A Noisy Clock in a Silent Room

Namibia is tired, confused, and slightly entertained. Because apparently, when a minister actually wakes up, reads the law, and applies it, the nation must hold an emergency debate. Suddenly the question is not whether service delivery is improving, but whether James Sankwasa is overshadowing the presidency. Imagine that. Doing your job so well that people think you’re campaigning.

Let’s be honest. Namibians are not used to ministers who move like this. We are used to workshops, task teams, “we note with concern” statements, and investigations that age like good wine but never get opened. Then Sankwasa arrived and decided to work in public. Loudly. Consistently. Without apologising. Now everyone is uncomfortable.

Corruption, which usually receives polite warnings and endless meetings, got something different this time. No sympathy, no soft landings, just direct questions and real consequences. Local authorities that were very brave on paper suddenly became very quiet. Others discovered lawyers overnight. Some even developed emergency stress conditions. Accountability, it turns out, is very bad for people who were eating comfortably.

Then came Katima Mulilo. When the Town Council was dissolved over alleged illegal land deals, the reaction was dramatic. You would think the Constitution had been suspended. Meanwhile, ordinary Namibians were asking a very dangerous question: “So you mean this has always been an option?” For years, land scandals have been treated like family matters...everyone knows, nobody talks. Sankwasa didn’t whisper. He brought a microphone.

Unapproved expenditures? Pay it back. Questionable contracts? Bring the files. Councils running ministries like personal tuck shops? Not anymore. Suddenly rules are being described as “harsh”, laws as “political”, and enforcement as “targeting”. Funny how accountability only becomes oppression when it finally arrives at your door.

While others are busy managing optics, Sankwasa is busy managing delivery. Land auctions, infrastructure, service efficiency, boring things that don’t trend unless they fail. No poetry, no drama, just pressure on systems that were very comfortable being slow. And that is the real problem. Because when someone works, it exposes those who were hiding behind silence.

So no, Sankwasa is not overshadowing the presidency. He is simply exposing how low the bar has been. In a country where silence has often passed for leadership, action feels rebellious. When inaction is the norm, productivity looks like ambition.

The streets are not asking for a new president. They are asking why one minister doing his job feels like a national emergency. This is not a power struggle. It’s a performance gap. Sankwasa didn’t create it..he just switched on the lights.

If doing your job causes panic, then the problem was never the worker. It was the comfort of those who weren’t working. Namibia is not shocked because Sankwasa is doing too much. Namibia is shocked because he is doing what was always supposed to be done.

And now, unfortunately for some people, the bar has been raised.