Former CoD MP Dienda joins DTA

Congress of Democrats (CoD) founding member and former parliamentarian Elma Dienda has joined the DTA. This follows four years after her resignation from the CoD. DTA president McHenry Venaani welcomed Dienda yesterday and described her as a leader of “strategic importance”, who will contribute significantly to the party’s political agenda. He said Dienda is “a firebrand, a politician of note and someone who will add and bring value to the DTA”. Although it was unclear yesterday whether Dienda would take up a leadership position in the DTA right away, Venaani left the door open for this by saying that anyone who joins the party can take up such a position when a vacancy becomes available. “Many of you think we are focused on these internal squabbles that seem to be simmering in the party, but we are focused on the bigger picture,” said Venaani. He continued: “As I am sitting with Elma Dienda now, I am announcing that over the weekend I am receiving over 67 new members - 57 from the CoD and the rest are from Nudo.” Dienda said: “For four years I was without a political party, after I resigned from the CoD in 2010. I said as a matter of principle I will not just jump into any party. I will keep quiet and see which party suits me best.” She added the rise of Venaani and the new DTA leadership answered all her questions about which political ship to board. “It is a leadership of young people and I am so proud of the elderly who said it is time for the young people to take over. This is my new home now. I do not have a problem... I want to be part of a house that will say: this is what we want in Namibia.” She further urged the women of the DTA not to feel threatened by her joining the party. “I know the women in the DTA do not see me as a threat, but as somebody who can push them and take them to a higher place. I know what I am capable of.” Dienda was elected as the secretary of CoD women’s wing in 2003 and she emerged at number four on the party’s list for the 2004 National Assembly (NA) elections. Dienda has in the past been unapologetically outspoken about women’s rights and championing gender equality. WINDHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA