Swapo’s do-or-die weekend
Policy conference to determine party’s future
The ruling party must emerge out of this weekend's policy conference ideologically clear and united, or face further decline.
The ruling party Swapo, which will hold its policy conference this weekend, has a chance to emerge with clarity of direction - or face further decline as a movement.
The conference is expected to determine the party’s political programme for the next five years, with critical political and economic deliberations set to pit delegates against each other as they battle for ideological supremacy.
The meeting comes less than five months before the party’s elective congress in November.
The policy conference is expected to come up with key recommendations to revive the country’s teetering economy. Delegates will discuss topics ranging from Namibia’s oil discovery, housing provision, genocide negotiations, youth participation in politics and an update on government’s flagship green hydrogen project.
With Swapo having lost its firm grip on the political landscape across the country, party insiders know this weekend’s indaba will determine whether the party can reclaim its glory days.
It has also become a trend that the party’s policy conference no longer focuses primarily on policy matters, but instead, these issues are used as a smokescreen to conceal succession battles being fought in the background. Discussions around the party constitution and the strict rules candidates who wish to contest should meet are, therefore, expected to take centre stage.
Helmut Amendments
The conference will also, according to insiders, provide clarity around much-hyped constitutional amendments, which has split the party in two.
So far, party president Hage Geingob is yet to pronounce himself publicly on whether he supports calls for the constitution to be amended to relax the requirements or not.
Those close to Geingob explained that, for now, the president will play his cards close to his chest until there is clear direction regarding the relaxation of the contestation rules for the party’s top four positions.
The so-called Helmut Amendments – proposed by party veteran Helmut Angula and adopted in 2018 - require those contesting for high positions in the party to have served on the central committee for 10 consecutive years and be a member of the party for a minimum of 20 uninterrupted years, amongst other requirements.
Meanwhile, the invitation of party stalwarts such as Nahas Angula and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, as well as emerging forces Martin Shalli and Martha Tilahun-Namundjebo to the conference also signals the party’s new-found unification crusade to prevent another bloodbath at the upcoming congress, similar to the division that ensued after the 2017 meet.
Youth exclusion
The young turks of the party feel the constitution in its current format excludes them from climbing the ranks, demanding that the requirements for the top four positions should be lowered - or else the Swapo youth will be doomed.
The old guns, however, feel the requirements must remain in place to prevent political opportunists from getting hold of the party's holy grail.
Those who are sympathetic to the amendments said the proposed changes were long overdue.
One such person is Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) national executive member Willem Amutenya, who also took a swipe at SPYL leader Efraim Nekongo’s calls to maintain the current constitution, saying the league has not taken a resolution to support the Helmut Amendments, therefore Nekongo should not speak on behalf of the youth wing on the topic.
Two SPYL sources told Namibian Sun that they believed the issues around the constitution should not have been left hanging for so long.
Amutenya argued that the current constitution will be used to further exclude the youth from getting into the decision-making structures of the party.
With the party’s powerful politburo having no young member on board, he said the composition of the structure is a clear sign of how young cadres in the party are sidelined.
“The requirement about 10 years’ tenure in the party - I understand that we need to make sure we do not have opportunists who are getting into our party. [But] now, the youth will never make these requirements. They are already excluded from making it to the central committee and politburo and they will never qualify with the 10 years,” he said.
Internal culture
He added: “We have young cadres who serve the party as technocrats and have been loyal party members for many years, have qualities as they have been groomed in the party, vision to take the country further, but they have been excluded.
“That is why we don’t have any youths who qualify to stand for president, secretary-general, vice-president and deputy secretary-general unless the SPYL secretary serves for two terms, then only would that person qualify to contest for those positions,” he lamented.
“The internal culture of the party also contributes to youth exclusion,” he added. "When renewal of mandates takes place, the people leading this are the elders, because the youth are told to stay in the youth league. We need to amend our constitution so it is more youth inclusive.”
Amutenya also believes that the high unemployment rate in the country is a reflection of the exclusion of young people in decision-making structures. Official statistics indicate that half of the country’s young population are drowning in a sea of joblessness.
“Having young people in the higher decision-making bodies would help to address unemployment because the youth understand the challenges of youth and can push and advocate for development in the country. The challenges young people face today would obviously be dealt by the youth who also experience it because they are in decision-making bodies,” he said.
No to endorsements
With Swapo having recently endorsed party president Hage Geingob as the sole candidate for the presidency position and SPYL endorsing its top two leaders Nekongo and Christine Haindaka as sole candidates for their respective positions, Amutenya said endorsements are anti-democracy.
“Endorsements generally defeat the democratic process of a party because it undermines elections of candidates. This [endorsement] in Swapo must be condemned and criticised by every member who wants to defend democracy,” he said.
Nekongo dismissed questions regarding the issues that will be discussed at the policy conference this weekend.
“We are not going to discuss the constitution this weekend at the policy conference. Who said we want to amend the constitution? I have no position on the amendment of the constitution. We are going to discuss policies.”
The conference is expected to determine the party’s political programme for the next five years, with critical political and economic deliberations set to pit delegates against each other as they battle for ideological supremacy.
The meeting comes less than five months before the party’s elective congress in November.
The policy conference is expected to come up with key recommendations to revive the country’s teetering economy. Delegates will discuss topics ranging from Namibia’s oil discovery, housing provision, genocide negotiations, youth participation in politics and an update on government’s flagship green hydrogen project.
With Swapo having lost its firm grip on the political landscape across the country, party insiders know this weekend’s indaba will determine whether the party can reclaim its glory days.
It has also become a trend that the party’s policy conference no longer focuses primarily on policy matters, but instead, these issues are used as a smokescreen to conceal succession battles being fought in the background. Discussions around the party constitution and the strict rules candidates who wish to contest should meet are, therefore, expected to take centre stage.
Helmut Amendments
The conference will also, according to insiders, provide clarity around much-hyped constitutional amendments, which has split the party in two.
So far, party president Hage Geingob is yet to pronounce himself publicly on whether he supports calls for the constitution to be amended to relax the requirements or not.
Those close to Geingob explained that, for now, the president will play his cards close to his chest until there is clear direction regarding the relaxation of the contestation rules for the party’s top four positions.
The so-called Helmut Amendments – proposed by party veteran Helmut Angula and adopted in 2018 - require those contesting for high positions in the party to have served on the central committee for 10 consecutive years and be a member of the party for a minimum of 20 uninterrupted years, amongst other requirements.
Meanwhile, the invitation of party stalwarts such as Nahas Angula and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, as well as emerging forces Martin Shalli and Martha Tilahun-Namundjebo to the conference also signals the party’s new-found unification crusade to prevent another bloodbath at the upcoming congress, similar to the division that ensued after the 2017 meet.
Youth exclusion
The young turks of the party feel the constitution in its current format excludes them from climbing the ranks, demanding that the requirements for the top four positions should be lowered - or else the Swapo youth will be doomed.
The old guns, however, feel the requirements must remain in place to prevent political opportunists from getting hold of the party's holy grail.
Those who are sympathetic to the amendments said the proposed changes were long overdue.
One such person is Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) national executive member Willem Amutenya, who also took a swipe at SPYL leader Efraim Nekongo’s calls to maintain the current constitution, saying the league has not taken a resolution to support the Helmut Amendments, therefore Nekongo should not speak on behalf of the youth wing on the topic.
Two SPYL sources told Namibian Sun that they believed the issues around the constitution should not have been left hanging for so long.
Amutenya argued that the current constitution will be used to further exclude the youth from getting into the decision-making structures of the party.
With the party’s powerful politburo having no young member on board, he said the composition of the structure is a clear sign of how young cadres in the party are sidelined.
“The requirement about 10 years’ tenure in the party - I understand that we need to make sure we do not have opportunists who are getting into our party. [But] now, the youth will never make these requirements. They are already excluded from making it to the central committee and politburo and they will never qualify with the 10 years,” he said.
Internal culture
He added: “We have young cadres who serve the party as technocrats and have been loyal party members for many years, have qualities as they have been groomed in the party, vision to take the country further, but they have been excluded.
“That is why we don’t have any youths who qualify to stand for president, secretary-general, vice-president and deputy secretary-general unless the SPYL secretary serves for two terms, then only would that person qualify to contest for those positions,” he lamented.
“The internal culture of the party also contributes to youth exclusion,” he added. "When renewal of mandates takes place, the people leading this are the elders, because the youth are told to stay in the youth league. We need to amend our constitution so it is more youth inclusive.”
Amutenya also believes that the high unemployment rate in the country is a reflection of the exclusion of young people in decision-making structures. Official statistics indicate that half of the country’s young population are drowning in a sea of joblessness.
“Having young people in the higher decision-making bodies would help to address unemployment because the youth understand the challenges of youth and can push and advocate for development in the country. The challenges young people face today would obviously be dealt by the youth who also experience it because they are in decision-making bodies,” he said.
No to endorsements
With Swapo having recently endorsed party president Hage Geingob as the sole candidate for the presidency position and SPYL endorsing its top two leaders Nekongo and Christine Haindaka as sole candidates for their respective positions, Amutenya said endorsements are anti-democracy.
“Endorsements generally defeat the democratic process of a party because it undermines elections of candidates. This [endorsement] in Swapo must be condemned and criticised by every member who wants to defend democracy,” he said.
Nekongo dismissed questions regarding the issues that will be discussed at the policy conference this weekend.
“We are not going to discuss the constitution this weekend at the policy conference. Who said we want to amend the constitution? I have no position on the amendment of the constitution. We are going to discuss policies.”
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