Tujoromajo Kasuto
South West Africa National Union, (Swanu) of Namibia Secretary General, Evilastus Kaaronda, says the Extra Ordinary Congress is not a Swanu event as purported and did not come from the party’s leadership.
The party further says the All Branches’ meeting is “at best legally amorphous and at worst a product of lost lucidity” of its former President and [the said] Extra-Ordinary Congress Committee Chairperson, Dr Rihupisa Kandando.
According to Kaaronda, as far as the party leadership is concerned, there shall be no congress, ordinary or otherwise. He further adds that, “While we understand the desperate hunger for power of the good Dr. Kandando, we must unfortunately also inform him that he had his chance and he couldn’t have been more hopelessly incompetent as the Party President.”
He also notes that in terms of all provisions of the Swanu of Namibia’s constitution, there is no “all branches meeting” as a structure, be it administrative or political. A branch can only cause and participate in its own meetings or those of the region in whose jurisdiction such branch may fall. Articles 7 and 8 of the Party’s constitution are instructive on the functions of branches and regional structures of the Party.
Thus he says, the “all branches meeting” was then and still remains unconstitutional and illegal, therefore its decisions do not have any force or consequence in law, also clarifying that for a branch to be represented anywhere, it must have taken a resolution duly authorising a given person or persons as its delegate to a given meeting or function.
The PB is adamant that those who attended the meeting in Epukiro, did so as individuals and not as properly delegated representatives of branches they claim to have come from.
Kaaronda further states all congresses of the Party, irrespective if either Ordinary or Extra-Ordinary, can only be convened by the Central Committee (CC), either by its own volition or demand of at least one third of the Party’s regions.
Kaaronda says that legal actions will be taken if the Extra Ordinary Congress is held tomorrow. “If they do go ahead an urgent court application will be filled to nullify both congress and its decisions.”
Kandando in an earlier interview said the party has been in limbo since a motion of no confidence in the Politburo (PB) and the CC at the end of May at a meeting of some of branches in Epukiro, in the Omaheke Region. He claimed that half of the current members of the PB are appointees of the current President, Tangeni Iijambo, without the approval, gratification and confirmation of the CC, while he does not have the final authority to appoint as he only has the right to nominate people and preliminary appointments, another issue for the Extra-Ordinary Congress.
But according to Kaaronda, all persons appointed by the President will, until approved by the CC, be performing the functions and duties of their respective portfolios in acting capacities. “The President in terms of Article 12 (c) has the power to appoint, which comes with the natural duty on the part of the person so appointed to perform functions and duties as assigned to such a person in an acting capacity, pending such person’s approval by the Central Committee. This is the practice most commonly observed in organisations across the globe. Co-option by definition is something entirely different from what the Party’s constitution provides for and envisages,“Kaaronda states.
