EDITORIAL: Namibia is leaning left - are its leaders listening?

In recent years, voters have shown a growing appetite for radical politics. The rise of the Affirmative Repositioning movement and the Landless People’s Movement proves one thing: Namibians are tired of promises wrapped in caution. What they want now is disruption - not diplomacy.

With the same economic fundamentals in place since independence, frustration is boiling over. The ownership of land, capital, and the instruments of wealth creation has remained largely untouched. Inequality remains the lifeblood of our economy, and slow reform has failed to bring meaningful change to those at the bottom of the ladder.

Radical voices are no longer shouting from the fringes. They’re inside parliament, shaping discourse, challenging convention, and speaking directly to the disillusioned. And while Swapo, once rode a wave of liberation-era legitimacy, it now risks becoming politically irrelevant if it doesn’t adapt.

Swapo cannot afford to play it safe. The "centrist" comfort zone - marked by politeness toward entrenched structural injustice - is eroding its support. If it wants to survive the next election cycle, it must not only listen to the demands for radical transformation but lead them.

Newly appointed ministers - especially those holding economic portfolios - must be prepared to shake the system. Inge Zaamwani, handed the agriculture, land reform, and fisheries docket, inherits a storm. Her test is not whether she can stabilise a slow-moving ministry, but whether she can ignite real, tangible change.

A good place to start: the stranded Walvis Bay fishermen. Their livelihoods were lost in a political mess; restoring their dignity would send a strong signal that this administration is serious about economic justice.

Namibians have heard the speeches, watched the ribbon-cuttings, and waited for jobs that never came. Now, they want something radically different.