Praise-singers costing Swapo, says Sankwasa
Ex-deputy minister doesn't mince words
In a brutal assessment of his own party, the former deputy minister of works says divergent views are suppressed.
Businessman and former works deputy minister James Sankwasa says Swapo is teeming with and rewards praise-singers, while truth-tellers are ostracised and sidelined.
In a frank assessment of the former liberation movement, he said this new culture disadvantages the party and puts it at risk in major elections, because people who are loyal to Swapo have been replaced with gossipers and praise-singers.
“At the moment, the leadership of Swapo for the past 10 years seems to believe in praise-singing and not the reality. We have embarked on a very wrong approach where those who seem to deal with the truth are sidelined and replaced with praise-singers,” he said.
Because of this culture, many party heavyweights who understood the party ideology and policy have been pushed aside and replaced with those whose only merit is praising top leaders, Sankwasa added.
“To me, really, ditching the people who mattered - the heavyweights of the party - and replacing them with praise-singers, it will never take Swapo to a winning point.
“After the 2019 elections, in 2020, Swapo held an introspection conference. The performance of that conference, was it really for introspection or was it convened to come and continue praise-singing? You can quote me on that.”
The introspection conference was convened after Swapo lost its two-thirds majority in the 2019 general election. The party went into that election heavily divided after the highly emotive 2017 elective congress.
No critical thinkers
“During that conference, critical thinkers were not allowed to attend. It was only for praise-singing. That conference yielded nothing because it was just a continuation of praise-singing,” Sankwasa said.
He added: “Nobody who had divergent views was allowed in that conference. Anyone who had a divergent view or attempted to have such views was not allowed to say something. They were shut down. Those are the first mistakes we made.”
“We have embraced more praise-singers, poor performers, people who have no influence wherever they come from... people who are in the central committee or holding positions in the politburo but who come from areas which are totally under the control of the opposition.
“There is an English proverb that says ‘charity begins at home’,” the businessman said.
“Charity begins at home and does not end there. Before you can get assigned elsewhere, is your region under Swapo? Is your constituency under Swapo, and [does that] prove your hard work?
“What leadership influence do these people have?”
Clash with Kavango East
Sankwasa drew the ire of party members in the Kavango East Region after questioning their efforts in mobilising people to attend a rally held at Rundu last weekend, addressed by party vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
A Nandi-Ndaitwah die-hard himself, he urged the leadership of that region to do introspection on what went wrong that so few people showed up to the rally.
Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) spokesperson Moses Sikerete, who is from the region, hit back at Sankwasa and reminded him that he comes from Zambezi - where many constituencies have slipped into opposition hands.
“Perhaps Comrade Sankwasa must inform the nation as to what his interest is in issues of the Kavango East Region. Making such a statement paints our region with black ink, especially when it is coming from you,” he said.
“The Zambezi Region lost constituencies in the previous elections and that was never used to question the region's loyalty to the party,” Sikerete fumed.
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In a frank assessment of the former liberation movement, he said this new culture disadvantages the party and puts it at risk in major elections, because people who are loyal to Swapo have been replaced with gossipers and praise-singers.
“At the moment, the leadership of Swapo for the past 10 years seems to believe in praise-singing and not the reality. We have embarked on a very wrong approach where those who seem to deal with the truth are sidelined and replaced with praise-singers,” he said.
Because of this culture, many party heavyweights who understood the party ideology and policy have been pushed aside and replaced with those whose only merit is praising top leaders, Sankwasa added.
“To me, really, ditching the people who mattered - the heavyweights of the party - and replacing them with praise-singers, it will never take Swapo to a winning point.
“After the 2019 elections, in 2020, Swapo held an introspection conference. The performance of that conference, was it really for introspection or was it convened to come and continue praise-singing? You can quote me on that.”
The introspection conference was convened after Swapo lost its two-thirds majority in the 2019 general election. The party went into that election heavily divided after the highly emotive 2017 elective congress.
No critical thinkers
“During that conference, critical thinkers were not allowed to attend. It was only for praise-singing. That conference yielded nothing because it was just a continuation of praise-singing,” Sankwasa said.
He added: “Nobody who had divergent views was allowed in that conference. Anyone who had a divergent view or attempted to have such views was not allowed to say something. They were shut down. Those are the first mistakes we made.”
“We have embraced more praise-singers, poor performers, people who have no influence wherever they come from... people who are in the central committee or holding positions in the politburo but who come from areas which are totally under the control of the opposition.
“There is an English proverb that says ‘charity begins at home’,” the businessman said.
“Charity begins at home and does not end there. Before you can get assigned elsewhere, is your region under Swapo? Is your constituency under Swapo, and [does that] prove your hard work?
“What leadership influence do these people have?”
Clash with Kavango East
Sankwasa drew the ire of party members in the Kavango East Region after questioning their efforts in mobilising people to attend a rally held at Rundu last weekend, addressed by party vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
A Nandi-Ndaitwah die-hard himself, he urged the leadership of that region to do introspection on what went wrong that so few people showed up to the rally.
Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) spokesperson Moses Sikerete, who is from the region, hit back at Sankwasa and reminded him that he comes from Zambezi - where many constituencies have slipped into opposition hands.
“Perhaps Comrade Sankwasa must inform the nation as to what his interest is in issues of the Kavango East Region. Making such a statement paints our region with black ink, especially when it is coming from you,” he said.
“The Zambezi Region lost constituencies in the previous elections and that was never used to question the region's loyalty to the party,” Sikerete fumed.
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