Amupanda won't be told to go

Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader Job Amupanda has hit back at Swapo spokesperson Helmut Angula for asking them to leave the party, saying it is not up to him to tell them to quit the ruling party.
According to Amupanda, the party is not run by Angula’s opinions and feelings, but by its constitution and code of conduct as well as other frameworks.
Amupanda criticised the Swapo elders for competing with the youth and using these fights as stepping stones for their political agendas.
“If elders want to become vice-president of Swapo they must just openly campaign and not use us as a ladder to climb the steps towards their honey. They must leave us alone. We are young and not in competition with respected elders,” he said.
He also took issue with Swapo’s accusation that the AR leaders are using dubious means to form a political party.
“We will put his statement on file as a classic case of premeditated agenda against us. We have no experience in forming political parties and we want to be kept out.
“Those with experience in forming political parties are the ones who must speak because they have experience,” Amupanda said.
Swapo last week released a statement signed by Angula, in which it said it was no longer interested in the AR trio, who were labelled “rotten apples”. The party also accused Amupanda of insulting President Hage Geingob in a newspaper column.
Amupanda yesterday said that Angula still owed him money for a speech he had written for him when he went to Ethiopia in March 2013.
He accused the Swapo leaders of dictatorship.
“That is exactly where the problem is, politicians wanting us to keep quiet while they enjoy the wealth of our country with their children. Helmut Angula’s daughter receives diamonds from government while he wants us to be silent. He thinks we also don't want us to benefit?” he asked.
Amupanda also took issue with Angula’s assertion that they are rotten apples that will spoil the rest of the party if they do not leave.
“He says we are apples, rotten apples that will spoil the rest. So to whom exactly do these apples belong and with whom does the owner eat these apples?
“Are we being told that Swapo members are apples to provide protein to Angula? He may have forgotten that it is rotten apples he relied upon to draft parts of the curriculum for the party school,” said Amupanda.
He also questioned the party’s anger at his columns and public opinions, asking since when public opinions have become punishable.
Angula yesterday said the party leadership would meet soon to discuss the fate of the AR members as well as other party issues.
Yesterday political commentators also entered the fray and questioned Swapo’s reluctance to follow due process by acting against the AR trio if they were convinced that they had violated the party’s code of conduct.
“Why go for a vague statement if you strongly believe they are out of line? Why not take measures?” asked political commentator Phanuel Kaapama.
According to him the party is not in contempt of court as it is only urging the AR members to leave the party.
Another commentator, Hoze Riruako, said Swapo is not above the law and must realise the youth cannot be tried for the same crime twice.
“It would have been smart for Swapo to wait until it has enough evidence against the members and then take the necessary steps,” he said.
According to Riruako, it is strange that all AR members must be punished for a column Amupanda wrote.
“Amupanda is not all three, it sounds like retributive action,” he said before adding that Geingob must get used to public criticism.
“The president is a public figure and should know people will take all kinds of aims at him. It is puzzling that a person like Geingob, who has been high up in the party for years and who worked and studied in the United States, is not taking direct criticism well,” he said. Riruako added that the party’s reaction to public criticism is a challenge to democracy and threatens freedom of expression.

JEMIMA BEUKES