AR saints and sinners butt heads

Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader Dr Job Amupanda was seemingly at a loss for words yesterday regarding the revolt in the movement, simply telling the rebellious activists - who are demanding rotation for the movement’s Windhoek council seats - that “AR is not August 26”.When asked to contextualise his response, Amupanda said August 26, the state-owned manufacturing company resorting under the ministry of defence, is used by army generals to loot money – insinuating AR is being used in the same way by some of its activists.Internal strife has been silently brewing in AR for months, with one of its co-founders Dimbulukeni Nauyoma, who is currently in jail, refusing to commit to the movement during an interview on The Evening Review in April this year. A widely-circulated letter by the movement’s national spokesperson Simon Amunime - with the subject line ‘Lies have short legs’ - put in the open the revolt within AR over issues of both accountability and individual survival.In the letter, Amunime reveals there was a suggestion to rotate occupancy of the movement’s two seats at the Windhoek municipal council so that unemployed activists too may earn a living.It was argued that Amupanda and Ilse Keister-Elago, who currently occupy those seats, have full-time jobs and should thus allow others to make a living from the allowances associated with being councillors.This, Amunime wrote, would be fair “since many of these activists are unemployed and are blacklisted by the regime of the day because of their association to the movement. This is despite them having various post-secondary qualifications”.‘Eating the money’Amunime and head of election Paulus Paulus Kathanga alleged that Amupanda has accused them of apparently “eating up” the movement’s money and that of the Fix Namibia SMS campaign.According to them, it is in fact activists including themselves, George Kambala, Nauyoma and Michael Amushelelo who ‘hustle’ to secure money to fund and volunteer for the movement’s programmes.“We suspect this is simply because of our strong stance in a meeting where we demanded for rotation at the City of Windhoek,” the duo said. They added that both Amupanda and Keister-Elago are employed and hold well-paying jobs, and vacating their council seats therefore would not be harmful, while unemployed movement members would get an opportunity to share the N$30 000 monthly allowance as well as show their leadership ability. Job&#039;s wrathIt is further alleged that Amupanda is turning his wrath on Amunime for taking up a full-time job despite an agreement that he would serve at the AR headquarters as spokesperson on a full-time - yet voluntary - basis.“You became bitter and began all your lies about him being compromised and involving his name with some imaginary lost money. While knowing that Amunime has three degrees and is busy with the fourth qualification, therefore under no circumstances will we allow ourselves to be your volunteers serving at your behest,” the letter read.“Make peace with it and stop spreading lies with our name. Clearly, you are a very selfish and greedy individual who is good at using other people, especially those younger than you, for your own gratification, upward mobility and political expediency. “Kambala and Nauyoma are clear and good examples of that. The two remain unemployed and without income because they must be running your political agendas on a full-time basis while you are fully employed at [the University of Namibia].”jemima@namibiansun.com

AR saints and sinners butt heads

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-23

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AR saints and sinners butt heads

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Namibian Sun 2025-01-23

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