Tribes are the sources of national power, identity and political strength, tribalism is a weapon of national self-destruction

Politicians are well aware that tribes are the sources of national power, identity, and political strength. They know as well that tribalism is a weapon for national self-destruction.

Despite this political reality, politicians opted to take both of them, depending on the circumstances, when trying to garner political support from the electorate. 

Politicians who treat tribes as national power, identity, and political leverage fully exploit them to their political advantage. However, those who choose tribalism and manipulate the minds of people do that at the detriment of the people and their own political career. 

Namibia came from a dark history of apartheid and racial laws of segregation that were characterised by divide and rule based on the colour of one's skin and tribe.

The apartheid and racial laws of segregation in Namibia were crafted based on 11 tribal/ethnic lines. 

Whites topped the list because they considered themselves as supreme human beings comparable to none.

For reasons known to those in power, the Oshiwambo-speaking tribe was at the bottom of the list, despite making up over 50% of the Namibian population. 

While apartheid and racial laws were so inhuman, targeting blacks, it was an effective weapon at the disposal of the minority whites.

Be it as it were, those laws were implemented to the letter and in the spirit, as we were all aware of our limitations.

For example, whenever you find a sign that reads, “European only”, it is obvious that it is exclusive for whites only and a no-go area for blacks. 

The same is true that it was unlawful, shameful and disgraceful for a white person to be a resident, for example, of Katutura, as that location was exclusive and meant for blacks.

Whoever trespasses on those laws would face the long arm of the law. To protect our own skins, we as citizens of this country have adhered to those laws even though they were inhuman.      

It is those inhuman laws that made the majority black Namibians take up arms and endure a protracted war of resistance and liberation struggle.

After precious lives were sacrificed by the sons and daughters of the soil, it was a historic watershed and unforgettable moment to witness the lowering of the apartheid flag and the hoisting of our national flag at midnight on the 21st March 1990, when the apartheid inhuman laws were buried to rot forever. 

It is historic that midnight of the 21st March 1990, the Namibian nation regained its rightful national identity and political independence after apartheid laws were finally buried. It was also on the same day that Namibia fully joined the international community and was recognised as a member.

Individual identities

Within the African context, national power, identity, and strength start with a family, tribe, nationality, and the continent, and so forth.

That is how Africans can be identified. In Namibia, it is our individual identities that give us a sense of national identity as Namibians, regardless of our origins.

We must therefore be extremely delighted to be what we are, because it is our tribes and our nationality that have given us unquestionable Namibian identities.   

It is also a historical fact that the majority of Namibians are Bantu-speaking people who migrated from the Central and Great Lake Regions. If this school of thought is correct, which I think it is, then the offspring majority of Bantu-speaking Namibians belong to the same tribe and family one way or the other. 

It is therefore obvious that the majority of our people who are Bantu-speaking have settled in Namibia, as many Africans have settled in different parts of the continent.

However, the best of it is that we are still within the borders of our continent. Migration was just a matter of giving one another breathing spaces, and it must not be used as a weapon to disunite us. 

By its characteristics and composition, Namibia is a rainbow nation made up of many tribes and colours. It is our characteristics as a nation that were supposed to serve as a source of political strength and a national unifying factor, rather than a divisive force.

As a diverse, multicultural nation, we must all be proud of who we are. 

We must applaud those visionary leaders who drafted and adopted our Constitution for their foresight in inserting Chapter 2, Article 4, into the supreme law of the land and making provision for who is qualified to be a Namibian citizen.

\Tribes or no tribes, our identity is therefore entrenched in the supreme law of the land.

It is our different tribes and colours that make our nation so rainbow. We must therefore embrace the spirit of our children, who are growing up non-tribal and colour-blind. As a nation, we must inculcate and plant seeds that shall contribute towards national building. It must also be entrenched in our minds that there is no second-hand Namibian, or any Namibian who is more Namibian than the other, as there is no Namibian who is Namibian by default. 

All Namibians are Namibians because they are Namibians. The gravity of destructive and divisive tribalism that has destroyed many African countries must not be allowed to have a space in independent Namibia. It is therefore imperative that we accept one another, diverse as we are, and ensure that peace prevails as a prerequisite for this nation to prosper and move forward in harmony.   

Namibia has a commodious political space that is enough for all of us and possibly for those yet to come. In any case, there may still be people out there who are not Namibians today but may apply to be Namibians tomorrow based on the Constitutional principles. But from the moment their applications are approved, they will qualify as Namibians with the same rights as those born in Namibia.   

It is always frightening when one looks at what is happening in some parts of Africa, where tribalism is causing sporadic conflicts because it has been used and continues to be used for political gains.

Tribalism has caused total political pandemonium in many parts of the continent to the extent that nations have been faced with the destruction of properties and loss of lives. 

Dirty tribal politics

Looking closely at what is happening in Namibia these days, it appears as if some politicians are running out of a clean political agenda and are now resorting to dirty tribal politics. There is conspicuous evidence that the ugly face of tribalism and regionalism is surfacing in Namibian politics. We must be mindful that tribalism and regionalism will tear apart the fabric of our nation's political reputation. We must therefore guard against the emergence of ethnocentric politics. 

Against that backdrop, as a nation, we must not allow our tribes and regions to be used as a national self-destructive weapon by novice politicians. Instead, our tribes and regions must be employed as sources of national power, identity, and political strength, aiming to build the nation.

Lt Gen (rtd) Denga Ndaitwah is a former Member of the Governing Council of IUM. Former Chief of the Defence Force and a Holder of a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies. He was a part-time lecturer at UNAM and served as HOD and senior lecturer at IUM. Views expressed here are those of the author.