Martin Endjala
THE highly anticipated and long-awaited Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC) congress that was postponed December due to Covid-19 pandemic, will officially kick off on Friday. SPWC secretary Eunice Iipinge confirmed that all arrangements are in full swing.
In an interview with the Windhoek Observer Ipinge said that all regional delegates are expected to arrive 24th of February with the official opening slated for Friday, to which all media outlets are invited to cover.
On Saturday, the adoption of new resolutions and the election of new office bearers will take place amongst many other pertinent outcomes. Iipinge also confirmed that there are certain regional districts that will not be part of the congress being held in Windhoek, stating that the comrades failed to complete the district conference to elect delegates to the congress. Among these are the Okakarara district in the Otjozondjupa Region, Epukiro and Okorukambe in the Omaheke Region, as well as Ruacana in the Omusati Region.
Eupinge said the women’s league advocates for gender equality in all aspects of life, and that every wing member has the right to vote and to acquire any position in the party and in government offices including non-governmental institutions. Gender equality, she said, is not a biological thing, “what do I mean by this? If you are a women or men those anatomies will never change, but the social culture constructed normative is what we are saying needs changing, issues such as a women should not go to school, or a women cannot lead and so forth, are discriminatory and we will continue advocating for gender equality”.
On the question of political factions in the wing or the party, Iipinge objected, saying there is no division in the wing, ”in fact we are all united and people should stop spreading scandalous unfruitful rumors without factual evidence to show for”. Ndumba Kamwenyah a political analyst indicated that, “remember that the women’s congress is taking place in the same year as the mother body (SWAPO) congress, of which this has never happened before and this could be a busy exciting year for SWAPO as a party, in an interview with the Windhoek Observer.
He went on to state that the emerging leaders from the congress will play a pivotal role in uniting the party. He wants to see the emerging leader of the women’s council to be a uniting force in preparation for the 2024 general elections. Kamwenyah further argued that the new leaders elected to the various portfolios will also prove to be critical to the party’s success going forward and pointed out that the lack of leaders from the rural areas in the women’s wing needs to be addressed to bring pertinent issues faced by rural women on the table for debates. The leaders that will be vetted by the congress, should bring in rural leaders both in the women’s wing and the mother body, he says.
