Martin Endjala
The Swapo National Conference for July 1 and 2 will be revisiting the Helmut amendments that have been deferred on more than two occasions at the top Swapo Party leadership meetings in the last two months.
This was revealed by the party’s secretary general, Sophia Shaningwa at the conclusion of the district coordinators workshop in Windhoek over the weekend.
Shaningwa says that this year requires all party structures and their leadership to adhere to the rules and procedures as well as to the Party Constitution, ahead of the party’s congress as well as the policy conference. “The party policies must be respected fully,” she emphasised.
She said that it is self-evident that District Coordinators have an import role to play within the structures of the Party, given that they oversee the grassroot structures, where recruitment and mobilisation activities take place in the party.
“As we are approaching our upcoming policy conference, the people will be expecting us to bring about fresh ideas and policy reforms that are inclusive and progressive,” the SG said.
During the national policy conference, ‘’we could also see the much talked about Helmut Angula’s
amendments being discussed on the table, given that during the Think Tank meeting held last weekend’’ also raised the issue, she alluded.
The Deputy President of Swapo Netumbo-Nandi Ndaitwah recently also said that it the amendments will be discussed next month during the party’s national policy conference.
Shaningwa said that the capacity building programme for the district coordinators was a game changer, as it enabled them to assess their position in society and critically review their performances by drawing lessons and experiences. This training, she said, comes after several events have unfolded across the country with infights and corridor talks about the upcoming congress.
The SG’s call couldn’t have come at a better time, as the party gears up for its 2024 election campaign and ensuring that their grassroot support base was well capacitated to carry out procedures and tasks in their districts.
She elaborated that the lessons learned at the workshop, should be cascaded to the lower level structures of the party branches and sections. “This was time well spent, engaging in constructive discussions, self-criticism, sharing experiences, learning from each other for the betterment of our operations in the party”, Shaningwa affirmed.
100 out of 121 party district coordinators have been capacitated through this advanced training to
ensure that their leadership capabilities and their inputs and outputs are consistent with the aims and objectives of the Swapo Party and its constitution.
According to the Swapo SG the training was a significant milestone in the journey of learning, as it is the first of kind and a beginning of many workshops of their leaders at various levels within the structures of the party.
