Patriots for Change.
Of course, this augurs well for the deepening of democracy in Namibia, but to ignore the impact of slate politics on the ruling party’s woes is tantamount to introspecting while blindfolded.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article