EDITORIAL: Hands off Inna Hengari
Speaking truth to power takes both courage and insight. Young Namibian member of parliament Inna Hengari did exactly that when she, in jest, referred to the load-shedding problem in neighbouring South Africa - and she got hauled over the coals for it.
Even some Namibians joined the party of rapping Hengari over the knuckles because apparently as an MP, she ought to tame her tongue.
It’s cowardly and thoughtless irony because MPs, by their very political DNA, should actually be vocal and loud on issues affecting the citizenry.
The notion by many political novices and armchair critics that politicians should be quiet about poor governance by neighbouring states for so-called sovereignty reasons is a tired excuse that has no place in a global village.
If South Africans were to fold their hands while their neighbours in an underachieving Namibia were living in despair, they would be failing in their duties of speaking out in favour of the suffering masses.
When it comes to load shedding, South Africa is the butt of every joke. Way before Hengari joined parliament, South Africans were already fed up with erratic load-shedding issues, so for them to suddenly pretend that this is a Hengari invention is disingenuous and cowardly.
Even though her lunchtime Sunday tweet was made light-heartedly, Hengari is in fact duty-bound to hold governments in the region to account when they let their let people down.
Even some Namibians joined the party of rapping Hengari over the knuckles because apparently as an MP, she ought to tame her tongue.
It’s cowardly and thoughtless irony because MPs, by their very political DNA, should actually be vocal and loud on issues affecting the citizenry.
The notion by many political novices and armchair critics that politicians should be quiet about poor governance by neighbouring states for so-called sovereignty reasons is a tired excuse that has no place in a global village.
If South Africans were to fold their hands while their neighbours in an underachieving Namibia were living in despair, they would be failing in their duties of speaking out in favour of the suffering masses.
When it comes to load shedding, South Africa is the butt of every joke. Way before Hengari joined parliament, South Africans were already fed up with erratic load-shedding issues, so for them to suddenly pretend that this is a Hengari invention is disingenuous and cowardly.
Even though her lunchtime Sunday tweet was made light-heartedly, Hengari is in fact duty-bound to hold governments in the region to account when they let their let people down.
Comments
Harry Tjihukununa
Load shedding is affecting the ordinary South-African most. So, we must be quite when the so-called first world countries are the one's contributing heavily to our carbon footprint, which in the end has a vicious and cumulative negative effects and mostly to the so-called third world countries?