Humility is a virtue
Michel de Montaigne, one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, once said: "On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”
Montaigne was making a point about humility, and how unpredictably the wheel that is the world we live in can turn.
On unpredictability, British missionary Margot Barber summed it up nicely when she said: "One day you're cock of the walk, the next a feather duster.”
When Swapo lost its majority in parliament following the 2019 election, President Hage Geingob, who himself lost 30% of the votes he attained in 2014, gracefully remarked: "I have heard you".
We understood this to mean that he has taken cognisance of the anger expressed against him and the party at the ballot and vowed to introspect.
But while the head of state seemed to have been humble enough to reflect on and interpret what the electoral outcome meant, those serving alongside him in the Swapo leadership do not seem to share the sentiment.
And, as the history of mankind has proven time and again, words alone are not enough. As matters stand, there is no radical departure from the era that handed Swapo its biggest post-independence thrashing in an election.
On this evidence, one wonders how the party would evade a similar fate in 2024 if the socio-economic challenges that angered voters in 2019 remain starkly in place.
Montaigne was making a point about humility, and how unpredictably the wheel that is the world we live in can turn.
On unpredictability, British missionary Margot Barber summed it up nicely when she said: "One day you're cock of the walk, the next a feather duster.”
When Swapo lost its majority in parliament following the 2019 election, President Hage Geingob, who himself lost 30% of the votes he attained in 2014, gracefully remarked: "I have heard you".
We understood this to mean that he has taken cognisance of the anger expressed against him and the party at the ballot and vowed to introspect.
But while the head of state seemed to have been humble enough to reflect on and interpret what the electoral outcome meant, those serving alongside him in the Swapo leadership do not seem to share the sentiment.
And, as the history of mankind has proven time and again, words alone are not enough. As matters stand, there is no radical departure from the era that handed Swapo its biggest post-independence thrashing in an election.
On this evidence, one wonders how the party would evade a similar fate in 2024 if the socio-economic challenges that angered voters in 2019 remain starkly in place.
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