EDITORIAL: Guard your voice

In many African countries where authoritarianism has taken root and ruling family dynasties have flourished, it did not begin with tanks in the streets or constitutions torn up overnight. It began with fear.

Fear carefully cultivated until silence felt safer than truth. Fear that rewarded proximity to power with privilege and punished dissent with isolation. Fear that trained citizens to clap longer, speak in praise and question less.

Namibia must resist that drift with everything it has. We did not win independence to inherit a culture of whispered opinions and cautious journalism. We did not enshrine freedom of expression in our Constitution so that it could be exercised only in private WhatsApp groups. 

The most dangerous moment for any republic is not when people criticise their leaders. It is when they stop doing so.

Look at the durability of countries where robust public debate is not only tolerated but encouraged. In the United Kingdom, prime ministers are grilled weekly in parliament. The press lampoons them without apology. Satire cuts deep. Institutions endure precisely because no one is above scrutiny.

Just yesterday, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the king’s brother, was arrested over marathon legal controversies that also got him stripped of his royal titles. No fear, no favour.

Namibia’s democratic credentials are not an inheritance – they are a practice. They live in editorial rooms, on radio call-in shows, in town hall meetings, in courtrooms, and in ordinary conversations between citizens.

Gradual worship of leaders is subtle. It appears as intolerance of criticism. It appears as labelling dissent as betrayal. Over time, it hardens into expectation – that leaders must not be questioned. That policies must not be interrogated. Once that behaviour becomes normal, fear no longer needs to be enforced. It becomes internalised.