EDITORIAL: Can the real Helmut Angula please stand up?

Helmut Angula’s call for Swapo to hold an extraordinary congress within the timeframe prescribed in the party constitution is both correct and opportunistic.In 2016, he placed a full-page advert in a newspaper, castigating those who called for a similar congress after Hifikepunye Pohamba stepped down as party president. Hage Geingob, vice-president at the time, became acting party president. However, those who dared calling Geingob ‘acting president’ invited Helmut’s wrath. He called them “anti-Swapo Party agent provocateurs”, a reference he more pointedly directed at Elijah Ngurare of the party’s youth league at the time.Helmut is correct in 2024, just like Ngurare was in 2016. But because complying with the constitution in 2016 perhaps did not speak to Helmut and his cronies’ parochial aspirations at the time, he went foul-mouthed in that full-page advert. He wanted to appease his masters, but a year later, in 2017, he was a key cog in the ‘Team Swapo’ engine room – taking on ‘Team Harambee’ of his erstwhile handlers. Remnants of Geingob’s victorious team are now in charge of the party, and suddenly Helmut recognises the importance of ruling by constitution – the very constitution he pissed on willy-nilly when the wheels were turning in his favour. Which Helmut must the Swapo rank and file listen to this time? The one who spewed bile in the 2016 full-page advert, or the repentant one of 2024?

EDITORIAL: Can the real Helmut Angula please stand up?

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

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EDITORIAL: Can the real Helmut Angula please stand up?

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

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