Paul Shipale
A report that appeared on Thursday, 12 September 2024, in the Windhoek Observer online, titled; “Itula takes shots at SWAPO”, said that “the leader of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), Panduleni Itula, has launched a scathing attack on the ruling SWAPO party, accusing it of failing to meet its promises and perpetuating a culture of corruption and mismanagement”. “He also took shots at the governing party’s electoral process,” the reporter added.
According to the report, Itula made these remarks during his party’s first electoral convention in Windhoek on Thursday and he was heard saying “the moral betrayal of the dignity of our people is despicable”. Furthermore, the report said Itula accused SWAPO of engaging in corrupt practices and mishandling state resources for personal and political gain. “The desperation is breath-taking. What is it that you so desperately wish to protect? Political power? It’s incredible. We have seen such and much of that in recent months from these people. Using state funds under the guise that ‘I’m going to inaugurate a wall’ with eight state cars and taxpayer money,” he said.
In another newspaper on 15 September 2024, it was reported that an independent political analyst has described SWAPO’s manifesto,” which was launched in Windhoek on Saturday, 14 September 2024, as “an empty ChatGPT manifesto” which fails to address socio-economic issues. “SWAPO’s manifesto speaks to the crisis and poverty of ideas within the party. It has exhausted all its ideas and is unable to develop new ones,” the analyst said. “There is no difference between their manifesto of 1989 and that of 2024. It is an empty and ChatGPT manifesto as it fails to address structural socio-economic issues with a sense of urgency”, he added.
I disagree with the analyst and the president of IPC as they are both using logical fallacies. What transpires here is simply a strategy of a straw man fallacy and a red herring akin to distracting attention from the real issues like a hunter uses the smelly bright-colored red herring fish on a trail to distract hunting dogs from his piles of kills. My fear is that, if our campaigns are going to descend into these fallacies like the Greene’s Tu Quoque play by John Cooke performed by Thomas Greene, who played the role of Bubble and his rendering of Bubble’s catch phrase “Tu quoque”, which is the Latin for “you also” or, colloquially, “the same to you”, then this is a bad start for our campaigns.
The above are part of Ad hominem logical fallacies. Often nowadays this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than the substance of the argument itself. I find it rather disconcerting that instead of addressing bread and butter issues, we are wasting our precious time on mundane things. Why not ask relevant and topical questions pertaining to global affairs, for instance, do we know the foreign policy of the parties? What is their stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict? What are the parties’ reflections on the global balance of forces to the extent that they impact on the domestic prosecution of the struggle for economic emancipation?
What are the parties’ stance on the rise of neoliberalism characterised in the main by advocacy of “strong private property rights, free markets and free trade” (Harvey 2) and the relegation of the role of the state to the periphery of economic activity and a secondary one relative to the markets whose framing of globalisation was not without dire consequences, particularly for the poor and developing countries upon which structural adjustment programmes were imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank?
Surely, there are copious writings from diverse angles, some addressing the pros and cons in the manifestos of the parties. My focus here is simply to engage in a critical rhetorical analysis and examine the ideology and power contained in the statement delivered at the unveiling of the SWAPO Party 2025-2030 election manifesto by Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is also SWAPO’s presidential candidate in the November elections.
Her speech contains several views related to the vision and mission in the next five years tenure of the party. Based on this, the purpose of this article is to find elements of ideology and power contained in Vice President Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah’s speech through analysis of language expression based on the theory of Thomas N. Huckin.
The language used by Nandi-Ndaitwah is a type of Argumentative text. When she elaborates her view about a problem and display a factual data to convince the audience by way of analysing, the power is shown through the use of modal and tenor of register for example when Nandi-Ndaitwah’s speech says, “The Election Manifesto is our blueprint that will speak on behalf of the SWAPO Party and its Presidential Candidate. It will inform Namibians, why they should continue to trust and vote for SWAPO Party and its Presidential Candidate, yours truly Ndemupelila Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah”.
She also said “All SWAPO Party members should now use the manifesto as they engage in campaign conversations with the majorities.” The above sentences contain the modal “should” which identify the strength of the sentences. The word “should” is a modal verb and past form of the verb “shall” used to express conditionality, advice, obligation, duty, or correctness, and is also used to express wishes or desires and to give suggestions. Conversely, the word “must” is a modal verb that is used to express a stronger obligation, necessity, or certainty.
While Ideology can be viewed from the analysis of presupposition, insinuation, and connotation, it simply means a perspective for social subjects to perceive and interact with their immediate social environment (Williamson, 1978). Here is the example of ideology that is contained in Nandi-Ndaitwah’s speech. “I do not want to and I cannot lead a divided nation.”
Here she reminds the audience that what binds this nation together is not the colour of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names. What makes us as a nation and reflect our unique Namibian identity weaved together with mastery in a common tapestry representing the diverse demographic of Namibia, is our unity in diversity as opposed to tribalism, regionalism, racism and the old divisions and purges.
In this context, Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah seems to promise to keep the Namibian people united by treating them all equally as a mother nurtures her children without discrimination and that is a sign or harbinger heralding good things to come under her leadership as Namibia’s first female President if elected to the Presidency in November.
She further said “Our Founding President, Father of the Namibian Nation and Leader of our Revolution has told us that, and I quote “A people united, striving to achieve a common good for all members of the society, will always emerge victorious.” “Let us work together fellow Namibians and build our nation together as one” she added. Based on the above quote of the Founding President and Father of the Namibian Nation, H.E. Dr Sam Nujoma, Nandi-Ndaitwah is advocating for unity and the quote is aimed at making the audience catch the meaning easily and the importance of that unity.
Similarly, she is showing the audience that she is following in the footsteps of the Founding Father. This is particularly so when she narrated that the launching of the SWAPO election manifesto on 14 September 2024 was significant as it was on that day in 1989 when the Founding President returned from exile with a chartered Ethiopian Airline Jet 767 flown by an Ethiopian captain, accompanied by Namibian co-pilots whom SWAPO had trained in Ethiopia.
After reading the speech’s text, it is clear that it is an argumentative text with a social function of presenting a point of view regarding the country’s goal of unity, liberty, and justice as the motto written on our seal, one of the national symbols. She is also strongly advocating for unity as seen clearly when she quoted the Founding President. Based on Nandi-Ndaitwah’s speech, the historical analogy has been used to promote her arguments that it is now our generation’s task to carry on what our Founding Father has begun. The core subject of Nandi-Ndaitwah’s speech is to give a point of view regarding her qualities as a leader who will keep the legacy and follow in the footsteps of her predecessors if the citizens vote for her as SWAPO Party presidential candidate.
Nandi-Ndaitwah started her speech by greeting the audience as “Dear Comrades and Fellow Namibians” and telling them that “The long-awaited day has come! A day in which the SWAPO Party and Namibian citizens will negotiate and finalize the social contract, to be sealed on the 27th November 2024, the Election Day… (to) elect the next Namibian President and the Party that will manage the developmental agenda of the country for the next 5 years, for the good of all Namibian citizens. That social contract is the SWAPO Party Manifesto for 2024 Elections that will be implemented as from 21st March 2025 to 2030,” she said. Her statement conveyed to the audience that they would have gathered for a goal, and that explanation was very significant, as they were watching the potential first female President of the country’s inaugural speech. She recognized and appreciated the three former Presidents and the current President for their services.
Nandi-Ndaitwah vowed to keep her image as ‘the integrity candidate’ running her campaign on an anti-corruption ticket as opposed to political patronage and “political clientism” when she stated that “we must serve our people with commitment dedication and the highest integrity.” Thus, the Manifesto is clear on corruption, “Zero Tolerance!” It is a scourge on our nation that should not be allowed in our country and must be fought and resisted against by all Namibians. “We must be a nation guided by our principle’s ideals and accountability.” Here Nandi-Ndaitwah is telling the nation that she will lead Namibia with honesty and integrity and that is why she has strongly warned that those who will work with her will be expected to instil a culture of accountability in their ministries and institutions.
“To make sure that this manifesto is fully implemented come 2030, an Implementation Action Plan (AP) will be developed in tandem with a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (M&EP) to be put in place and enforced,” she added. This goes to show that the manifesto is not just about empty promises and nice soundbites but also about fulfilling the promises with implementable tools such as an action plan that will be fully monitored and evaluated.
Connotation is the meaning of a word or group of words based on feelings or thoughts that arise in the speaker. A word has connotative meaning if it has “sense of value”, both positive and negative. “Today, the SWAPO Party returns to the people of Namibia in order to give a summary account of the past years and to outline its vision for the next 5 years. We are also here to once again ask the people of Namibia to trust us and renew our mandate to deliver more.” This sentence has a sense of value and a positive connotation.
The use of words that are opposite in their meaning such as “hope” and “fear” not only are used to emphasize the sentence but also to make the public think about what the speaker is saying. There are opposing terms with positive connotations like “hope” or “unity of purpose” versus terms with negative connotations like “fear”, “conflict or “discord”. Nandi-Ndaitwah talking about zero tolerance for corruption said in her speech “in cases where relevant frameworks and instruments already exist, we will, under my leadership, enforce them without fear or favour.”
She also portrays herself as a confident politician who is assured of victory when she said “I have officially given you the ammunition to go and fight in this democratic process and victory shall be certain.” Here Nandi-Ndaitwah simply makes explicit that she knows that she is going to win and not be defeated and at the same time she reinforces her image as the first female and next President of the country. Here clearly “victory shall be certain” indicates confidence and certainty.
Interesting to see is also the frequent use of modal verbs, especially ‘must’, ‘should’, ‘can’ and ‘will’, in connection with the pronoun ‘we’. This indicates that ‘we’ is often used in connection of what has to and should be done by the Namibian people and the President. When Vice President Nandi-Ndaitwah issued a warning of zero tolerance for corruption and instructed party members to go and vote, the use of power can be felt strongly. This can be illustrated by the use of the modal verbs should and must regarded as representatives of power in practice, because they have strong certainty.
“We must be a nation guided by our principle’s ideals and accountability. Anyone interested with public service and responsibility, should now know it will not be business as usual.” It can be concluded that Vice President Nandi-Ndaitwahs’ speech explains the importance of elections and the people have the responsibility to go and vote for the leaders of their voice. This was a typical political speech that politicians usually make use of to express their standpoint, opinion, ambition and courage as well as outline a vision for the future.
I still do not understand why some people would recommend the use of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to draft a party manifesto, even if it is a widely recognized tool for ex-ante policy evaluation and allows comprehensive analysis across sectors, making it dispensable for identifying selecting and monitoring optimal strategies and tackle development challenges as well as supported by senior economists that is a suitable method for undertaking socio-economic forecasting in the most accurate manner.
At least, the statement of the Vice President for the launching of the manifesto was supposed to be written by experienced speech writers who could use a variety of rhetorical devices and techniques, which are at the heart of inspirational speeches that change the course of events and embellish the speech.
The scathing attack on the usage of AI soft wares in the statement for the launching of the SWAPO Party manifesto has detracted from the substance of the manifesto and the importance of the statement by Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, in her capacity as the SWAPO Party presidential candidate for the November elections.
What really makes a great speech is an oratory technique and figures of speech, says Max Atkinson, an expert in oratory who made a research that shows that the use of contrast is one of the most powerful ways of prompting applauses in a political speech. Max covers other techniques in his book “Lend Me Your Ears” such as puzzle-solution formats, metaphor, rhetorical questions, and three-part lists and says one can combine these techniques to produce powerful sound bites, as long as they rely on a careful phraseology.
In a good speech, Max say, each point seems to flow effortlessly into the next point. This is because the writer has incorporated transitions. There is also style as an aesthetic and sensory feature of the speech which shows itself in the vividness or colour of the language used indicating the descriptiveness of the choice of adjectives, adverbs, verbs, and nouns and show the extent to which the words are evocative and explicit plus the poetic dimension involved with rhythm and rhyme.
Next is the pacing. A well-paced speech feels more like a story and less like a lecture. It has a build-up and climax as well as a momentum. All in all a speech must follow a theme which is the implicit, recurring or unifying idea for the subject matter. It is integral to the entire work. The audience should be able to relate all points back to it.
That is why I tend to agree with the analyst who said “out of all parties, SWAPO had the easiest task of crafting a solid manifesto anchored in what it has achieved over the last 34 years, dissecting the current socio-economic challenges, and a comprehensive strategy to address the current challenges,” instead of using AI soft wares in the statement for the launching of the SWAPO Party manifesto, which led to these scathing attacks with tu quoque & ad hominem fallacies! Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of my employer and this newspaper but solely my personal views as a citizen.