Erasmus Shalihaxwe
Affirmative Repositioning (AR) leader Job Amupanda said the registration of AR as a political party means Namibians now have a party that seeks to transform the political system that kept people in the dark and hostage.
Amupanda made these remarks on Tuesday during his first national address, while unveiling the party’s past, present, and future activities.
He said the AR was founded by young people who are not part of the ruling elites, who are not in government, and who did not face a fallout that resulted in infighting for positions or old exile squabbles imported into post-independent Namibia.
Amupanda claims that disagreements among government leaders in the local political arena have led to the establishment of political parties or formations that apartheid leaders created during the Turnhalle conference.
Therefore, the AR’s transformation from a movement to a political party means that, for the first time, Namibia has a political party that does not seek participation in politics for co-options.
“In other words, you seek to get to power in order to occupy those seats and then begin to do things that you believe you can do only once you get there. It is a political party that doesn’t participate in politics for the purpose of co-option but a political party that actually contests for political power to be able to transform the very political system that has kept our people inbounded.
You now have a political party in Namibia that does not see power and seeks power as an end. In other words, a political party that seeks to turn the tables instead of seeking to get to the tables for comfort. This is very important for you to understand the identity of the AR movement,” he said.
He added that the system the party seeks to transform is that the AR is the only party that asks questions about why the government is weak and what can be done about it.
He questioned why political leaders in parliament, the cabinet, and opposition political parties are weak.
“We are a political party that asks why Namibia is divided in two, the north and the south, through the so-called Red Line that was installed by the colonisers more than 120 years ago,” he said.
Amupanda argued that they are asking these questions in the streets, and now they are directing them to the judges while prosecuting the matter in court.
He further added that the AR is also asking why Parliament failed to fulfil the promises of Article 16:1 of the Namibian Constitution for the past 34 years.
“That article says Parliament, by way of legislation, can prohibit and regulate the ownership of land by foreigners. It is a constitutional promise that has never been exercised, so the AR movement asks this fundamental question,’’ Amupanda stated.
