Game on

The Swapo Central Committee met yesterday to deliberate on the nominations for party president, vice-president, secretary-general and deputy secretary-general ahead of next month's congress. Despite there having been indications that state president Hage Geingob would emerge as the sole candidate for party president, the contest will be wide open. The candidates that will vie for the top position are former prime minister Nahas Angula, minister of youth Jerry Ekandjo and President Hage Geingob.Contesting for the position of vice-president are Helmut Angula, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana and Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.Those running for the position of secretary-general include Armas Amukwiyu and Sophia Shaningwa while those running for the position of deputy secretary-general include Martha Namundjebo-Tilahun, Marco Hausiku and Petrina Haingura.At the opening of yesterday's special CC meeting, acting party president Geingob said the contest would be an “open” one, but cautioned against political battles turning personal and expressed the hope that the campaign for the top positions would be issue-based. Geingob, who has acted as party president since 2015 when former president Hifikepunye Pohamba handed over the baton to him, said yesterday's CC meeting would be a “real test for democracy” within Swapo, and boasted that Swapo is the only party in the country that is exercising internal democracy “in the real sense”. NUNW disagrees But barely hours after the CC meeting the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), a Swapo affiliate, accused Swapo secretary-general Nangolo Mbumba of having maliciously meddled with their list of representatives. At a hastily called press briefing yesterday afternoon, the NUNW leadership said the workers' federation was “provoked by malicious, deliberate, calculated and divisive action” by Mbumba. The NUNW said it had duly informed Mbumba that former NUNW president Ismael Kasuta would be removed from participating in any and all structures of the body and that Albert Liswaniso was instituted as acting president of the federation. In another letter to Mbumba it stated that Petrus Nevonga would be the NUNW representative at the Swapo Party CC and that its list of congress delegates was also communicated to Mbumba. It accused Mbumba of having continued to address Kasuto as NUNW president, which it said questioned the credibility and ethics of Mbumba's and Geingob's offices. NUNW said both offices are under strict obligation to respect the NUNW's decision in the spirit of the accord between the two bodies which governs the relationship, as well as compliance with Swapo's constitution. Because of what has transpired, the NUNW's representative, Nevonga, was made to leave the CC meeting yesterday, which Job Muniaro, the secretary-general of the NUNW said sent a “mixed message to the toiling workers that their fate during and under the term of [Geingob] has been sealed to equal the era of colonial apartheid administrator-general or the then South African regime, which made decisions unilaterally and imposed them with impunity”.The NUNW said its autonomy and independence were being tested. Muniaro said Mbumba was confronted about this matter at the CC meeting yesterday but that he failed to give any explanation, adding that this was “clear testimony to exclude workers from the democratic processes” by both Mbumba and Geingob in his capacity as party acting president. “The central question that begs answers is whether the nullification of the accord in this highly negligent manner also by extension set aside workers' inherent rights to belong and to associate and to freely and without fear of retrogressive reprimands make inputs on matters affecting their livelihood,” the NUNW stated. The NUNW stated categorically that this did not impede its participation in the upcoming congress, but on the sidelines members said the congress would not be able to continue without the NUNW because 80% of the representatives are workers. CATHERINE SASMAN

Game on

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-27

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Game on

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-27

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