Namibia: Insiders Claim Swapo Congress Will Block NNN’s Challengers

Swapo’s planned extraordinary congress at the end of February is allegedly designed to prevent current ministers who might not make it to parliament from contesting president-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah for the presidency of the party.

Swapo decided at its retreat in Windhoek in December to hold its extraordinary congress on 28 February to endorse Nandi-Ndaitwah as party president. The vice president position will remain vacant.

A Swapo insider yesterday told The Namibian the party plans to have another extraordinary congress to elect the vice president.

“If you look at our parliamentary list, many of the current ministers might not make it to parliament. Those who might not be brought back may team up and contest her for the party’s presidency if the party was to hold the extraordinary congress in April,” the insider said.

“There is a plan to arrange another extraordinary congress that will elect the vice president of the party. She wants to go to 2027 with the full top four officials,” the source said.

This rationale was confirmed by two Swapo central committee members this week.

However, Swapo deputy secretary general Uahekua Herunga denied these suggestions, saying the party took a decision to hold its extraordinary meeting before the founding date of the party, 19 April.

“So 28 February to 1 March is before 19 April,” he says.

Former Swapo think tank member Ben Mulongeni says the decision is not a good one, as it will further divide the party.

“Many people will not support it and it will cause division. Any decision of that nature shall be seen to be violating the governance rules and must be rejected”. He says divisions within Swapo have lost the party seats in parliament.

Political analyst Henning Melber says Swapo needs to go forward with a clean slate.

“This means that all senior positions in the party ought to be up for election, and every member having the defined qualifying merits should be allowed to enter the contest. It is nonsensical to have the same person in the position of party president and vice president,” Melber says.

He says the president and vice president’s positions are two separate offices and should not be held by one person.

“If such a person would share Geingob’s unfortunate and sad fate, the party would have neither a president nor a vice president. This is ridiculous,” Melber says.

According to him, Swapo is on the verge of losing all credibility with parts of its membership when it seeks what he calls ‘pseudo-solutions’.

“If the current manipulations are democracy [in] the Swapo style, it is worrisome for the democratic understanding and practices of the elected next head of state and government,” he says.

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The Namibian reported last week that former minister Jerry Ekandjo wrote to Swapo secretary general Sophia Shaningwa last week, alleging that the decision to endorse Nandi-Ndaitwah as party president is unconstitutional.

“All the members of the central committee know very well that all the positions in the party structures, from the sections up to the central committee, politburo and even the top four, are to be contested. They also know that the term ‘endorsement’ is not one that is used in the Swapo’s constitution,” said Ekandjo.

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