EDITORIAL: A daunting task awaits Nandi-Ndaitwah
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is on the cusp of making history.
In the macho, patriarchal society that is Namibia, she has defied structural and artificial stumbling blocks placed across her path to State House. With 46% of the votes counted by late yesterday, it didn’t look like anyone could catch up with her.
Of course, her victory will be tainted – as former prime minister Nahas Angula put it – by the absolute horror show that was these elections, thanks to the ineptitude of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN). Nandi-Ndaitwah’s own ascendance to the Swapo candidacy in this election has been subjected to questions of legitimacy, following the death of president Hage Geingob in February.
She will inherit a country in a mess.
Thankfully, she is part of the collective that allowed challenges such as youth unemployment to spiral out of control. She has institutional memory of how all this came about – and we hope she has solutions up her sleeves too.
One of her predecessors, Sam Nujoma, led this country with Solomonic wisdom. Instead of only surrounding himself with loyalists, Nujoma plucked some of his key appointees from relative obscurity. He relied on the wise counsel of the broader leadership of Swapo and government to identify leaders whom he personally did not know. As long as they came highly recommended, he was happy to work with them.
This has since changed. Now it’s about who sings ‘Modikwa yaMukwanangobe’ the loudest. Nandi-Ndaitwah must divorce the country from these retrogressive tendencies and serve as the mother to all who reside in the proverbial Namibian House. She must lead with humility, vision and wisdom.
In the macho, patriarchal society that is Namibia, she has defied structural and artificial stumbling blocks placed across her path to State House. With 46% of the votes counted by late yesterday, it didn’t look like anyone could catch up with her.
Of course, her victory will be tainted – as former prime minister Nahas Angula put it – by the absolute horror show that was these elections, thanks to the ineptitude of the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN). Nandi-Ndaitwah’s own ascendance to the Swapo candidacy in this election has been subjected to questions of legitimacy, following the death of president Hage Geingob in February.
She will inherit a country in a mess.
Thankfully, she is part of the collective that allowed challenges such as youth unemployment to spiral out of control. She has institutional memory of how all this came about – and we hope she has solutions up her sleeves too.
One of her predecessors, Sam Nujoma, led this country with Solomonic wisdom. Instead of only surrounding himself with loyalists, Nujoma plucked some of his key appointees from relative obscurity. He relied on the wise counsel of the broader leadership of Swapo and government to identify leaders whom he personally did not know. As long as they came highly recommended, he was happy to work with them.
This has since changed. Now it’s about who sings ‘Modikwa yaMukwanangobe’ the loudest. Nandi-Ndaitwah must divorce the country from these retrogressive tendencies and serve as the mother to all who reside in the proverbial Namibian House. She must lead with humility, vision and wisdom.
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article