Okahandja deputy mayor hits back at Gazza

Okahandja deputy mayor Akser Aupindi has hit back at musician Lazarus ‘Gazza’ Shiimi, who accused opposition parties of not distributing drought-relief food in the past four years “like Swapo did”.“When Swapo was handing out drought-relief food for the past four years, where was [the opposition]?” Gazza asked during a Swapo mobilisation meeting at Okahandja last weekend. He added that over the past few years, Swapo built roads as well as boreholes for communities.Gazza went on to bash the opposition parties’ rallies, saying the money they are using for flashy campaigns and huge fleets of vehicles could have been put to better use to assist communities.His comments have been branded as ignorant by critics, who stressed that the government, to whom all Namibians pay taxes, distributed drought-relief food, and not Swapo. Others defended the musician, saying he was just campaigning for his party.Two distinct entitiesIn a letter to Namibian Sun, Aupindi - who serves on the Okahandja municipality on an Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) ticket - said: “I’m asking you to... tell the people of Okahandja in particular and the Namibian nation at large which road Swapo, as a political party, built and when? Which food are you referring to that Swapo Party handed out and in which village?” the councillor asked.He urged the musician to differentiate between Swapo and the government as two distinct entities.“You received N$2.5 million in 2014 by telling people lies and you ran away. Since then, no one knows where you went to spend that money. Now that the money has finished, you came back to fool people and get N$2.5 million again?” Aupindi said, referring to the money Swapo paid Gazza to exclusively campaign for it ahead of the 2014 elections.Aupindi added that Swapo has not built a single hospital in its 34 years in power, barring clinics in some areas.“All hospitals we have here - from Keetmanshoop to Oshakati, including the Katutura State Hospital which will collapse soon and Tsandi - were built by the apartheid regime. Swapo has never built a single hospital in the Republic of Namibia. [They] only knew how to build clinics, loot government coffers, and corruption. They are best at that.”Former mayor of Okahandja Natasha Brinkman also blasted the musician, saying the &#039;Garden Town&#039; was falling apart under Swapo&#039;s leadership. "There was nothing happening here during Swapo&#039;s time in office. They couldn&#039;t even fix light bulbs at hospitals," she fumed.

Okahandja deputy mayor hits back at Gazza

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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Okahandja deputy mayor hits back at Gazza

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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