By Hon. Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana
Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly,Honorable Members of this August House,
It should be permitted that the first intervention of a member at the beginning of a new term, irrespective of whether such a member is returning, should be accorded the right of a maiden speech, I so move Honorable Mister Speaker.
Having said so, allow me this rare opportunity to congratulate you all Honorable Members who received the mandate from the Namibian people to be here and accepted with humility their delegation to report yourselves to the National Assembly as per the prescription of the Namibian Constitution.
My heart felt congratulations go to the Mighty SWAPO Party for the envious majority position it has earned itself and continues to enjoy ever since independence.
SWAPO Party captured the hearts and imaginations of the majority our people during the dark days of colonial oppression as the only legitimate force the enemy of our people could reckon with.
In the current socio-political and economic volatility, SWAPO Party continues to be the only salvation capable of facing the challenges with confidence as has been exemplified in its policies and programs during the past 20 years – forever to be recorded in the annals of our history as the formative years of our Republic under the leadership of the SWAPO Party.
My congratulations also go to our President, His Excellency Comrade Hifikepunye Pohamba, President of the Republic of Namibia and that of the SWAPO Party for his election into a second term of office. I wish him and his entire family our God’s blessing to lead this country to prosperity.
Honourable Mister Speaker,
Honorable Members of this August House,
Twenty years of peace and tranquility have so quickly passed, and flew past us like birds. To some of us it seemed like just another day, just a few days ago when it was happening here in the same chambers. The adversaries met here for the first time to hammer out what is now taken for granted, as if it just got printed out of the blue, the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia, a prelude to the birth of a new nation, Namibia: it is twenty years ago already, Honorable Members.
Honorable Mister Speaker,
Politically speaking, before the baton is passed on to Generation X and Y from us Baby Boomers, permit me to venture into an era of human existence we rarely make a point of public discussion.
I would like to share my thoughts on the succession of generations. But to begin with, the question is very relevant: What is a generation? The word generation has various meanings but for the purpose of my discussion today, it would mean, all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded as a collective, according to the Reader’s Digest Dictionary. The Wikipedia free encyclopedia defines the same word to mean cohorts born during a period or a stage or degree in succession of natural descent.
In human evolution we have come to know the existence of various generations. In the Oshiwambo generational epistemology which I am more familiar with, generations or “Omakula/ Omapipi,” are referred to in accordance with their contemporary major happenings at the time of their births such as, The Great Floods, The years of Locusts, Wars, The Years of Hunger, “Omvula ya Shiwengendje,” (and whatever this means) etc.
In other civilizations such stages or cohorts are also given names such as the Baby Boom Generation, Generation X, and Generation Y etc. and each generation has its own characteristics, which in the interests of brevity will all not be covered in my discussion.
The baby boomers are those born from 1946-1955
These are cohorts born after the Second World War. As history tells us that so many people perished during this war, the birth rate had to naturally shoot up. The average children per family ranged around 10. Such a phenomenon was world-wide. In my own family we were born 10 live births, born in a period of twenty-seven years, between 1941 and 1968.
The baby boomers are variously described as a “shockwave” - the sheer force of their numbers gave the world a demographic bulge that modeled society as they passed through.
Generally, boomers are said to be associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values.
In North America and Europe they are widely associated with privileges as they grew up in a time of affluence. As a group, they were the healthiest and wealthiest generation and grew up expecting the world to improve with time.
This generation is followed by what is termed Generation X
Generation X refers to those cohorts born after the baby boom ended, with the earliest birth dates ranging from 1964 to the latest in 1981. This term is commonly used in population culture. In contra distinction, the baby boom generation, Generation X is referred to as the “baby bust” because of the drop in birth rate following the baby boom.
The average children per family are about 3. Elsewhere outside of Africa, it is statistically established that Generation X is holding the highest education levels when looking at the age block.
Generation X is succeeded by what is called Generation Y
Generation Y is also referred to as the Millennial Generation or Generation Next or Net Generation. This coinage describes the demographic cohort following Generation Y. Its members are often referred to as Millennials or Echo Boomers and there are apparently no precise dates for when this generation starts or ends. Some commentators use birth dates ranging somewhere from 1970s to the early 2000’s.
This generation represents an increase in births not because of significant increase in birthrates, but because the large cohort of baby boomers began to have children, hence the coinage echo boomers.
While there are certain commonalities about these generations such as the bulge in birth rates, there are also important and significant differences about the same cohorts.
The aftermath of World War II created consciousness in Europe and North America about certain behaviors by States and consequently set standards according to which their countries should be governed.
However, Europe and America needed economic resources to rebuild their war ravaged and shattered economies and infrastructure. Such resources were available in the overseas colonies in Africa and to some extent in Asia.
So Human Rights and Good Governance could not be extended to the colonized as they had to serve the economic interest of the dominions. And the plunder and exploitation of the colonized peoples was intensified to quench the hunger and thirst for raw materials for Europe and Americas’ explosive youthful populations. This explains the affluence condition associated with the Baby Boomers in those countries.
In contra distinction, the Baby Boomers in Africa grew up so many in women-headed households while all able bodied men were drawn away from their families to the mines and other private owned commercial enterprises to work on the contract labor system, put in place by the then Apartheid colonial administration with acquiescence of the Western Powers. Local taxes ensured that all the natives and Asiatic men were motivated to work.
In actual fact, many of the companies our fathers worked for were serving the interests of overseas empires. The reverence of Cecil John Rhodes can be explained from his handiwork during his hey day.
It should also be remembered that the Odendaal Report and its implementation took place at the time the leading African Baby Boomers were minors in 1964. Many of these cohorts grew up in the Reserves, (the end product of the Odendaal Report implementation) under the Native Commissioners and South West Africa Native Labor Association (SWANLA) regime.
Many of such cohorts grew up not knowing the looks of their fathers as the Contact Labor system was such that a worker is required to serve for an uninterrupted period of 24 months before a break of 3 months. Later, the term was reduced to 18 months but the same conditions of labor enslavement continued.
Survival in the Native Reserves was conditioned as women and mothers were the only source of livelihood. At a very young age children had to take huge responsibilities to assist their mothers in meeting household requirements in the absence of the father or the able bodied men. Eventually, young boys would leave school prematurely in search for cash paying jobs to help their families back in the Reserves.
I am talking about a generation that at a very young age tasted the bitter pill of colonial subjugation. They grew up deprived of the love of their fathers.
Many had no experience of entering a classroom, as schools did not exist in a reachable distance from where they lived. This is a generation out of which only the fittest survived, unlike in Europe and North America where the same cohorts grew up as the healthiest, the wealthiest and the largest to have gotten the highest education available in the ivy leagues and prestigious scholarship programs modeled around the dreams of the Cecil John Rhodes etc.
Honorable Mister Speaker,
The coup against Caitano in Portugal in 1974 triggered all emotions to see Namibia a free nation like all others, more so that Angola, our neighbor to the north would be free with the fall of the colonial regime in Portugal.
This notion fired up all imaginations and put in motion the desire to intensify the struggle by joining those of the generations ahead who had left the country a decade ago. Since April 1974 the historic exodus of thousands of young Namibians into exile started. At that time the oldest of the cohorts were 28 years old and the youngest were 19 years of age. Most of these young people were workers, teachers, nurses, students at Secondary and Tertiary Institutions in Namibia and South Africa and a handful of adults who were being persecuted for the political leadership they provided in the country.
This group comprised of dynamic, energetic, vibrant and fired up revolutionaries whose sole aim was to dislodge the Apartheid regime as soon as the weapons were made available to them.
Their arrival in Zambia created a huge impact and a logistical nightmare to the Party leadership in Zambia and the government of the Republic of Zambia itself. Adults who had to leave the country took with them members of their families comprising mostly of children and babies. Accommodation and school places for the school going had to be found or created.
Appreciation is due to the SWAPO Party leadership then for improvising with those makeshift schools, which were created. Many of the young professionals we returned with from exile in 1989 are products of such efforts.
That is where credit to people like Comrades Nahas Angula, our current Prime minister, Dr. Hage G. Geingob, the First Prime Minister, Hon. Nangolo Mbumba and many others must be given for the education they provided to thousands of young Namibians during the testing times in exile.
While that was being done for the majority of the youth, those who were beyond 18 years were being prepared for military training. Various groups were sent to countries and places such as Tanzania, the USSR, former Yugoslavia and others for the whole purpose of intensifying the war efforts.
The return to the battlefronts of these trained cadres truly brought about a new military situation altogether and the war was brought to its logical conclusion at the battle of Quito Quanavale in 1989. Ask any military tactician of note today and they will tell you the brilliance with which the combined forces of FAPLA, PLAN and Cuban Revolutionaries dealt the South African Defense Force a heavy hammer! It was an operation that saw Chefe el Comandante Fidel himself returning to the war arena and commanding with supremacy!
Honourable Mister Speaker,
On the other hand, some of the Baby boomers, for various reasons opted to remain in the country, but I guarantee you, under Apartheid brutality they had few options:
• To resist colonialism, the logical place was Robben Island, Osire and other notorious places of incarceration where the walls themselves echo their names.
• To remain indifferent and keep peace, the logical occupation would be conscription in the enemy service and see themselves barrel to barrel with their own kith and kin.
The rest of society was the grass upon which the elephants trampled, and during the time of PLAN’s activities in the country and southern Angola, many communities bore the brunt of the war.
The question is whether this generation in the Namibian context was born at the wrong or right time. Wrong or right time for just serves an academic purpose as what had happened in the lives of these people, our people, will never be reversed! The scars are forever!
However, it gives me personal gratification to have belonged to a generation that has a proud historical significance- to have contributed positively to the liberation of our country. That to me matters most, the scars notwithstanding.
Honourable Mister Speaker,
The Baby Boomers are immediately infused by what is called Generation X, those born from1956-1981. A large chunk of them under went similar experiences as the Baby Boomers albeit that their opportunities in life differ somewhat from that of the boomers. The majority of those who were in exile benefitted greatly from SWAPO arranged scholarships abroad. Similarly, those who had remained benefited from church organized scholarships abroad. Nonetheless, their contribution to the struggle is recorded; however a lot more is required from them in an independent Namibia.
This generation is succeeded by what is called Generation Y or the Echo Boomers who are children of the Baby Boomers, cohorts born from 1970-2000.
In the Namibian situation, these are cohorts whose manners and characteristics compare very well with manners of the Baby boomers in Europe and North America. Generation Y generally grew up in an atmosphere of peace and are inclined to claim certain entitlements to anything. For interest sake, how many of such members are here in this August House?
Very few, yet it is our obligation to bequeath onto them the responsibility of further shaping this Republic into the mould we as Baby Boomers strived for.
Metaphorically speaking, we have carried you to the Promised Land, that is our contribution, yet that land is barren. What gardens do you intend to cultivate Generation Y? To ensure that you have a jump start at it, we have begun digging furrows for you through the National Development Plans and Vision 2030, which is all about you, yet one must appreciate that due to different departure points, different experiences, different outlooks, different perspectives are created.
We cannot lose this young crop of able-bodied citizens to ancestry escapism, to elitism, to responsibility evasion, let alone alcoholism, HIV/Aids, despondency and ignore-ism!
Our last parting task is to put them fast bound on the track of responsible citizenry through our institutions and programs, which should be a task for the Ministries of Youth and Sport and the Ministry of Education.
After all, the colleagues Ministers responsible for these sectors are best equipped by age to understand the expectations and aspirations along with the circumstances of this Generation Y.
This is the purpose of the Developmental Budget our Government has pursued over a period of time. The fruits and the taste of those fruits are in the future. Yet we need to be consistent in the provision of services aimed at improving the opportunities for these young ones. Where a service is already being rendered, we must ask ourselves, how can this budget improve such delivery of services! Yet the obligation is two way – the recipient must also start dreaming, and dream bigger. It should not be enough to pass through school! One must want to succeed in life! Mediocrity cannot become then benchmark, and in this endeavor, we all have a role to play!
Let us therefore engage Generation Y continuously and share with them our values and our experiences, from which they can tap life long lessons, sometimes unavailable in MBA classes.
Only then Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members, can we imbue a sense of standard and a sense of honor in our future.
I thank you.
