What should Swartbooi apologise for? It goes without saying that the President could have used the rule of law and existing disciplinary framework to deal with the matter concerning Bernadus Swartbooi and his remarks about resettlement land and its Minister, Utoni Nujoma. Yet, the nation caught wind of the fact that the President''s Office had ordered that Swartbooi make an apology – for God knows what – within 24 hours.
The President remarked that the statements made by Swartbooi have the “potential to disrupt peace and stability in the country.” This is one of the many statements that aren''t clarified in the letter, as no one besides the President knows which statement/s by Swartbooi would lead Namibia into an age of civil war and strife.
As things stand, a lot of communities experience a violence lived experience due to the lack of land and the subsequent poverty that often destroys the lives of the majority of the people in the south of this country and also elsewhere, wherever there are landless Namibians living in deplorable circumstances.
If one were to speak as a realist, one might even conclude that the peace is already disrupted and that things aren''t as stable as they are for some Namibians, in whose interests it is in to protect the peace and stability that serve their individual and collective interests.
The President also states that Swartbooi had “taken an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia” which could mean more than 200 things in that particular context. If it were the President''s aim to confuse the nation on this pertinent matter that could have set a major precedence for land re-distribution for poor communities then – well done Mr President, you have achieved your goal.
For now, only the final outcome of the brouhaha is going to tell what story we tell one day about how the President used his time in office, as well as how the rule of law and the structures of the state are used to either silence, or perpetuate certain narratives about this Namibia that we call our home.