Swartbooi, Nujoma at it again
… emotions flare over unsavoury parly comments
THE feud between erstwhile land ministry colleagues Bernadus Swartbooi and Utoni Nujoma continued in the National Assembly last week, with Swartbooi branding his former boss a ‘tribalist’ and Nujoma referring to him as a cockroach in return.
Thursday marked the last day of the National Assembly’s session for 2020. The MPs will return on 9 February 2021.
The heated exchange between Swartbooi and Nujoma emanated from a motion moved by Rally for Democracy and Progress leader Mike Kavekotora, titled ‘Debate on how our democratic systems are impacting development in Namibia’.
Kavekotora contends in his motion that real democratic systems are best able to enrich the entire society “because they are driven by both voters and voters’ interests”.
Swartbooi argued that the fact that Namibia holds regular elections is not sufficient to justify that it is a democratic society, as some are more equal than others.
“In our case, the inherent dignity of the elite is promoted at the expense of all others,” he argued.
He said for as long as appointments to critical positions at democratic intuitions are based on political patronage, Namibia will not pass the democracy test.
“Whether this country is a democracy or majoritarian state, you would by the facts contained in our day-to-day evidence concur that we are more an elite captured majoritarianist state,” he said.
Swartbooi added: “For example, look at who is the auditor general, prosecutor general, the [police] inspector general, the chief of the army, those in parastatals, the ambassadors…who are all those people in the Judiciary? The independence of the judiciary is a far cry from the reality where well-known members of Swapo were appointed as chief justice, deputy chief justice, judge president and all those other things.”
The former //Kharas governor then commended the government for doing ‘extremely well’ in terms of state-building, pointing to the creation of the Office of the Ombudsman and Anti-Corruption Commission, among others.
For Swartbooi, however, Namibia failed miserably with nation-building. He said a blurred line exists between the ruling party and the State.
“That is why an in-law of the prime minister would receive N$6 billion in State tenders and it would be okay even when other Namibians are more competitive,” Swartbooi said. It was at this stage that Swartbooi deviated from his speech to address Nujoma, who was mumbling in disagreement.
“Utoni, you want to start?” he asked, to which the minister rose on a point of order. A fuming Swartbooi continued: “You are a tribalist. Your party is tribalist. You and your
father are tribalists! You are a fool. You are an idiot. You are nothing. You don’t know what nation-building is. You have no capacity.”
Speaker Peter Katjavivi repeatedly attempted to restore order.
“Order, honourable Swartbooi. Order please… let’s have order…,” an irritated Katjavivi interjected as Swartbooi continued venting.
Popular Democratic Movement’s (PDM) Vipuakuje Muharukua, Swartbooi’s neighbour in the house, asked him to calm down. Veterans affairs minister, Hilma Nicanor also entered the fray.
“It has become a norm in this august House where honourable members have the audacity to attack members of Swapo. Members cannot be harassed by others,”
she said.
Amid the brouhaha, Nujoma just smiled as the insults rained on him. It was only when PDM’s McHenry Venaani accused Nujoma of fearing Swartbooi that he responded.
“We are not afraid of people. We are quiet because we want to maintain the decorum of the House. We fear nobody. Even the mighty South African army, we crushed it. We are ready to crush anybody… Now [you think] I will fear cockroaches?” he said.
Approached for comment on the incident, academic and political analyst Joseph Diescho, however, had a positive view of Swartbooi’s contributions in Parliament. “Unlike what we are used to, he is clear and he uses the right English to say what he means and to mean what he says. His research before he speaks is careful, impressive and unusually logical and coherent for a Namibian MP,” Diescho said after watching the heated parliamentary sessions. - Nampa