There is something profoundly depressing about watching political leaders fight over positions in a town that is crying out for leadership.
The latest Swapo dispute in Grootfontein is not merely another internal disagreement over party procedure. It is a symptom of a much deeper problem: the apparent inability of the ruling party’s leadership structures in Otjozondjupa to bring order, discipline and purpose to one of its most troubled political strongholds.
Once again, Grootfontein is at the centre of a Swapo leadership dispute. Once again, there are competing interpretations of mandates, competing claims about authority and competing versions of which process is legitimate. And once again, ordinary residents are left wondering the most obvious question: to what end?
What exactly are these endless battles for?
The latest dispute involves a directive by Hofni Iipinge to halt the current mandate-renewal process, a rejection of that directive by regional coordinator Immanuel Namaseb, and an intervention by Secretary General Sophia Shaningwa confirming that Grootfontein’s district office-bearers have been out of term since August and ordering that the overdue district conference be held by 31 October.
This is not the picture of a political organisation in command of its affairs. It is the picture of a party trapped in procedural paralysis.
And the tragedy is that this is not new.
For years, senior Swapo figures have been deployed or drawn into attempts to resolve the problems in Grootfontein. The names of Leon Jooste, Alfeus !Naruseb and Pohamba Shifeta have been associated with efforts to bring stability to the town’s political structures. The Secretary General has now intervened again. At one point, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah herself addressed the district leadership.
Yet here we are.
Another dispute. Another letter. Another counter-letter. Another argument over who has the authority to tell whom what to do.
Meanwhile, Grootfontein continues to suffer.
Recent reporting shows that the municipality requires more than N$108 million to upgrade informal settlements, with thousands of households facing inadequate access to water, sanitation and electricity. The municipality itself has identified funding constraints, skills shortages and infrastructure problems among the obstacles to better service delivery.
The town has also been battling the consequences of years of municipal dysfunction, while efforts are being made to improve its financial sustainability, infrastructure and investment prospects. A newly appointed chief executive has publicly set out an agenda centred on better governance, investment and service delivery.
This is the reality confronting Grootfontein.
Yet the dominant political conversation appears to remain about who controls which structure, who was properly elected, whose mandate has expired and whose interpretation of the party constitution should prevail.
That disconnect should shame every political leader involved.
There is nothing inherently wrong with internal party elections. There is nothing wrong with defending a constitution or insisting on proper procedure. In fact, political organisations require rules precisely to prevent arbitrary decision-making.
But rules must serve the organisation and, ultimately, the people it claims to represent. They cannot become weapons in an endless contest for influence.
The allegations made in the latest exchange are serious. There are claims that a previous process was irregular; there are counterclaims that it was improperly conducted; there are questions about committees and mandates. These matters should be resolved through a transparent, credible and final process, not through competing letters and political brinkmanship.
Because while the politicians argue, Grootfontein is paying the price.
The town cannot afford a political leadership obsessed with internal arithmetic while the municipality wrestles with sanitation, infrastructure, economic stagnation and the challenge of attracting investment.
Grootfontein needs councillors who understand that occupying a political position is not an achievement in itself. It is a responsibility.
It needs political leaders who can sit around a table without allowing personal animosities to determine whether they support or oppose something that benefits their own constituents.
It needs a party that understands the difference between political competition and political sabotage.
Most importantly, it needs leaders capable of looking beyond the next conference, the next election and the next factional victory.
Swapo has historically enjoyed enormous political influence in Grootfontein. That makes its inability to bring lasting stability to its structures there even more difficult to understand.
The question the national leadership should now be asking is not who wins this particular internal battle.
It should be: Why has this battle been allowed to continue for so long?
How many interventions are required before somebody accepts responsibility?
How many meetings must be held?
How many committees must be appointed?
How many mandates must be renewed?
And how many more years must Grootfontein wait?
At some point, leadership means making an unpopular decision, establishing a credible process, enforcing the rules and moving on.
The Secretary General’s instruction for the overdue district conference to be convened by 31 October provides an opportunity to do precisely that. The conference should not become another battlefield. It should be the beginning of the end of this debilitating cycle.
And the national leadership should make it clear that there will be no more excuses.
Grootfontein does not need another faction to triumph.
It needs its political leaders to triumph over factionalism.
Because residents cannot eat positions. They cannot drive on party mandates. They cannot switch on streetlights with political resolutions. They cannot build businesses with internal elections.
They need functioning institutions, accountable councillors, economic opportunities and basic municipal services.
The ruling party’s leaders should therefore look beyond their own positions and ask themselves a brutally simple question:
If all this political jostling is not ultimately about making Grootfontein a better place, what exactly is it about?
The time has come for the national leadership to crack the whip, not to determine who wins a factional contest, but to insist that the contest ends and that leadership begins.
Grootfontein has waited long enough.
