EDITORIAL: Let the little children come
Our government’s obliviousness to the dynamics of community relations along border villages is disheartening.
These artificial colonial borders have divided communities, and even families. On Namibia’s northern border with Angola, relatives live on either side of the fence. But even so, they graze in the same area, get water from the same oshanas and their children play afternoon soccer together. When the ball is kicked to the other side of the border line, no immigration permits are required to pick it up.
Through this daily interaction, even romantic relations are formed and children are birthed from them. When a child whose one parent is Namibian is denied national identity documents and threatened with being banned from national school exams, it simply means the Windhoek-centric leadership of our country is ignorant about the dynamics that shape border communities.
In 2020, when the three Nchindo brothers were killed along the Chobe River by the Botswana Defence Force, they were with their Zambian cousin Sinvula Munyeme, who also perished in the attack. This clearly demonstrates that these communities are inseparably intertwined, and due consideration must apply when nationality is sought by children born under these circumstances.
To deploy a one-size-fits-all approach is to ignore, rather insensitively, the colonial history of our country and the indelible scars it has left on our communities. This is a country that allows people without national documents to vote using witness statements, but children whose one parent has proven their Namibian nationality are tossed to the side like aliens whose origins are unknown. With this attitude, history will judge us contemptuously.
These artificial colonial borders have divided communities, and even families. On Namibia’s northern border with Angola, relatives live on either side of the fence. But even so, they graze in the same area, get water from the same oshanas and their children play afternoon soccer together. When the ball is kicked to the other side of the border line, no immigration permits are required to pick it up.
Through this daily interaction, even romantic relations are formed and children are birthed from them. When a child whose one parent is Namibian is denied national identity documents and threatened with being banned from national school exams, it simply means the Windhoek-centric leadership of our country is ignorant about the dynamics that shape border communities.
In 2020, when the three Nchindo brothers were killed along the Chobe River by the Botswana Defence Force, they were with their Zambian cousin Sinvula Munyeme, who also perished in the attack. This clearly demonstrates that these communities are inseparably intertwined, and due consideration must apply when nationality is sought by children born under these circumstances.
To deploy a one-size-fits-all approach is to ignore, rather insensitively, the colonial history of our country and the indelible scars it has left on our communities. This is a country that allows people without national documents to vote using witness statements, but children whose one parent has proven their Namibian nationality are tossed to the side like aliens whose origins are unknown. With this attitude, history will judge us contemptuously.
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Namibian Sun
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