Slumming it - McHenry Veenani


Photograph from the Namibian newspaper.

Who is McHenry Veenani and why am I writing about him? He is the president of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), a political party that was the official opposition party in Namibia at independence (1990). He inadvertently (I am assuming that it wasn’t his intention) created a storm, he decided to trade his comfortable life in the suburbs for a three day stay in the Ghetto. I kid you not, a politician moved into a shack in the ghetto for three days. He slept in a shack, ate canned beef for dinner, bathed in the open and took a taxi to work. On his Facebook page he stated that his motive was to get in touch with situation on the ground and familiarise himself with the struggles and the problems of people in informal settlements. Noble intentions right?

As expected the media attention has created a shit storm and invoke quite a reaction. The prime minister even criticized him on Facebook (Yes, the Prime Minister finally has a Facebook page), the Prime Minister has since apologized for his reaction. Coming from a public figure who recently took a privately funded trip to the world cup (paid for by, you guessed it, a local businessman), that’s pretty much the pot calling the kettle black. A lot of comments were made on social networks, a few radio stations discussed it and people have been conversing about it when they’re actually supposed to be working. Obviously most of the comments are not positive, “It’s an insult to the poor.” “It’s a political publicity stunt.” Just to name a few. Some people had ignorantly decided to point out that his party is still associated with apartheid, and that he doesn’t really stand a chance in the elections etc.

What’s my take on this? Well, if it is a political publicity stunt, then it’s a heck of a stunt. He is a politician after all, but still, it’s a heck of a stunt. The timing obviously negates his good intentions, why did he do it so close to the elections? I ponder on that question. I then realise that our incumbent president had ten years to solve social challenges like corruption and housing, only in the last 15 months of his presidency does he launch a national housing program. So maybe we need to question his intentions as well, masquerading buying votes as a national project is still buying votes. But most people are too busy drinking the cool aid to fully realise who is benefiting from our democratic system. If he is pulling a political stunt to win votes, then let’s not forget who started it and treat this as an isolated incident.

Veenani has decided that unlike his predecessors, who usually complain about the failures of government and the fact that the ruling party has more resources to campaign with. He will not talk about government failures but live a government failure for three days. So it’s pretty obvious that people would be pissed, especially the ruling party supporters. But this is no different from what the ruling party and other opposition parties do. Some opposition parties lobby for a monetary injection by foreign donors. The ruling party itself also pulls publicity stunts, they’re called gala dinners and party rallies. If you haven’t heard of them, their gala dinners usually rake in millions in contributions from business people, after all the relative stability maintained by the ruling party government allows business people to make their money. Quid pro quo really, one hand washes the other. So why should Veenani’s political stunt (I am assuming it is, I don’t have confirmation) be viewed differently? Why should he be vilified? It’s probably because it looks bad on the government, and most of the blame would lie squarely on the ruling party since they head the government. In short, its good publicity for Veenani and the DTA but it looks bad on the government.

It was bound to cause controversy whichever way you look at it. But let’s face it, he knows that he doesn’t have the financial muscle or the sentimental allegiances to win the next election. He is realistically fighting to re-establish his party as the official opposition, what better way than to make a statement than to bring an area where the ruling party is failing to public attention? I admire his intellect and strategy (I am assuming that it is a political stunt), instead of complaining, he has decided to shift attention towards social inequality. Instead of berating the government and crying about an unfair playground, he has decided to promote awareness on the plight facing residents of informal settlements.

People and especially the Namibian voter are sentimental, they want to feel in touch and connected to their leaders, but it is the same sentimentality which effectively means we already know who will win the next election. But that’s not what democracy is about, democracy is supposed to benefit the people. As it stands it benefits those in charge more than it does the ordinary citizen.

I think (personal opinion) that he has watched Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in South Africa and realised that when people are fed up, they are fed up. Julius Malema befriended the people, especially the poor workers, he brought himself down to them. He succeeded, his party is now in parliament with an equal male to female representation. Malema is causing havoc and making a nuisance of himself in parliament, something most people would not have imagined after he was booted from the African National Congress (ANC), as he so famously says, “Discarded like a used condom.” The EFF did not win the election, but they are South Africa’s second largest party in terms of representation in parliament, not bad for a party that’s less than two years old.

We can speculate why Veenani did what he did, but he has already achieved more than he could have imagined. The fact that newspapers are reporting on it, the fact that people are ignorantly berating him on social media, the fact that you are reading this means that he has already gained significant political collateral. The more people whine and complain the more his cause is brought to the fore, I personally believe that his intentions are noble. He truly wants to see the less privileged benefiting from the democratic freedom that so many died for. I would like him to return to the same Ghetto after the election and walk the walk, just to show that he really is serious about improving the situation for the less privileged. Whether it is a tutorial in political manoeuvring or genuine effort remains to be seen. But, in the political chess game that is the upcoming Namibian elections, Veenani has just made a great move (Personal opinion).

For his next trick, he will drive a taxi in a show of solidarity to taxi driver and to better understand their problems. Till then, stay out of trouble, persevere and flourish.