Namibia must come first The political events in South Africa around state capture have captivated our minds in recent days, with locals showing a keen interest in reading and analysing the report released by former South African public protector Thuli Madonsela. The 355-page state capture report was only released to the general public on Wednesday after Madonsela was granted leave to do so by the High Court. As expected, the report is a damning one and many who have earlier claimed that the ANC was turning South Africa into a “mafia state”, certainly feel vindicated. The report indeed confirms that the South African President Jacob Zuma''s friends – the Guptas – had offered to arrange cabinet posts for politicians. Besides Zuma, Eskom boss Brian Molefe, mining minister Mosebenzi Zwane and cabinet minister David van Rooyen are all implicated through their apparent close ties with the Guptas, among others.
Although South Africa is facing its most severe political crisis in recent years, there is one thing that we cannot take away from them and that is the fact that our neighbours have robust oversight institutions par excellence.
This is a show of true democracy which must inspire Namibia and the rest of Africa.
The opposition parties and the citizenry never gave up in their pursuit to hold power to account and have seemingly declared war against those compromising their democratic state and looting their resources.
There are many powerful lessons that we can draw from the organised manner in which South Africa has handled the issue of state capture.
Politicians must be reminded again that they need to lead lifestyles that are worthy of emulation, including exhibiting a high sense of commitment to the Namibian people at all times. Politicians must give us hope for a better Namibia through their actions. Never in our lifetimes can we tolerate being served by politicians who are driven by self-interest instead of public service.
Namibia and her people must always come first and our national watchdogs mandated to fight corruption, just like Thuli Madonsela, need to go after the big fish, not just always the small fry.