The community must now decide

BAB WRITES FROM ||KHARAS:The broad traditional community of Vaalgras, better known as the “Orlam clan” has been orphaned in the real sense of the word.They have adequate reason to mourn the home-going of their second longest serving chief, in the name of Mr. Joël Stephanus. Equally, they have sufficient reason to mourn for the aftermath of the chief's burial by figuring out what is going to happen to them in terms of succession.These people stood very firm together during the liberation struggle, rallying behind the Swapo Party and have perhaps sent the most children abroad of which some didn't return home. We thought independence would have meant a quite different reality for the majority of this community, but it was a slap in the face in terms of socio-economic development.We thought our own Government for which we have sacrificed our lives would have pulled us out of the quagmire of poverty. To the contrary some, if not most of us are drinking from the rear teat. It's meaningless to talk about a succession race, which is a hot potato following the hand-picking of the late chief's candidate.It's on record that the Vaalgras community had been electing their leadership even during the dark days of the white minority apartheid dispensation. So what's wrong today, now that we are in a democratic dispensation?Disunity among this community was rife during the funeral arrangements of the late chief. One could have done clearly noticed the void, the longing and the shortcomings.Now there is potential to change the narrative and the momentum.My stern warning is that traditional communities should move away from the notion of family chiefs that are moved around and manipulated by people sharing the same surname and others.I would suggest that our next and correct step should be to conduct a democratic election in the shortest possible time not exceeding 90 days. The modus operandi should be to nominate candidates for a free, fair, credible and fresh election.We have a serious, 31 year backlog in terms of socio-economic development and can't afford to waste time any longer.In future we must elect leaders that have the interest of the broad community at heart. Equally, must they have leadership qualities and the appetite to work with people. They must be proactive and have the ability to initiate socio-economic development projects for the advancement of this impoverished and underdeveloped rural community in order to prosper.We should elect the right leadership and start moving things without any delay.In another development, we have lost two board members in the Southern Namibia Hake Fishing Company without being enlightened what was going on there and what's going to happen next.First and foremost, we should seek unity among ourselves and we need candidates who have hair on their teeth to take the bull by the horns.

The community must now decide

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Republikein 2025-12-16

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The community must now decide

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Republikein 2025-12-16

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