EDITORIAL: Red line removal or election gimmick?
It’s great to see government flirt with the idea of finally acting on the discriminatory so-called red line, a colonial-era demarcation used to inflict economic sabotage that has seen even food for household consumption being tossed away under the guise of disease control.
Minister Calle Schlettwein is a man of many contradictions. In court, he has mounted a fierce and costly battle to defend the red line, but publicly, he is telling us that he intends to remove it. We hope his latest remarks are not mere electioneering, especially after many people threatened to vote differently because of this issue.
Many farmers from privileged backgrounds joined Schlettwein in the court battle to keep Namibians beyond the red line in the bondage of poverty.
At Schlettwein's instigation, government waged a gerrymandering war against people north or east of the red line, preventing them from accessing lucrative meat markets. Those travelling from the Zambezi Region even had their mangoes, intended to feed their children, discarded at the red line checkpoints. The entire situation is both disgraceful and treasonous.
By defending this foolishness in court, government is essentially saying that the lives and livelihoods of individuals who live north of the red line are as worthless as a knitted condom.
How can a government of a nation like ours, with its history and background, collaborate with the wealthy descendants of land robbers, whose goal at the time the red line was built was simply to safe-guard their own interests?
How can a government of the people work around the clock to further impoverish its peo-ple?
Minister Calle Schlettwein is a man of many contradictions. In court, he has mounted a fierce and costly battle to defend the red line, but publicly, he is telling us that he intends to remove it. We hope his latest remarks are not mere electioneering, especially after many people threatened to vote differently because of this issue.
Many farmers from privileged backgrounds joined Schlettwein in the court battle to keep Namibians beyond the red line in the bondage of poverty.
At Schlettwein's instigation, government waged a gerrymandering war against people north or east of the red line, preventing them from accessing lucrative meat markets. Those travelling from the Zambezi Region even had their mangoes, intended to feed their children, discarded at the red line checkpoints. The entire situation is both disgraceful and treasonous.
By defending this foolishness in court, government is essentially saying that the lives and livelihoods of individuals who live north of the red line are as worthless as a knitted condom.
How can a government of a nation like ours, with its history and background, collaborate with the wealthy descendants of land robbers, whose goal at the time the red line was built was simply to safe-guard their own interests?
How can a government of the people work around the clock to further impoverish its peo-ple?
Comments
Namibian Sun
No comments have been left on this article