AllAfrica.com, Africa
June 24 2005

Venaani Warns Against Ethnicity And Tribalism

New Era (Windhoek)

June 23, 2005
Posted to the web June 24, 2005

Frederick Philander
Windhoek

“I TABLE the motion on tribalism and ethnicity cognisant of the fact
that our country was disadvantaged by 100 years of colonisation and
white minority apartheid rule.”

With these words, young and firebrand DTA parliamentarian, McHenry
Venaani, yesterday motivated this motion in the National Assembly.

“Many African nations have gone through long and protracted
conflicts, influenced and sometimes fuelled by ethnicity and
tribalism. Our nation’s human struggle, too, was long and bitter.
Finally, apartheid was defeated and a dream Namibia became a
reality,” Venaani reminded the House from the outset.

In his opinion, ethnic conflict comes a long way from biblical times
and continues to prevail in modern times.

“In recent times, the Turkish government was suspected and accused of
murdering 1,5 million Armenians, the Nazis in Germany killed six
million Jews, mass murders occurred in some parts of the world as
well as Africa in particular, inspired and fostered by ethnic
conflicts. Granted, ethnicity exists anywhere where the human race
manifests itself. The challenge is how best it can be managed by
nations,” the DTA man, who also referred to the Rwanda and Burundi
conflicts between the Hutus and the Tutsis, said.

“This is an example of how ethnicity can impact negatively on
society. Such actions of brutality and contempt of human rights
violations should and must never be repeated on the African
continent.

However, the current conflicts in the DRC, Eritrea and Darfour region
in Sudan are all clear manifestations of eminent ethnic conflicts
that threaten human development, peace and social progress,” he
eloquently warned the House.

According to him, the eminent public opinion on tribalism and
ethnicity that exists warrants a national introspection and
stocktaking.

“Namibia as a country will and shall not remain immune to ethnic
conflicts that may lead to any extent with time. The attempts of the
Caprivi secessionists are clear warning signs of ethnic conflict in
our country. Petty border disputes between ethnic groups and
sub-clans in the country should also not be taken lightly,” he
cautioned.

In his opinion, Namibians should be pro-active and macro-manage
ethnic diversity that manifests itself in the country.

“No ethnic group in this country represents 53 percent of the total
population on its own. We inherited unbalanced apartheid structures
such as the civil service, the armed and police forces and replaced
them all with the same unbalanced structures, only in black fashion,
since the former was a white dominated structure,” he charged.

He said the spread of ethnicity and tribalism should be controlled
especially in appointments in the public sector.

“I do not believe that competency should be swallowed by ethnic
representation demands, but surely no one ethnic group can claim
higher competency levels in all spheres than others. Persons
currently benefiting from this practice of tribalism, either by
accident or per intention, cannot be blamed. However, the policy
implementers should be collectively blamed,” he said.

He charged: “Our country is experiencing a dangerous and alarming
practice of tribalism and ethnicity. At every level of governance, it
is clear that one observes employees that either hail from one
specific village region and tribe. Nearly each department is stocked
with individuals in charge from one specific tribe or region. The
question is why does it happen that some ethnic groups dominate
others beyond proportions?”

He also cited examples in the public sector where one tribe dominates
others, such as in bursary allocation in the Ministry of Education.

“Since 1992, bursaries allocated represented 84 percent given to one
specific tribe. This is an unhealthy situation that for the next 10
to 20 years, academic and tertiary jobs will be exclusively allocated
to this group, evidence of a perpetuation of certain ethnic groups or
tribes advancement. Members of this tribe shall remain job creators
and the less fortunate tribes would be jobseekers if a remedy is not
found for this imbalance,” Venaani, who charged that the same
tendencies are present in the police, foreign service and civil
servant permanent secretaries, argued.

“Ethnicity and tribalism is not among the top levels alone, but also
at lower levels of governance such as in the prison services. Very
few other ethnic groups can claim non-dominance in certain government
structures.

With this in mind I call for the appointment of a national group to
research the prevalence and impact of ethnicity and tribalism at all
levels of government and the society,” he suggested.

The motion also asked for the establishment of an ad hoc
parliamentary committee to investigate and research other countries
that have developed policies or laws.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress