Enter Kings – Exit the Republic (Part 3)

Professor Joseph Diescho writes:The death and burial of Tatekulu Elifas ought to make us pause as a nation and ask ourselves some honest and tough questions to move forward in accordance with the dreams of the liberation struggle. The way we are going about managing our affairs is taking us backwards rapidly. We need to reflect seriously around what are our national questions, such as: Who are we, where do we want to go and what are the risks that we have to take boldly—as One Nation? In this important process of self-definition and recalibration, the following factors might be helpful starting points:One, the Constitution of the Republic does not mention, not even once, the word king as a structure of authority in Namibia. How did we suddenly become so preoccupied with traditional kings as markers of our democracy and nationhood?Two, there were fewer chiefs or kings in 1990 than there are now. The people who called themselves kings were most useful instruments of divide and rule in colonial times.OPPORTUNISMSuddenly, for opportunistic reasons certain new political elites and traditional rulers have fashioned a parasitic relationship to suck blood from each other for political survival. The elites need the chiefs to mobilise their voting cows in election times and the chiefs, now kings, need the government for their financial upkeep. Hence, over 98% of the current traditional authorities are registered SWAPO members. This renders traditional leaders incapable of delivery on their mandate as traditional community leaders. They are delivery points of SWAPO propaganda and politicking. Chiefs or kings are employees of the President.Three, President Geingob was right when he lamented the state of our traditional leaders – when he compared our set-up to West Africa where traditional leaders are maintained by their people who benefit from the traditions they represent.Four, we forget that the struggle for national independence and sovereignty that SWAPO so ably prosecuted was never a struggle to return the people in free Namibia to tribal fiefdoms and to be ruled in accordance with tribal and ethnic instincts.THE REPUBLIC FIRSTFive, ontologically a Republic is a modern system of governing a territory with borders and people under one sovereign state, which in turn guarantees equality to all citizens, not as members of this or that tribe. Therefore a multiplicity of Royal Highnesses cannot exist side by side with the ethos and precepts of a Republic. As a small and young nation, we need to decide whether we want our loyalties to be channelled towards our tribal and ethnic enclaves or to the Republic of Namibia that our Founders have bequeathed unto us, with one leader elected through a universal suffrage every five years.We cannot afford to have both, as we appear to be doing now. Let the chiefs be buried by their traditional communities and not by the state.Six, much as we have the right to respect our traditions in a diverse society, but let not the disparate sub-cultures be repugnant with the overarching constitutional dispensation we chose to have as a nation, and let us place above all laws the sacrosanctity of the Constitution of the Republic, for that is the blanket that guarantees us warmth and security every night.In other words, the state as such cannot and should not bury chiefs as heroes when they, even in times such as this when there was a special relationship between the Head of State and Aandonga as his tribe-in-law and which by some coincidence had produced the first two Vice-Presidents.States do not have in-laws and this is too dangerous a formula to build a sustainable foundation upon. The Head of State has taken an oath to defend the Namibian Constitution and protect all Namibian citizens.STOP BLAMING THE PASTSeven, we must understand and internalise that we are not the only nation that was subjected to colonial abuse, and that we are independent now. This means that we are now in charge of our own affairs and cannot continue to blame others for our failings, but bring our past and our future into constructive dialogue to chart the way forward.Others nations who were also colonised managed to do away with the past and pave the way to the future as nations.In this context, we must admit that we as Afrikans just do not understand how things work, and continue to do things that make no sense beyond the unintelligent preferences of political leaders that adds no value to our future.Eight, as Afrikans we continue to refuse to respect ourselves, yet we demand respect from others who see us doing foolish things for no reason.It cannot be right that while other civilizations are aiming high by using their resources to move up in the future, we Afrikans use the little we have and what others give us when we beg to build monstrous heroes acres and oversized marble tombstones for disposable heroes. As such we continue to run Afrika and ourselves into the ground.STRENGTHEN THE REPUBLICNine, we need all our competencies and energies to strengthen the ways of the Republic, not kings who historically owned their subjects. By directing our identities to the new Royal Highnesses at the rate we are going now, we can see the red lights on the radar of peace and stability blinking.Ten, it is self-evident that unity that we once cherished is slipping away as state funerals multiply and reinforce values that are antithetical to those of the Republic. As schools fall apart, while our national institutions become meaningless, our state hospitals and clinics become dumping grounds for the poor and the vulnerable, and poor political leadership become wholly self-serving and toxic and more seriously when the education system is everything but a pedagogy about who we are as a nation, the future is bleak.It is this sort of national dissonance that brings about national dissatisfaction that may lead to people one day saying they have nothing to lose and can undo what we have been able to build.Our leaders are heavily self-medicated and insulated from the truth so much so that they hate any voice that sounds different. In a sense SWAPO is becoming a cult which commands its members to walk the same, sound the same, and keep quiet the same when they bow to their shrine. This is way too dangerous.BEWARE THE PYTHONIn the final analysis, let us hear what African history instructs us.Lack of clear and transparent rules and guidelines only allows humans to become beasts. The current state of unbridled greed and corruption on the part of our state leaders has created a national culture like a python that is swallowing the new leadership of SWAPO at the expense of the idealism that SWAPO once represented.For instance a cursory reading of the older versions of the constitutions of the liberation movement articulated a caution with regard to the place and role of traditional leaders in a liberated Namibia. Before independence SWAPO was suspicious of any sectarian leaderships and enunciated a need to mainstream culture and heritage into a new ethos of One Namibia One Nation. SWAPO went further to alert the future nation of the dangers of religion, language, tribe and the likes as markers of diversity.It is important that we return to this idealism so that we can become what we are not yet. This effort requires honesty and boldness from all of us in the spirit that we do not love our traditional communities less, but we love Namibia more, and as equals at all times.

Enter Kings – Exit the Republic (Part 3)

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Republikein 2026-08-05

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Enter Kings – Exit the Republic (Part 3)

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Republikein 2026-08-05

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